Internet unavailable over WiFi whilst transferring files over WiFi

[Dabmonger]

I've quite recently joined EE, and was supplied with the Smart Hub Plus.

Everything has been fine, that is, until today when I started transferring files between two Windows PCs over WiFi. 

Ever since I first had WiFi, I've never experienced such a transfer of files to render the internet (over WiFi anyway) as being unusable - it's not that it's slow, it actually becomes impossible to connect to devices over WiFi.

One of the Windows PCs is connected to the hub via ethernet, the other via WiFi, and being close to each other the file transfer speeds are rather high. 

I've never experienced this issue with another router before, and I don't know if this issue is due to these particular circumstances, or if it's due to the hub itself.

I've never had to worry about QoS before, and I understand that QoS is not configurable on a Smart Hub Plus. 

I look forward to finding out if there's anything wrong with the hub, and, if not, whether there's anything that can be done (other than placing to the two PCs further apart!).

[Rach_H]

Hi @Dabmonger,

Welcome to the Community!

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you're having with your file transfer, as I understand that this is far from ideal.

Have you tried this more than once, or does this seem to be a consistent problem?

Rach

[Dabmonger]

Hi @Rach_H .

I tried transferring files a couple of times, and both times it effectively broke the internet.

I messaged EE and the Guide reset the router (I was hoping at the time that they were changing some QoS setting, or something!), and on transferring files after that, the issue was still present. 

I get the impression that it I transferred files using at least one PC that's further away from the hub, then all would be ok. 

In this particular case, as one PC is beside the hub connected by ethernet, and the second PC is connect via WiFi BUT is close to the first PC and hub itself. 

I get the impression that the file transfer speeds are such that there is no room left for the internet in the WiFi "pipe".

I would've thought that it should be like two people running baths at the same time, with one bath (local file transfer, say) running at half max, and the other bath (internet) also running at half max, such that both baths can still be run at the same time!

I'm going to test further, but it's a bit tricky when one of the TVs is only using Freely & Netflix basically, so it needs the internet all the time, and it's not connected to an aerial or satellite. 

The other issue is that the whole internet becomes unusable basically, so all the gadgets that one takes for granted also become unusable. 

Anyway, I will do a little more testing, and report back!

[Christopher_G]

Good morning, @Dabmonger 

I would be interesting to see what happens with your tests. If you have any problems with the service again, I recommend taking the findings from your tests and calling our technical support team, so they can look into it further and book an engineer, if needed.

Chris

[Dabmonger]

Morning @Christopher_G .

I actually contacted the chat team, and they performed a factory reset on the router - it's so annoying to lose everything and start again pretty much - I thought there was some QoS setting change or something getting carried out at the same by the Guide, but alas, no! 

They wanted to book an engineer, but I think that was largely to do with the internet being "slow", I'm not sure. I think, however, the guaranteed minimum speed has been set to an incorrect value for my property, and that's an issue that is still to be resolved (in short, EE has previously raised a fairly, promised a phone call at a certain time, didn't call, and they just closed down the "complaint" some time prior to the time of the promised phone call; I've just noticed that they apparently closed it as tests had shown there was no longer an issue - but nothing had changed, my download speeds (typical over many years) were still miles short of the guaranteed download speed!).

And then on upgrading from Fibre 50 (fastest option available on purchase, due to download speeds being around 45 Meg) to Fibre 67, my upload speeds have not increased to my normal 11 or 12 Meg.

The intention is to test this hub with fine transfers and whatever, and then speak to a manager about everything as a whole.

Thx again.

[Christopher_G]

OK, thanks @Dabmonger 

I think it's a good idea to raise it all as a whole. If you prefer, you can raise a complaint on this webform. A dedicated team will open a case, look into it and give you a call to discuss further.

Hopefully, they can help find a solution for you.

Chris

[Dabmonger]

Hi again @Christopher_G .

What I didn't mention earlier was that I raised an issue (using the chat service) about the large amount of internet downtime between my old service stopping and the new one starring.

A complaint was raised, I was informed that I would be contacted, nothing ever happened and the complaint was just closed.

On having the issue with being given an impossible guarantee speed for my property (OR visited in 2021, and did the best they could, including moving the location of the master socket itself), along with upload speeds being considerably slower than those with my previous ISP (upload seems to still be capped at 9 Meg), I had a long convo on the phone about everything, a complaint and fault was raised for a few days, and it was just subsequently closed citing that there is no longer an issue. 

On contacting EE by chat regarding having issues with the internet during performing file transfers over WiFi, the Guide basically just went ahead and factory reset the router and booked an EE engineer. I just got bullied into the engineer visit, which I cancelled after the chat. 

On speaking to three Guides over the phone, two didn't realise that the CEO of the BT Group took the decision some time ago that both BT and EE would be kept open for residential customers, and the pushing of such customers to EE terminated. 

The point is, talking to Guides on the phone or chat, or filling out web forms, ain't going to cut the mustard here - I've even discussed this a fair bit here on this forum with @XRaySpeX .

I can only see that a discussion with a (senior) manager is the way forward, or I'll find myself going round in circles 😉

[Christopher_G]

OK, thanks @Dabmonger 

I've sent you a private message to try and get you some further help. Please take a look and get back to me.

Chris

[Dabmonger]

Thanks @Christopher_G .

As I was saying, I didn't want to go round and round the houses again.

I really need to talk with someone who can explain what's happened in my case both service-wise and technical-wise.

I've replied to your PM.

Thanks again.

[Timbo45]

@Dabmonger 

Transferring files between 2 Windows PCs , 1 with a 1 gigabit ethernet port and the other with presumably a decent wireless adapter would hit the maximum rate that the wifi adapter would work at.

The hub , whichever model you have , is either not capable of handling that sort of throughput OR (and most likely) the wifi band being used by all devices is being maxed out.

If your wifi enabled PC runs on the 5GHz and other devices are set to use the 2.4GHz band that might be better. Depending which model hub you have you might be able to change the name - SSID - of the 5GHz band so only the wifi PC would connect to it.