Got the new 1.6gb service connected - max speed 900mb..

[Zilos]

Hey all - 

After a complete nightmare getting the service up and running (they initially created the account as 900MB, had to cancel that account and are now trying to bill me for £1300), I finally have it running.

Imagine my surprise when the max speed is 900mb, exactly what I was paying for before - only now I pay more.

I called the EE team, they told me the SmartHub is rated for 1gb only - he even confirmed it in an email.

I'd appreciate any help on what I can do here.. very close to an Ofcom complaint. 

Can I replace the SmartHub with a router of my choosing? Will this even work? If it does, I guess that's a partial solution however EE should float that bill - not me!

Any help appreciated,
Nick

[Zilos]

Hey - I just had the new 1.6gb installed. They told me their SmartHub is rated for 1gb only. (1gb ports..)

Does this mean I can buy a router myself and replace the SmartHub? There won't be any issue doing this, the service isn't tied to EE router?

Any help appreciated..

[Zilos]

I have the new 1.6gb service - being told the SmartHub ports are rated for 1GB only.. do I need to buy a new router does anyone know? Why do I have to float this cost when EE promised 1.6gb? This is dodgy territory and bordering on a scam as I'm not getting what I was promised.

[Mustrum]

@Zilos  correct you can use your own router.

The one proviso, that you don't have EE's Digital Voice.

[Zilos]

Thank you @Mustrum - that's really helpful.

One more question if that's OK.. Do I need to buy a whole new router, can I just buy a switch? The routers with 2.5gb ports seem quite expensive!

[miggle]

The connection is rated for 1.6gb. The ethernet ports in the standard hub are 1gb. You can saturate the WiFi to 1.6gb . If you want to go faster you need to use a 3rd party router. You can replace it of any router of your choosing. I chose the Asus gt-axe16000, which can handle multi-gigabit connections. But you can pick whatever you want. Just plug it straight into the ONT.

[XRaySpeX]

A switch won't help. It's still limited by the 1 Gig LAN ports on the SH+.

[Mustrum]

@Zilos   Not sure a switch will do you much good, the connection needs to authenticate via PPOE, although the Username is just the generic BT one.

[Zilos]

Appreciate that @miggle  - thank you for the reply.

Feels weird I have to supply my own router and pay out of pocket.. does EE or BT not offer any 2.5gb port routers?

[garetc]

Yep, there’s only one 2.5Gbps port which you have to use to plug the ONT into the rest are only 1Gbps. 

To really take advantage of the 1.6Gbps connection you need a WiFi 6E or 7 and/or or a router with multiple 2.5Gbps ports, your devices will need to be compatible with the router standards too.

Before my connection started to play up I was getting 1.3Gbps over WiFi using the EE router which is the best I’ve seen on the various routers I’ve tested but I was in the same room and next to the router. 

Technically their WiFi 6 device is rated up to 1.6Gbps but in reality that’s unlikely to be achieved so it’s not mis-selling. 

EE have said they want to be the first operator to launch a WiFi 7 device