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Post by Tim on Oct 13, 2020 12:25:44 GMT
For some reason our home broadband (through BT) has recently become really bad.
We're out in the sticks so knew it wouldn't be great but the last 2 weeks have been exceptionally bad.
So with this in mind I plan to get a wireless contract with a home hub as well.
Anyone got any experience of these?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2020 12:47:48 GMT
Mrs M upstairs has one it's variable to say the least.
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Post by johnc on Oct 13, 2020 12:52:19 GMT
We've recently had BT change our cable from the house to the local box and our broadband has improved massively. We have also hard wired our computer internet connection because the wireless dongle we used before used to drop the signal on a random basis. We have the latest BT hub too.
When you say you are going to get a wireless contract, how does that work? Our hub is still plugged in to the main BT socket and it is wireless from there to other devices in the house except the computer, for which we ran a cable directly to the hub.
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Post by racingteatray on Oct 13, 2020 13:18:30 GMT
Yes, my wife has a Vodafone 4G wireless broadband device. White thing about the size and look of a smallish bar of soap. She got it in May so that she could work remotely over the summer in places without fixed broadband, such as her family's various houses up in Appenines (as they don't live in any of them full-time, none of them bothered fitting broadband). As she uses it for work, she went for the unlimited data version which is £30ish per month on a rolling monthly contract.
It actually works pretty well. Not least because you can position it where the signal is best and it then effectively boosts it through the house, although thick stone walls will defeat it.
Battery life isn't amazing, so best to leave it plugged in.
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Post by Tim on Oct 13, 2020 13:25:07 GMT
We've recently had BT change our cable from the house to the local box and our broadband has improved massively. We have also hard wired our computer internet connection because the wireless dongle we used before used to drop the signal on a random basis. We have the latest BT hub too. When you say you are going to get a wireless contract, how does that work? Our hub is still plugged in to the main BT socket and it is wireless from there to other devices in the house except the computer, for which we ran a cable directly to the hub. We'll keep the BT connection but add a separate one that provides broadband over the airwaves. I suppose it's the same as using 4g on a smart phone but in this instance it goes into a normal looking hub first. That way one of us could use the home broadband for working and the other could use the wireless. www.4g.co.uk/home-broadband/ |
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Post by michael on Oct 13, 2020 14:01:18 GMT
I’ve used them in the past. The download speed is great but the upload not so much.
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Post by Tim on Oct 13, 2020 14:12:04 GMT
Didn't you have a handy link to something about this subject Michael?
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Post by michael on Oct 13, 2020 14:36:17 GMT
It was UK Superfast but that now seems to be this: buildingdigital.campaign.gov.uk/When we got it there was a scheme to pay for the equipment which included a receiver dish on the side of the house and the router. When it worked it was good but it failed more than I was happy with. That’d likely down to the local provider though. |
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Post by PG on Oct 13, 2020 16:44:23 GMT
We get about 9-10 Mbps download and just under 1 upload from BT. But they say it is 10 / 1 so meets the required minimum service under the government guarantee. The download speed we cope with (you can watch a film OK). It is the upload speed that kills it. If I have larger files to upload I use my iPhone as a 4G hotspot and it is quicker. We did look at Airband ( www.airband.co.uk) who offer 20-40 d/l and 10 u/l at our postcode which uses wireless technology. But their customer service and reliability looks shocking so we've stayed with BT at the moment. ( www.broadband.co.uk/broadband/providers/airband/reviews/). |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2020 17:47:11 GMT
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 13, 2020 18:08:05 GMT
We have those in the South Wing and they work well. |
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 13, 2020 20:33:41 GMT
We have those in the South Wing and they work well. Yes, but if your basic internet connection is crap, they won't help much... they'll just enable you to connect quicker from elsewhere in the house to a crap connection. When younger daughter move home in July, her new place came without any broadband so we did a bit of checking and she got a "3" mobile internet hub. It's fast enough for her to watch catch-up TV, Netflix etc with the signal strength usually on 3 or 4 bars out of 5. She's only had an issue one week-end when there was no connection at all, but that appears to have been down to a local outage for maintenance work. If you're not going to stream to multiple devices in your home at once, this may be the way to go, but check the coverage and speed maps first |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 14, 2020 7:33:10 GMT
We have those in the South Wing and they work well. Yes, but if your basic internet connection is crap, they won't help much... they'll just enable you to connect quicker from elsewhere in the house to a crap connection. When younger daughter move home in July, her new place came without any broadband so we did a bit of checking and she got a "3" mobile internet hub. It's fast enough for her to watch catch-up TV, Netflix etc with the signal strength usually on 3 or 4 bars out of 5. She's only had an issue one week-end when there was no connection at all, but that appears to have been down to a local outage for maintenance work. If you're not going to stream to multiple devices in your home at once, this may be the way to go, but check the coverage and speed maps first True. We have 200Mps download and 40Mps upload. |
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Post by Tim on Oct 14, 2020 8:34:11 GMT
We've just done a speed test and it's 3 and a bit download, 0.4 upload!
