Wifi ?

[grumpygit]

My wifi signal obviously deteriorates the further you go away from the router, there is one area where the best is 65 dBm and often drifts out to 75/80 dBm.
As the minimum requirement for video streaming is about 67 dBm, I clearly need to improve the signal in that area.
So having looked at various options I am considering going for the BT whole home system, has anyone got it and if so is it as good as it sounds.

 

[brb]

My wifi signal obviously deteriorates the further you go away from the router, there is one area where the best is 65 dBm and often drifts out to 75/80 dBm.
As the minimum requirement for video streaming is about 67 dBm, I clearly need to improve the signal in that area.
So having looked at various options I am considering going for the BT whole home system, has anyone got it and if so is it as good as it sounds.

Never heard of it until now! Seems to have pretty decent reviews, and depending where you look ranges between 4 and 5 stars. Would i spend several hundred quid on it, probably not, but certainly appears the decent solution to dead zones as its called, and would appear the best on the market for your needs. I only saw two cons on the marketing side, they were no usb connection on each disc (one ethernet) and needs a base router to work (I thought the last one to be pretty obvious).

My best advise would be to go to amazon and check the reviews, there are currently 787 of them! 3.9 stars - five stars are always pretty obvious, click to bring up the one star reviews and see if any of the cons will affect you, if they are even valid cons.

 

[alwaysright]

brb
You may think that you're being clever - but - I do know that when you mentioned grumpygit and 'dead zones', you intended that I should take the bait - and humiliate poor old grumpygit -he got totally confused when somebody mentioned 'dial-up' to him - because he only had a push button telephone.

...... surely grumpygit could avoid a lot of expense by getting a Wifi booster ???

 

[brb]

brb
You may think that you're being clever - but - I do know that when you mentioned grumpygit and 'dead zones', you intended that I should take the bait - and humiliate poor old grumpygit -he got totally confused when somebody mentioned 'dial-up' to him - because he only had a push button telephone.

...... surely grumpygit could avoid a lot of expense by getting a Wifi booster ???

Funny you should mention it, i was actually going to call it black spots, however, after seeing the recent fury over someone ordering a black coffee, i decided to be politically correct and check the precise terminology that BT use....hence dead zones...dial up

 

[grumpygit]

Always, I did look at a normal booster but a decent one will cost over £100 and still have dead zones.
The beauty of the whole home system (if it does what it says) is the way it will monitor the signal and use the strongest path, changes from one route to another are supposedly seamless as well.
I was hopping someone was already using it and could confirm it as good as it appears.

I am looking to install a couple of extra cameras in low signal areas, it probably doesn't help that I run amazon echo and a host of smart devices linked to that, it all gobbles up the band width.

 

[itstimupnorth]

Can't comment on the whole home system as we haven't got it, but we do use BT for internet - the Superfast Fibre Plus service on a BT Series 6 router which is sited in an upstairs study (because my son runs an ethernet connection to his room for his gaming and computer). The only room it has difficulty reaching is a downstairs back room where I've installed a Netgear range extender connected to my computer with an ethernet cable, which gives about 70mbs download speed. Without the ethernet cable I get about 45-50mbps.

You'll appreciate that the strength of signal you are getting is mostly dependent on the service provided by your supplier and the quality of the router. My son works for an ISP and does say that the BT Series 6 router is significantly better than the series 5, and in essence a bloody good router.

So then it's down to cost. If you've got a decent supplier and you think a router upgrade might help then I suggest see if your ISP has upgraded their router since you got yours and haggle - I got my BT upgrade free eventually. Otherwise the range extender option might be worth looking at - I think mine was less than £20, and if the problem is only in 1 or 2 areas it'll be much less expensive that a new top quality router.

 

[grumpygit]

I am already with BT and have their latest version router, I still get quite a few dead spots.
I do have a couple of thick walls (between 12" and 18" ) so that doesn't help, I also have quite a distance for the signal to travel to reach the farthest points.
Thanks for the reply anyway but after lots of googling and reading of reviews I will save my pennies for the whole home system.

 

[The Gills PegLeg]

Have Virgin Media where I am due to the package we were offered with the TV. Used to be excellent but as time has gone on and more users have switched to Virgin in our street we haven't necessarily enjoyed the previous strength that we used to upstairs. Downstairs is still fairly rapid mind you.

 

[alwaysright]

Have Virgin Media where I am due to the package we were offered with the TV. Used to be excellent but as time has gone on and more users have switched to Virgin in our street we haven't necessarily enjoyed the previous strength that we used to upstairs. Downstairs is still fairly rapid mind you.

I too do not have the strength when 'upstairs' that I once had - and as for 'downstairs' - sometimes the speed is quicker than I would like !!!