I got 99 problems but my WiFi ain't one

Dunce here. Wondering if I have bought the wrong thing.

I have EE broadband, coming into the house via what I call a BT socket. This goes into the EE wifi box thing, into the Broadand hole. From here we get the wifi.

The signal is a bit patchy so based on another thread I've bought a couple of Deco home hub mesh wifi things. Plugged the EE thing into the Deco and using the Deco app I seem to have set up a new WIFI network.

The old network is still present though - surely the new one needs to supercede the old one. Or there will just be wifi all over the place.....?

Somewhere in the EE router web interface there is probably an option to turn WiFi off. Press that and pollute the radio spectrum a little less although if you just delete/forget that SSID in your devices it will have almost the same effect.

The Google search term you need is "how to enable modem mode on EE router [insert name/type of router] ".

You then basically make the router only be a router without WiFi.

ok so i found 0ut how to turn off the old wifi

i guess we could have both on and just connect some devices to one and some to the other

Don’t bother. You don’t want the old network competing for frequency space vs your new network.

You then basically make the router only be a router without WiFi.

This would not be modem mode.

Boxes from EE, Virgin, BT etc do (at least**) three things : modem, router, WiFi.

Generally, you can turn off the last one or the last two.

** They also tend to do basic firewalling, broadcast storm protection and some other security-esque things. For the purposes of this discussion, these fall under the category of "routing".

For the last couple of years I've been wondering why some of my wired devices can't see wireless ones and vice versa. Turns out I'm an idiot who didn't realise you can't just stick ethernet cables in stuff and expect it all to work.

Had a switch between the virgin superhub and netgear orbi. Putting the switch after the router has made all the difference.

Wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for all the NAT in the world. Stupid bloody workaround.

as a follow up - the Deco doesnt have a WPS button which can be pressed to make the wifi discoverable by the printer. There is one on the EE box of course. Will that still work? I can try of course.

Deco doesnt have a WPS button

Does the one in the app do anything?

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Whaaaaaat?!!!

As an aside, another benefit of moving your router, etc away from your ISP's router is that when it all goes tits up (I'm looking at you here Virgin media) you still have some options.

Using an old phone and a travel router ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073TSK26W ) I had spare I've picked up a data sim and am using that plugged into my network. It means everything is still online with no reconfiguring stuff as opposed to pissing about using a phone hotspot.

Also means I can put the phone in the best place for reception (speedtests are showing between 0.5Mbps and 35 Mbps depending on where the phone is in the house).

@stevo_com

Was also wondering about seeing if I can connect up my old TP Link tl-wa860re range extender, to try and push the signal out towards the garden.

Finally tried it. Started to try to do a speed test in various spots but mini-H thwarted my plans.

The anecdotal evidence is that it doesn't make a meaningful difference.

May try and look at the settings, but TBH the main issue of the Virgin box being shit and fucking up the Internet is resolved thanks to your suggestion. Current signal just about makes my Chromecast Audio in the outhouse and I can use mobile data for the rest of the garden.

Still may see if I can keep my eye out of a deal on a single extender.

Good to know, cheers. I'll stick with adding more Decos. The size of the new house and the (hopefully) long distance out to the new shed (once built) might need more points anyway.

Congrats on the new place. In the longer term if you're doing it up it might be worth running cables.

I have been thinking about that but the number of devices we use that could run wired is very small. Since sorting out the wifi, nothing has skipped a beat. Both WFH, on video calls simultaneously, it's been fine. Even the very odd bit of PS4 in the evenings, rounding up Nazi zombies has been grand.

That being said, if we need a re-wire, I'll consider it. Hoping that not every wall needs kicked through, while at the same time assuming they might.

In an ideal world I'd still always put in a wired ethernet into each room because you never know.

But that probably isn't totally rational.

In an ideal world I'd still always put in a wired ethernet into each room because you never know.
But that probably isn't totally rational.

definitely the way I'd go too. I bodged it a bit with my old place when redoing the floors - a collection of cheap plastic conduit under the floorboards and a 100m reel of Cat6. But it was flawless for the next 5 years

What is a decent wi-fi speed nowadays? Modern laptop and AC access point.

Now I've got faster internet I can see the wi-fi is now the pinch point with speeds between 80Mbps an 130Mbps.

Is faster possible? Is faster possible without sitting in the same room as the AP.

It's not a deal breaker, the important stuff is wired, but just wondering whether it's worth investing any time trying to get it faster.

I have wired ethernet in every room. Now disappointed that I don't have 2x ethernet in every room (and also no ethernet in the cupboard under the stairs but I have a plan for that).

I have 4 ethernet ports in each room, i'm now annoyed I don't have more ports outside... We always want more!

I'm about to buy a bunch of 802.11ax access points which claims 3.5Gbps streams and you can have 4 of those per client although I'm only uplinking at 5Gbps.

For home use a bunch of 802.11ac UniFi AP AC LITEs which claim 867Mbps over 5GHz are good and a reasonable cost.

Same room is obviously best but different room can be okay if the construction isn't against you (solid brick walls and foil backed insulation are a PITA, lath and plaster partitions less so).

I can't believe that new builds still don't come with ethernet in the walls. Would have loved my new house to be fully fitted.

Might still be a project for the future...

I used this the other day to connect my POS printer. Was always a ballache to have to crawl under the desk, press the invisible buttons on the printer, crawl back out, go to the router and turn WPS on there. This was so easy.

This is what I was wondering. I have a Unifi AP AC LR which claims 867Mbps but even in the same room I'm not maxing out my 200Mbps connection on a speed test (wired connections do) so wasn't sure if there were other factors at play.