I'm not complaining, we knew it'd be crap when we bought the house since we choose to live in the sticks.
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 14, 2020 9:11:48 GMT
We've just done a speed test and it's 3 and a bit download, 0.4 upload! I'm not complaining, we knew it'd be crap when we bought the house since we choose to live in the sticks. So you could benefit from mobile broadband instead.... first steps are to try the online websites of the various providers to see what sort of coverage they offer in your area, then look at the signal strength on your mobile phone/friend's mobile phones (if they are allowed to visit you) to get an idea of real-world signal (indoors as well as outdoors) where you live, across the various networks. As an example, about a couple of miles from me is a large out-of-town superstore. It's on a link road to the M3 from an industrial area. Outside in the car park the mobile phone signal is good, but inside the store starting from almost immediately you go through the doors, there's no mobile phone coverage and this has remained such over 10+ years when I've changed provider too, so Vodafone, Virgin (EE?) and 3 all have zero signal inside the building.... yet I See some people talking on their phones, so at least one of the other networks must have good indoor coverage there. |
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Post by johnc on Oct 15, 2020 11:07:45 GMT
We've just done a speed test and it's 3 and a bit download, 0.4 upload! I'm not complaining, we knew it'd be crap when we bought the house since we choose to live in the sticks. That's nearly unworkable if you have to work from home and it's at the level that had my wife looking to slit her wrists when working from home. Good luck getting that sorted. I get bombarded by Vodafone offering me their fast broadband but I have no idea if their system just piggy backs on the BT phone lines (like Sky) or if it is actually wireless based. |
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 15, 2020 12:45:05 GMT
^
A quick google shows that Vodafone rely upon BT's openreach network, so looks like it uses the BT phonelines
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Post by johnc on Oct 15, 2020 14:33:13 GMT
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Post by Tim on Oct 15, 2020 16:29:33 GMT
Apparently superfast fibre broadband is run along the A913, which is a bout 500 yards away....
EE and Vodafone both want £40/month for 200GB of 4G wireless broadband.
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Post by Martin on Oct 15, 2020 17:13:38 GMT
Apparently superfast fibre broadband is run along the A913, which is a bout 500 yards away.... EE and Vodafone both want £40/month for 200GB of 4G wireless broadband. An unlimited EE Data SIM only is £37 a month or £25 for 200GB. All you'd need is a mobile WIFI device, which are anything from £40 upwards, so cheaper overall. I bought my parents a £42 Huawei one which they use when they're away on holiday and they think it's great. I'd spend a bit more and get one with greater wifi range if I was using it in a house, but if you get a portable one you can keep it close to the device you're using. Do you know which phone Network has the best signal in your house? Edit: I'd be looking at something like this...a quick scan of the reviews shows that people are using it for the same reason you're looking. www.amazon.co.uk/TL-MR6400-Unlocked-Configuration-Required-External/dp/B016ZWXYXG/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=portable%2Bwifi&qid=1602781817&s=computers&sr=1-10&th=1 |
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Post by Tim on Oct 19, 2020 8:59:21 GMT
That's helpful Martin.
I'm only going to be using it for my work PC (so it needs to have a port for a cable) and linking the TV to.
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