Upgraded! to Full fibre 150

[owmutch]

I just had the instal of the new fibre cable and ee smarthub plus. I was on a copper line before getting around 35/10 mb/s. I voiced concerns that the new router position at the back of the house which was the site of the new router (no option apparently), may not give a good signal through the stone walls to the front of the house, but was assured otherwise as it was a magic smart hub plus. When the installers had finished I tried connecting the smart tv and surprise - there was no internet in the front room. I rigged up a TP link av600 kit and managed to connect, but was only getting around 35/25 mbps with them on extension leads. The next day I phoned EE helpline and explained the situation, they ran tests and said all was well their end. The help/sales desk concluded that I needed the EE wifi extenders involving a higher monthly payment. No way was I doing that and after a tidy up of the tplink instal I managed to get around 65/25mbps. This is fast enough for my needs, but falls short of the minimum quoted for this service. I don't see why people should be coerced to pay more to get the promised contract speeds.

[JimM11]

@owmutch Welcome to the Forum. As you have found the Smart Hub Plus is not a magic device although it does have a reasonable wi-fi output signal, It is unfortunate that the installers always seem to do the easiest for them but it is no way near the best position for operation of the router. Only way to be effective is to move router, and use a Network Ethernet cable from your Openreach ONT modem to the New position that you need the router at. The TP-Link AV600 do not appear to play well in diagnosing what is going on, i have 2 units connected, one with straight ethernet, and one with wi-fi, as they are both working have decided that it it is to much of an issue to fault find any more, also powerline does not like being on extension cables, so you are always better to have connected to the main sockets.

As for your speed, only the sync to router is what they will guarantee so you need to check via the web interface what you have, i am currently running on fttc old copper waiting on fibre, and it is swinging wildly from 47mb/s to 34mb/s so trying to work out what is going on.

The wi-fi booster option from EE you are correct, why pay more and who knows if it would even solve your issue's.

[owmutch]

JimM11

Yes it was a Friday afternoon job so easiest and quickest possible it seems.

Thanks for the advice on moving the router via ethernet cable. I shall do that in the near future. You are right about tp-link and extension leads, once I moved them direct to wall sockets the speed doubled.

I'm happy with the performance presently, but feel a bit cheated as the ee promises didn't materialize, a bit like politicians I suppose.

Like you I was on a copper line, which kept going down due to corroded connections in various junctions around town. All the best with your switchover, but step 1  has to be that you choose the location of the fibre ONT - oh and avoid Friday afternoons if you can. They want to get home early.

[JimM11]

@owmutch Will be in similar situation once OR manage to get FTTP onto the pole, was to be sept last year so they are running a bit behind, go figure. It all appears to be what can be done, possibly new rules as to where, why and when for the install, and that will be the deciding factor's, good for them to say we want it here but as you say it's not always in the best place for the customer and then you have the issue of getting the cable to were you really need it for the best operation of the broadband.

Step 1 is going to be the issue i know were i want it, exact place that the cable goes to at present, will supply power to that point for the ONT, and run ethernet to were the router needs to be. Will have to fight that battle at that time, will all depend on installation team from OR.

[owmutch]

@JimM11 

At least you have a plan for the instal, which is more than I did. No doubt you will get it sorted.

I thought I'd finished running cables in the house, but it looks like I need a 20M ethernet to finish the job. With all this wifi business I completely forgot about the basics of running a cable until you mentioned it.