Issues After Upgrading to Full Fibre 900

[Lizzy-Loo]

@stevebrass 

Thanks for your reply and the tip - I'm now just trying your suggestion, having had a quick You Tube tutorial on how to do this (easy enough once you know how, right?!)

So, having tried this, two things have happened:

- On the BT app, all devices are now showing as having excellent signal strength to the access point they are connected to (SH2 or disc) which has not happened before.
The WiFi signal strength checker on the app though, is still reading poor signal around the house. I've downloaded the app onto my daughter's phone also, to make sure that it's not a fault with my phone, but hers is showing the same - excellent connection to all devices but poor signal when using the WiFi signal checker around the house.

- The speed has dipped again to ~70mbps (upload and download) but seems more consistent - i.e. it's the same speed in my sofa seat at it is at the other end of the lounge, and it's the same speeds on my phone as well as my laptop.

Is this the trade off then? A much slower signal for one that (at least initially) seems more stable?

[rbz5416]

WiFi is potentially a bit of a distraction. We need to establish full speed to/through the Hub via ethernet first, You really want to be doing speed tests on a PC directly connected to the Hub by ethernet. Although many modern laptops don't have an ethernet port.

[Lizzy-Loo]

@rbz5416 

This is true.

My laptop doesn't have the ethernet port, so I've just ordered a high speed (USB 3) adaptor from that well known online retailer, arriving tomorrow, so I'm guessing I'll be looking into it further again then too.

The previous ethernet speed tests had been checked using my daughter's workhorse laptop (a Lenovo Thinkpad T450) which is now 5+ years old, so may not be quite as up to scratch as some of the more current models?

I think my main bugbear though,  is that everything in the house is connected by WiFi and has previously enjoyed a fast, reliable, consistent connection up until the package upgrade, so there's something somewhere affecting that too.
I've just discovered that I can change channels as well as turning the bands (2.4/5GHz) on and off.
Is it worth looking into this also? And is there a recommended time to leave a channel to settle - assuming it needs to?

Thanks for all your input. It's much appreciated and very helpful 🙂

[rbz5416]

I'd expect a 5-year-old Thinkpad to be Gb but you may need to check the settings in Windows to make sure that it's enabled.

While waiting for the USB adapter you can still look at the router stats to see what speed is being supplied to the Hub. If that's not 900Mb or close then you need to raise a fault with BT. I don't use one so can't tell you exactly where to look. But if you can't find it I'm sure someone else can.

I usually prefer to manage WiFi channels manually rather than let a router do it. But to make it meaningful, you really need to install a WiFi analyser that will tell you what channels are in use by neighbours, so that you can then select what's least congested. I like inSSIDer but it does require account registration, although the basic access is free.

Edit: In light of the post below, something else you can do is make a direct connection connection between the Thinkpad & the ONT, which would prove if the ONT is delivering 900Mb:

• Open Control Panel.
• Then go to Network & Sharing Centre.
• Click on Set up a new connection or network.
• Select Connect to the Internet and click Next button.
• Click on Broadband (PPPoE).
• Enter btinternet@btbroadband.com with no password.

[licquorice]

The speed to the hub will always be 1Gb as it is just reporting the link speed to the ONT. Unfortunately, there is no way of checking the sync speed of the ONT

Try various WiFi channels, there is possibly interference on the channel you a re currently using but not on the channel you were previously on.

@Posted as @rbz5416 was editing their post 

[Lizzy-Loo]

So, after fiddling with this for most of the day yesterday, the final straw came around teatime when the speeds via WiFi tanked again, to 3-5mbps.

Enough for TV streaming to buffer and music playback to cut out.

So in a fit of pique, I unplugged the SH2 and the ONT from the power sockets on the wall and stomped out the house with the dog.

30 minutes later, I plugged everything back in and hey presto, it's been fine since (famous last words...)

Currently averaging 150mbps via connection to one of the discs and 300+mbps sat in the lounge connected to the Hub (all WiFi) which is a good improvement. Fingers crossed it remains stable.

Thanks to all of you for all of your help and suggestions 🙂

[Lizzy-Loo]

@rbz5416 

Ok, so I spoke to soon 🙄

WiFi connection tanked mid afternoon again and no devices connected reliably with any speed over 10mbps via a WiFi connection.

My daughter's ThinkPad is currently out of action (don't ask) so I had to wait for the ethernet adaptor to arrive.

So that's where I'm at currently, sat in the corner with my laptop connected to the ONT. I've followed your instructions above and am connected to the internet via the ethernet connection.

So in theory, when I run a speed test, I should be getting close to 900mbsp, right? The Ookla Speedtest  app (from the Microsoft store) is coming back with ~470mbps.

BroadbandUk speed checker is coming back with ~375mbps.

Am I right to use these? Or is there a more accurate way to gauge the speed?

I think my brain is about to melt... 😆

[rbz5416]

I would expect close to 900Mb, subject to the hardware constraints of the laptop & adapter. Which ethernet adapter did you buy & are you definitely using a USB 3 port on the laptop? Might be worth trying some other ports to see if it varies.

Ookla is normally pretty decent but I've not used the Windows app, just run it direct in a browser. The BT one is here if you want to give that a go although I generally use this one. The most important thing for now is that speeds are consistent using the same tester over a period of time. Even if you're "only" getting 400Mb through the ONT, that should be plenty to share around without the WiFi crashing as you describe.

So try a few more tests over a period of time with the tester you settle on, & log the results to see if they're consistent. With what you posted yesterday, & depending on what you see tonight, it might be worth powering the ONT off overnight & trying directly into it again in the morning.

[Lizzy-Loo]

@rbz5416 

So, I bought this adaptor and am using it with a Zenbook 15 (UX534FAC). The device manager lists both USB ports as type 3, so I figured either one was fine to use. But I can certainly have a play around to see if they're both performing equally.

I had also tried the BT speed checker you linked below - that one came back pretty low (under 150mbps) over the tests I ran over a 5-minute period. The one you've linked that you use looks interesting, a bit more in-depth (and also has a history log feature - something I liked about Ookla too).
I agree that even if the speeds via the ONT aren't topping 500mbps (which makes me wonder if there's something going on between the tariffs - I was originally on the Full Fibre 500 before upgrading - that's causing an issue?) it should definitely be enough to run the likes of Alexa and video streaming without too much of an issue, even taking into account speed loss via WiFi.

Right, off to bed now. That's more than enough IT stuff for one weekend, lol!

[rbz5416]

The adapter reviews reasonably well on Amazon with no major complaints about speed, & the laptop should be fine too as both ports are indeed high speed. Let's see how speeds look tomorrow.

Just a quick thought after revisiting your original post. When you swapped the routers did you also swap the AC adapter for the new one?