topic Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router. in Broadband & Landline

PC does not 'see' new EE router.

KenS49 — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 12:23:19 GMT

Hello to all. This is my 1st contact with the community.

I have to start with a rant: I have been "migrated" to EE from BT. I had a fully functioning Broad band system with BT for 10 years with 3 levels of BT Router . With EE I do not!

My PC does not 'see' the EE router as an available network. It 'sees' two of my neighbour's BT routers and their Sky boxes plus my weather station as an AP (Access Point). The laptop in the furthest corner of the house 'sees' the EE router as does my Playstation, my ROKU box and my weather station. The PC has not been moved and the EE Router is in the same location as the BT Router.

My PC is connecting to an EE Hotspot which is possibly hundreds of metres away. The Wi-Fi extender (my last hope according to EE's IT group, by connecting to that by an Ethernet Cable) that should have been delivered with the Router will now take up to14 days to arrive.

Can anyone suggest why I am unable to connect my PC to the EE router? I am running Windows 8.1 and my Wi-Fi Adapter is an ASUS PCE-N15 11n Wireless LAN PCI-E Card. Any help would be appreciated.

Ken

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

bobpullen — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 13:19:06 GMT

That's a pretty old, 2.4GHz-only Wi-Fi adapter.

If you access the Hub Manager at http://192.168.1.254 and navigate to Advanced Settings > Wireless, you will see an option for 'Wireless Mode' or similar.

You can try downgrading that to a lesser mode to see if it helps. Worth bearing in mind though, that in doing so, you are effectively reducing the Wi-Fi performance/capability for every device on your network.

I'd personally be looking at upgrading the (almost 15 year old) Wi-Fi adapter.

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

KenS49 — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 15:16:32 GMT

Hi Bob.

Thanks for your response.

Initially I tried EE's IT Service and the chap there remotely rebooted the router with no improvement and then he switched it to 2.4 GHz only and I rebooted my PC and it still did not show on 'available networks'. He then booked for an IT engineer to call the following day. He changed the telephone wall socket and tried to pin down the problem but could not get my PC to 'lock on'. The PC is 10 years old as is my wife's laptop and that shows the EE 7 hub. It has a 802.11N Wireless system. The EE chap also tried switching the hub to 2.4gHz with no effect. He suggested buying TP Links and using an Ethernet cable to connect to the router, but when I said that the Wi-Fi extender (that should have been sent with the router) arrived I should use that to connect via an Ethernet cable.

Today, I spent an hour on the phone to a very apologetic chap at EE's IT group who tried very hard but could not help.

I have asked the PC manufacturer if they can help by suggesting which Wi-Fi adapter I should get.

If all else fails, would a USB Wi-Fi adapter do the job?

Finally, what is the major difference between the BT-5 and EE-7 routers that means I could connect to one but not the other?

Ken

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

XRaySpeX — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 15:29:18 GMT

If those nos. in your last sentence are meant to be WiFi generations the EE Smart Hub Plus is WiFi-6.

Did you try @bobpullen 's suggestion of lowering the 'Wireless Mode' ?

You could also try lowering the "Security Type" to WPA2 or WPA-WPA2 on the same page.

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

bobpullen — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 16:04:06 GMT

@KenS49 - The EE hub introduces Wi-Fi 6/ax capability that is lacking in the earlier BT hubs. There is also support for more radio channels and higher channel bandwidth, amongst other things. In short, the hub carries support for technologies that simply didn't exist when your Wi-Fi card was manufactured.

A USB adapter would probably be fine, assuming the USB ports on the machine are at least USB2. If you were to go this route, I'd suggest something that has support for at least 2.4GHz and 5GHz (Wi-Fi 5).

I wouldn't suggest spending any money though until some of the previous suggestions have been attempted.

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

Mustrum — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 16:40:44 GMT

Hey @KenS49 do you still have the BT Router? If so and you have not had to send it back, you could just carry on using that.

As already explained, it won't have the same features as the EE one, but if your needs were met by the BT one theb it could be an option.

HTH

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

KenS49 — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 10:12:13 GMT

Thanks again to Bob, to XRaySpeX and Mustrum.

I did try to access the router via http://192.168.1.254 but the connection 'timed out', the router took too long to respond. Both EE IT chaps (one on the phone who tried remotely) and the one who called to the house, switched the Router to 2.4GHz but it did not show up on the Networks list, even after rebooting both the router and the PC.

Unfortunately, I didn't realise that I was only connected via an EE hotspot (thought EE WiFi was my new router!!) until after the BT5 router had been returned. I was advised by EE to keep the BT Wi-Fi Disc (extender) but that will not pair to the EE hub either.

So, I will wait until the EE extender arrives (up to 14 days!!) to see if that fixes the issue. If not, Plan B may be a USB Wi-Fi adapter (any suggestions on the best would be welcome) plan C: adapters that use the mains as a carrier via Ethernet cable connections(?). Plan D : a new Adapter Card (waiting for advice from PC manufacturer re: possible compatibility issues). Plan E: start saving for a new PC!!!

Thanks again to all.

Ken

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

Mystiqueen — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 11:37:10 GMT

If you have some old Android phone lying around, some of them will let you share their internet access as a hot spot. Might be worth a try while you wait.

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

KenS49 — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 12:48:30 GMT

Thanks Mystiqueen.

I am currently logged on via an EE hotspot (shows at EE WiFi on list of available networks). It means that I have to log in as soon as I open a browser. Seems to be playing tricks on my McAfee software too. However, I won't worry about that until I am up and running via my EE router.

Ken

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

KenS49 — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 09:49:07 GMT

Thank you to all who responded with help and suggestions.

The EE Wi-Fi extender arrived this morning. I positioned it next to my PC, 'paired ' it to the router and connected my PC to it with an Ethernet cable. I powered up my PC, and disabled the Wi-Fi Adapter via Control Panel.

All is now well. The system tells me I am enjoying 1Gbit/sec transfer speed !!!

Not sure if that is accurate but it is faster than it has ever been in the last 10 years.

Ken

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

JJslippers — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 14:27:44 GMT

thank you, this resolved it for me on Win7 PC, but as yousay has downgraded Wireless fromWireless 6 to Wirelss Mode 5 for all devices.

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

dljprince — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 15:20:02 GMT

I'm having the same issue, my laptop is only 6 mths old and recognised the Hub when it was first switched on but now deosnt see the newt work.

My Sons Samsung S22 is doing the same was connected fine then a speed improvement via the app seems to have caused an issue.

This cant be a network card issue as the Samsung is having the same problem.

Any other suggestions

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

JimM11 — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 17:20:03 GMT

@dljprince Have you tried switching of the router for a couple of minutes and then rebooting it?

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

dljprince — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 17:36:09 GMT

I've actually solved the problem. You can update your devices that were connected to your previous router, when I did that it changed the name of the router and made the password the same as the old router.

Seems rather bizarre but it's now all connected and seems to be at the correct speed.

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

JamesT10 — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 17:50:55 GMT

I had a problem with a desktop PC not seeing our EE wifi network. I'm a Mac user so was fumbling around a bit, but found an option to update drivers for the computer's wifi receiver. Once it had updated the driver it showed our network in the available networks list and was able to connect.

I should add that during the process my router restarted because I also tried switching on the Guest Network to see if the PC could see that. That could equally have been the fix.

Re: PC does not 'see' new EE router.

JanetLAinsworth — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 14:07:48 GMT

Did you pay for any of this.

I have same problem and have been advised I may need a booster at a cost of £7 a month