I got 99 problems but my WiFi ain't one

A few mesh APs would be the ideal solution.

You can do a job for less but the quality of service would likely not be the same.

Sky and BT APs are limited in output power to the same level, it's actually the antenna design and firmware that makes one better than the other. The fact you noticed BT is better is surprising because either of those options tend to struggle with thick walls.

Thanks. Apparently the new Sky SR203 hub is much better. I’ll see if they’ll let me have one.

Phone then up, you may get the latest hub or a booster. Will be interested in what they say...

‘Calls are currently being answered in an average of 17 minutes’.

I’ve been waiting longer than that already.

letting me down with its poor signal?

Either weaker signal, or the Sky is using a different channel and there's more devices/interference compared to where BT was working.

Also 5g signals don't go through walls as well as 2G

I turned off all the wireless capabilities on the vodafone device, i then hooked up one of the ethernet ports on that to the 4th ethernet port on the BT Homehub (which accepts data IN rather than OUT)

turned off some settings in the homehub panel like the firewall etc to delegate that back to the vodafone device, and it all.. just worked..

Generally you can change your Sky router to "modem mode" (so all it does is convert the sky signal to ethernet) and then plug a router/wifi point into that (possibly being your old BT home hub).

Personally, particularly if you can run an ethernet wire into the middle of your house (the sky connection and hub often tend to be stuck out at the edge of the house), I'd be tempted just to turn off the wi-fi part of your sky hub and connect one of these to deal with the wi-fi https://www.ui.com/unifi/unifi-ap/

They’ve convinced me to pay an extra £2.50 a month for the boost package which includes the new router. If it doesn’t work, I’ll cancel during the cooling off period.

Thanks all. I have learned a few things this morning.

Now that I’m working from home for the foreseeable future, I need to get my shit in order regarding the home network.

We have a 200 megabit connection with Virgin but I’m now working in the kitchen, 20 feet and three walls away from the router.

I’ve got a Netgear ex3700 extender in the kitchen which is a bit meh.

It has an Ethernet port but as far as I can tell it’s only for connected devices and can’t be used to connect to the router for maximum throughput. Does anyone know if it can be used that way or do I need to buy another thing? Current setup is two laptops (can only get the windows one to connect to work vpn so need a fast connection).

Maybe I should just plug straight in...

as far as I can tell it’s only for connected devices and can’t be used to connect to the router

I think you're right. It's a wifi repeater (which have never worked well for me) or wireless-ethernet adapter, not a wireless access point. Personally I use powerline networking for wired devices.

Gah. Thought that might be the case. Can you attach a second router to the main router by Ethernet and have it do it’s thing?

You can attach a switch, rather than router, if you need more ethernet ports.

What if I want a range extender that’s wired to the router? Is that even a thing?

I have always been wary of WiFi range extenders because they heavily clip your bandwidth. Most if not all can't operate duplex so can only tx or Rx at any particular moment.

At least that's what the situation was a few years back. Maybe the tech has improved. Worth keeping in mind though.

UPDATE: my WiFi is absolutely pinging since I got the new Sky hub. Even getting a signal at the bottom of the garden despite having disconnected the booster/relay point I bought.

Nice!

Proves I have no idea what I'm talking about. I really did not expect it to make that much of a difference.

What if I want a range extender that’s wired to the router? Is that even a thing?

This is called an access point. It's just another Wi-Fi point that you connect to the ethernet and put wherever you want.

Extenders and Mesh networks assume you cannot run an ethernet cable, so these use forwarding radio on different frequencies that can go a bit further than the Wi-Fi frequencies (they travel through more brick walls - but it's not magic, they still degrade their signal a bit). Then on the other end they transmit Wi-Fi signals locally. But these suck... they work, for some definition of work... but they add a hop, prevent some LAN protocols like BROADCAST, which may make casting media not function, and you cannot effectively repeat and make multiple jumps as the signal loss and congestion becomes severe.

Use extenders and mesh not to navigate hard barriers like walls, but merely to extend a clean line further... i.e. from the house straight over a clear garden to a garden office.

If you can run ethernet cable then you should never resort to an extender or mesh. Instead you buy access points. These are wired into your router and will operate at full line speed (gigabit most likely) and then advertise full Wi-Fi speed (access points vary, but half a gigabit should be possible based on your device and the access point chosen).

What you seem to want is one of these: https://www.ui.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-lite/

Which is £78 https://linitx.com/product/ubiquiti-unifi-ac-lite-ap-wireless-access-point-uap-ac-lite-(with-poe-injector)/14521

Now... if you're using the Wi-Fi on your router then you'll probably set up 2 Wi-Fi networks, the router one, and a distinct one on the AP.

But it is possible to buy 2 of these, and configure them with the same details and let them do the hand-off so it becomes logically a single network. I'd say just buy 1, configure a different network "wifi-kitchen" on the AP and "wifi-livingroom" on the router or whatever... and let your devices know about both and let them choose which to connect to and when.

But these suck...

*starts completing returns form*

Having tried a few, it's the truth.

Though I did have the good fortune of finding a path around a brick wall in my house by putting the extender in the loft and going over a wall.

Worked pretty well... until I wanted to cast things and found that doesn't work on mesh networks.

Yes, I moved from bt to sky recently. Switching from a 3-4yr old bt box to the current sky one definitely improved things. I hesitated before making the switch because apparently sky sets its network up differently from most other broadband suppliers, so if you want to use your own modem it is not straightforward. But as it happens the standard sky box works well (in my victorian brick wall flat).

I might give it a go anyway, it was cheap and all it needs to do is bring the waves down the hall rather than through 2 big old farmhouse walls and improve the reliability of WhatsApp/Slack/Meet/Zoom calls as there's no mobile reception here.

all it needs to do is bring the waves down the hall rather than through 2 big old farmhouse walls

This is where extenders and mesh networks shine... just making a line of sight signal go further.

You should be good.

I too have recently upgraded to the new sky router and a booster for the kitchen. I also have 2 sky q mini boxes helping to mesh the signal and it all working really well. Previously with the old router and no booster I could not get WiFi in the kitchen, now I can get it half way down the garden... I have also split the 2.4 & 5ghz networks....the kids are on the 2.4 so I can WFH without issue.

Boom. That’s exactly what I need - thanks so much.