Need Help with BT Halo 2 Services: Bandwidth, WiFi Issues, and Phone Reliability

[gazdemic]

Hi BT Community,

I’m hoping to get some advice and assistance with a few problems we’re experiencing with our BT services at home. Here’s a bit of background:

I’m currently staying with my grandmother, Kathleen Smith, who is the account holder. She’s recovering from an illness, and during my stay, we’ve run into several issues despite being on the Halo 2 package with 21Mbps download speed, which should be adequate for our needs. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to resolve these problems despite my experience in software development and some telecom knowledge.

Here are the main problems we’re facing:

1. Bandwidth Limitations:

   • While our 21Mbps download speed is generally sufficient, when multiple devices are streaming (like YouTube), one device often ends up buffering.
   • My daughter experiences severe latency spikes (300-1000ms) when playing online games such as Fortnite.
   • Attempting to use a virtual machine for gaming didn’t help due to these intermittent latency issues.

2. WiFi Interruptions During Phone Calls:

   • Our WiFi connection frequently drops (about 90% of the time) whenever the landline phone rings, disrupting our internet usage.

3. WiFi Coverage and Extenders:

   • We live in a large home with thick walls that seem to block the WiFi signal.
   • I’m unsure if adding more extenders would improve coverage or if switching to a different package would be more effective. There’s also a concern that additional extenders might weaken the signal strength.

4. Phone Call Reliability:

   • Only one of our handsets maintains a stable connection and needs to stay within a meter of the base station.
   • The other two handsets frequently miss incoming calls, which is very frustrating.

What I’m Looking For:

• Suggestions on how to resolve these issues, whether through optimizing our current setup or by upgrading to a more suitable BT package.
• Recommendations on whether adding more extenders is the right approach for improving WiFi coverage in our home.
• Any tips or solutions to enhance the reliability of our phone service.

To ensure a comfortable and stress-free environment for my grandmother during her recovery, any help or guidance from the community would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has faced similar issues or has expertise in this area, your insights would be invaluable.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Best regards,
Gaz

[Lesley_W]

Hi @gazdemic 

I'm sorry to read of all the issues you seem to be having, have you spoken to our technical team about this yet?

Lesley