Dreadful Full Fibre

[brighteyes123]

My estate finally got FTTP two weeks ago. It was installed at my property on tuesday. Today is Sunday and i have already had an EE engineer out and had to make multiple calls.

My FTTC connection was always around 70mbps but i opted for 500mbps with EE as FTTC was struggling to cope. Since switching my speed ranges from anything from 150mbps to (and i kid not) 320kbps. I am writing this on 5G as the page wouldnt load with WIFI. It's an absolute joke. 

To give some examples:

- streaming in SD is constantly buffering

- Sky Q pages are taking 30 seconds to load.

- Sky Q mini boxes won't find their mesh network.

- My CCTV cameras are constantly loading.

- Spotify can't find Google Nest

- wifi Baby Monitor won't connect.

The engineer has blamed 'interference' and said he cant do anything else but switch 2.4ghz off. Next to none of my equipment is 5ghz compatible so that's useless and only increased speed by about 40mbps. Still no consistency with it. I switched channels for less wifi interference and that has done Jack.

When i asked the engineer why there was never any interference with FTTC and only speed was my switching factor he never replied (only asked 5 times). 

I have moved a smart disc from the garage (that should easily be reached) into the nearby kitchen at his request and that only slightly increased speed.

The speed coming into the house is fine so my question is how can there be wifi interference now when there never used to be? How can fibre that "can handle anything" be running at kbps?? (No blame to Kevin Bacon). 

Any suggestions here? I'm struggling to answer to my partner why we are paying double for far, far, far less superior connection

[Mustrum]

Hi @brighteyes123  

It seems your issues are Wi-Fi related, not your broadband. Certainly 79Mbps is more than plenty to be able to stream 4k films without stuttering. And any engineer who comes out will only check via an ethernet connection. 

No ISP can guarantee WiFi in your home. Smart dics can help, but if something else is broadcasting on the same channel as you, speeds can be reduced.

A Wi-Fi analyser can help ensure your router is on the best channel, and can help other sources. Microwave ovens, hands free phones can be amongst many things in your home that can cause issues.

I could be wrong, but it may give you something to look at.

[brighteyes123]

Thanks for the reply. I forgot to add that i have used a wifi analyser and switched to more stable channels. 

I have no issues that ISPs can't guarentee a constantly stable connection - what i can't get my head around is how can i go from perfectly stable FTTC broadband with no drops and consistent speed (i.e no interference) to apparently superior broadband with constant drops and speeds that go into kbps when nothing has changed to cause interference

[Mustrum]

Presumably you now have the new EE Smart Router - the white one - which combines 2.4 and 5Ghz Wi-Fi bands which you can't separate. It also has modes on the Wi-Fi all of which is meant to give higher speeds. However some things are not able to cope, so sometimes the only way round is to adjust things to the slowest device.

Where possible, if you can connect devices via cable. What I have done is to connect mains powerline adapters between my router which I have to have in my kitchen, to another next to the TV where I use a small ethernet switch to connect the TV/sat box/fire stick and so on. I use flat cables of the right length so no unsightly reels of it to try and hide.

It may be worth a rethink on what you can do.

[XRaySpeX]

With the white EE Smart Router, unlike the black EE Smart Hub, you cannot separate the wireless bands/SSIDs. The most you can do is to temporarily disable the 5 GHz band (reverse of eng's recommendation) & move off the Smart channel while connecting problematic 2.4 GHz devices.

[Ian06]

Depending on your router I think you can try different WiFi modes as described on this BT forum Wireless Mode settings ...

From the WiFi analyser how good was the signal strength.  Obviously you need to measure it where you intend to use it, but how does it compare with near the router? How far is the TV from the router and how many walls etc in between?

I assume you change routers when you had FTTP installed, is it in the same location as the old router?

Do you know how the WiFi strength differs between the new and old router and is it possible to connect with ethernet cables to avoid the WiFi issue?

[brighteyes123]

Thanks for the reply.

The new router is in the same place as the old one was. Wifi strength on both routers is similar (although, granted it was a while ago when i tested on the old router).

I've analysed the wifi in all areas of the house and the channel i moved it to is perfect but i am still getting drops to kbps. 

As you'd expect, there are walls and ceillings everywhere but nothing different to how it used to be.

Unfortunately, cables are not an option due to the location of the router but even if in an ideal place, i'd still question why i should have to do this.

[Ian06]

Yes I agree you shouldn't have to use cables if it work perfectly with the old router, but it would have been an easy solution if you could!

If it all worked perfectly before then it sounds like it's either periodic WiFi (radio) interference or perhaps a faulty router...  I would either try a different router (if you have one) or try to persuade Cust Services that there's a problem with the router and ask for a replacement.

[Ian06]

@brighteyes123 - did you find out if you can change the WiFi mode, I believe the EE router is a rebadged BT Router?

Also just to warn you that the EE smart hubs only work with the EE routers, so whilst you may get better WiFi coverage from a different router you may lose then mesh functionality of the smart hubs  discs.

edit: hubs to discs.

[XRaySpeX]

Eh, @Ian06 ? EE Smart Hubs are EE routers. You mean EE Smart WiFi Discs.