Will EE Replace A Old Brightbox 2 With A Newer Model?

[Robile]

1. I have been running a Brightbox 2 router with an ethernet cable extending out to my home office where it plugs into an extender device in Access Point mode.
2. Everything has been fine for years but sometime between 3pm-4:30pm on 01Dec23 the extender stopped being recognised by any of the devices usually connected to it.
3. Suspected it was a faulty extender so I replaced it with a new, different brand one - but no joy. Multiple set-up attempts saw the extender recognised but it would not allow a connection to the internet! I'm now suspecting it's something to do with the router itself...but...
4. ....Wifi near the router itself is as good as always but it doesn't reach the home office and an extender is needed and that needs to be ethernet speed, not wifi repeater speed.
5. I think the best solution is to get a more more powerful router that does away with the need for extenders. Does EE actually supply a router with decent range and would they send one considering I've had this Brightbox since about 2017?  

[XRaySpeX]

You could but ask. I'm still using the BrightBox 2 in preference to the newer routers but I don't use extenders. The latest EE routers are functionally weaker than the BrightBox 2.

[Robile]

Thanks for responding.

When you say ‘functionally weaker’ do you mean range or something else?

My requirements are pretty vanilla. Family of 4 running multiple devices and some smart home devices. The main thing is the home office users (x2) who are both video conferencing all day but in a part of the house that is far away from the router.

I logged into the Advance settings of the Brightbox dashboard and I was pretty freaked out by all the potential config available in there. I’ve never touched it before, nor would I have thought any of it is relevant to me. I just want strong wifi on all 4 floors of my house. So do the more modern EE routers out-class the Brightbox in that respect, do you know?

[XRaySpeX]

No, I do mean functionality, as you seem to have just stumbled upon, not its power .