60Mbps beside router, but 4Mbps in next room

[MissMoppett]

A common problem I know but . . . Happy to record 60 from ethernet cable from Smart Hub Type A but all over rest of the house I'm lucky to get 4Mbps. (Using thinkbroadband.com). I have installed 3 tp-link range extenders but does not improve unless I use another ethernet cable from one of them but this is not a practical solution. We live in a conventional brick house so surely the signal should penetrate better than that? I have tried moving the router around but I am limited of course by where I have sockets and cables. Today had lengthy "chat" line with BT support but they tried to say tp-Link is not compatible with "a BT set-up" which frankly I don't believe. They tried to sell me the "Complete WI-Fi with new router and 3 BT discs - for more money of course. We are not yet on full fibre in this village (Somerset).

Any ideas anyone?

[rbz5416]

If they really are extenders rather than a mesh system, that's usually a poor choice for a number of reasons.

What are the model numbers of what you have?

[Paul608085]

@MissMoppett 

It could be that you are experiencing interference, rather than poor signal strength, causing the slow speed.

You say that you live in a village - how far away are your closest neighbours? They could be using the same WiFi channels as you and interfering with each other.

If you have a smartphone or tablet, you could try installing an app to display the WiFi signals receivable at your location. I use "WiFi Analyzer" on my Android phone: it gives a graphical display of the various signals on each WiFi channel.

I'm not certain, but I think that the default channel setting on the BT SmartHub is "Smart"? Which means that in theory it picks the best available channel in your location. In practice, Smart does not always pick the best channel and manual selection can give better results.

[MissMoppett]

WA850RE.

Thank you for your interest.

[MissMoppett]

Yes I do have Wi-Fi Analyzer - not that I understand much of it. If I turn to the interference screen I see I have 4 shown on CH 1, three of which are mine -53dbm, -64dbM and -62dBm b -75dbM but another EE at -72dbM.

[Paul608085]

@MissMoppett 

That EE one could be strong enough to be causing you interference.

What does WiFi Analyzer show on channels 6 and 11?

If they are clear/clearer - ie signals lower than -72dBm, they you could try forcing your hub onto one of those two to test.

[MissMoppett]

I've now done more digging and BT say they "don't recommend changing channels as SMART automatically scans 2.4 and 5 to select best for you."

[MissMoppett]

None shown on 6 and 11.

[imjolly]

I would ignore BT and move your router wifi to either 6 or 11 and have fixed channel   what about the 5ghz wifi which channel is it using?   if you have skyq that uses channel 36 so move 5ghz to say 44

[Paul608085]

@MissMoppett 

"I've now done more digging and BT say they "don't recommend changing channels as SMART automatically scans 2.4 and 5 to select best for you." "

Well, that sounds like nonsense: if you look again at your WiFi Analyzer app, you will see that WiFi signals overlap a few channels either side, (due to their bandwidth). For example, on the 2.4GHz band, Channel 1 overlaps channels 2 and 3, Channel 6 overlaps 4,5,6,7 and 8, and Channel 11 overlaps 9,10,11,12 and 13.

Because of this, a lot of modern equipment, (including the BT SmartHub2 I think?), only allow manual selection of channels 1,6 or 11.

"None shown on 6 and 11."

I would try manually selecting Channel 6 and test again - what have you got to lose, you can always re-select "Smart" again?

Personally, I try to avoid channel 11 because I think that other wireless, (not WiFi) based equipment, such as our Hive Home Heating system sit around 11's frequency?