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My internet is appalling (EE). Someone has suggested I get a 'Mesh Router'. They're a couple of hundred pounds, but she swears it has made a huge difference. I have no idea how this works, but do any of the technically minded on the forum, know how likely it might be to make a difference? Am I better just trying another provider?


What I can't work out is how much of it is down to just the same physical infrastucture that all the providers use locally, how much the ISP, how much the router and what's down to my PC / hardware? What makes the difference?


Thanks

@bonaome Just noticed that you mention mesh router above. Do they just boost the signal, or actually increase speed? My signal is pretty strong around the house, so I don't seem to have a problem with dead spots as such. But I dunno, not sure how it works?

Mesh routers/mesh access points improve the WiFi signal in your house which will in some cases increase the speed your device is able to get. They?re much better than the range extenders that people used to recommend for poor coverage. It won?t however improve the bandwidth coming into your router. Try testing your speed using a wired connection and then again via wireless. If there?s a big difference then a better access point setup might help.


The other thing that can help is to offload as many devices as possible onto wired connections and to check you?ve chosen different wireless channels than your neighbours.


I also should have mentioned that different providers will have different peering connections out to the wider internet and will do different amounts of traffic shaping/filtering all of which also affects performance.


For instance my 60MB FTTC connection from A&A is indistinguishable from my 200MB Virgin connection in terms of experienced performance.

Sky all the way for us. Only about a day and a half downtime in total in the last decade or so (we were originally with O2 before that who got taken over by Sky).


Have heard horror stories about Virgin and I had horrendous customer service from them with Virgin Mobile when I vowed never to have anything to do with them again.


I get that all providers use BT kit but my Sky service has been up and running when neighbours' (from other providers) hasn't.


I hope that this helps.

  • 3 weeks later...

I do, and speed is fine. It's just that frequently the connection to the exchange drops completely and comes back 10 minutes later.


Is BT Retail your supplier (the network will then be managed by BT Openreach, and arm's length wholesale supplier to most retail broadband suppliers other than NTL/ Virgin in the local domestic market)?

It is standard BT practice to wire up the the Master Socket. Cabling behind that is often not installed by them. I have heard of contractors rewiring the master socket, if, e.g. they accidently disrupted or cut the BT cable. It used to be that BT had a monopoly of wiring to the Master Socket, but I'm not sure that now holds. If BT was a secondary supplier, for instance replacing Virgin, it is possible that internal wiring isn't BT's.
  • 5 months later...

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