900mbps > 1.6gbps upgrade / gigabit wifi suggestions

[ChicChoco]

Hello all

Just before calling EE, we went live just over two weeks ago and now wish I’d gone 1.6gbps, the guide on the phone during sales call said I can upgrade in contract but not downgrade, so is it possible now to upgrade from gigabit essentials to busiest home / gamer package? Online it doesn’t show the option apart from gigabit full works / all rounder.

No DV or TV sub.

Also, couple of questions:

How do i activate the free Xbox game pass ultimate for 12 months? It shows the addon in the EE app under broadband, but won’t load with an error and doesn’t say it’s free?

Any third party wifi AP / router suggestions, currently the EE hub and my RT-AX88U are both struggling at 550-650mbps and wanted to ideally get higher (not sure how, but the smart hub plus is outperforming the RT-AX88U on wifi speed - but only when it doesn’t have to handle routing - DCHP disabled / as an AP into the RT-AX88U). House is a three storey 2008 build.

Thanks a lot

Scott

[ChicChoco]

Also, the wifi is being tested with wifi 6 clients and RT-AX88U is set to 160mhz bandwidth and I tried manually setting all channels to get the best speed but that device is 3 years old so maybe time to replace it so interested to know what setup people are rolling with…

[JimM11]

@ChicChoco Until you try Ethernet test, with possible if you can all wi-fi devices off and find out what the baseline speed test is. Wireless has far to many variables, and network is a shared resource. If you are not able to hit the 900's via Ethernet as a starting point, then you need to look at what's going on!

[ChicChoco]

All good on Ethernet, 937mbps. Just wanting to know what wifi setups people are using on the 900mbps/1.6gbps plan to maximise possible WiFi speed. I’ve read quite a few reviews and bits online but wanted to know real life what people are using and their experience…

[JimM11]

@ChicChoco Gigabit you are covered, will take a look at the Asus spec tomorrow and get back regarding it unless someone else pops up, XT8 user myself, pretty sure that your router is way up there but need to take a quick look. Favoured if you search the forum is the TP-Link range but keep away from the BE550, or Orbi if the cost does not put you off on it. Going 1.6Gb/s does include the latest EE hardware New Pro router and smartwifi mesh to suit, and until it gets into the hands of some experienced user's there is not much known about it currently apart from some hardware details.

[JimM11]

@ChicChoco Taken a look at your Asus router, with it's spec you should easily get higher wireless speed than your current values posted, can see why the + would be faster, due to processor/age/newer etc. Now the crux is all of the combined, do not know what your layout is like, high speed wireless you need to be close device to router within 6', Your EE is NOT an AP even though you think so, mode wise and how connected. If you are heading towards the 1.6Gb/s package, then HW would be free, and as yet until someone gets it in there hands and thrashes the life out of it, all will be revealed within a couple off weeks/months...

[JimM11]

@ChicChoco Quick snapshot of the Asus RP in RE mode to the EE router, gives you the idea.

[ChicChoco]

Yeah on paper the RT-AX88U is a powerful wifi6 router that IMO should out perform the SH+ or at least perform to a similar level.

When I use the SH+ on its own, two storeys up the wifi is 250-300mbps and performs worse than the RT-AX88U on its own (achieves 350mbps).

When I use the RT-AX88U as an AP (Ethernet back haul to the SH+) the speed is similar two storeys up, no improvement.

When I use the SH+ as an AP (disable DCHP, UPnP, change IP to a static one in the existing subnet and plug into the RT-AX88U LAN to LAN ports, then I get 650mbps two storeys via the wifi chip on the SH+. This surprised me!

It seems the wifi chip of the SH+ is really decent but when it needs to handle the routing and DCHP too is when the performance drops.

So, so far, the best setup I have is the SH+ connected to the RT-AX88U as a main router , which still blows my mind and I don’t experience the drops or issues like others do. My wife however doesn’t appreciate the glowing orange LED so it’s not a permanent solution.

Now I'm conscious on what to buy and so far the Smart Hub Pro looks very promising on paper, so I’m feeling if they are going to charge me for addon it’s worth just paying extra per month to get 1.6gbps and the router free, as its WiFi 7 it should perform good.

It looks like we’re starting to see ISP supplied routers that are capable of good wifi performance, and what I don’t want to do is buy another setup and achieve less performance.

I just wish they let you pick your own dns servers, more than any other pro feature with their hubs; and treat the advanced settings like an actual management panel.

I have been looking at UnFi setups too but still considering pros / cons.

Thanks

[ChicChoco]

I’m calling now about how to redeem Xbox game pass ultimate free for 12 months so will ask the upgrade question too 👍🏻

[JimM11]

@ChicChoco You can turn the light off in the EE admin manager, and will only come on for a fault condition.

Edit: It's all down to the maths of addon plus lower speed, what premium that they put on the Pro unit's, got to get the money back some how, features and lock down will not be known until user's get the hands on, cannot blame EE for that, badly setup router can cause headaches for support that they will not wish to have. Also just don't get your speed's, even my phone gets up to 1.2gb/s displayed when about 4' from the EE router, beginning to think you need to wifi analyse and look at the devices you have. If you look at my Pic you will see the 5Ghz AP speed and signal strength relative to the EE, distance between units will be about 40' and one wall between. You should be able to see similar with your web interface to the RT you have, only QOS or IPV6 bad would possible bring your wi-fi down so low. Hope you get it all sorted to your needs. Keep the wife happy and turn the orange glow off.🙄