shrops-paul Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Hello. I have EE provided broadband at home (not fibre). The range and performance of the free brightbox router is somewhat underwhelming. Can anyone recomend a reasonably priced alternative from the huge range available please? My plan was to transfer the settings and replace the brightbox entirley. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhett Turner - Black Country AO Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 I've had problems with my virgin media super hub with the wireless being problematic, dropping out becoming unresponsive etc. I've now switched the wireless off on the hub and gone for a dedicated wireless access point (TP-LINK EAP120) I've got this hard wired to the router and in a central position in the house. I've a wireless extender in the loft and so far between them it has been much much better. I'm planning to add a second access point in the loft at some point replacing the extender to give even better coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrops-paul Posted June 14, 2016 Author Share Posted June 14, 2016 The TP Link stuff seems to be getting good reviews. Theres one that can work as you describer or replace my EE box entirley si I think that looks a good option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigHew Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Paul, I swapped my broadband router also with a TP-Link, specifically the TD-W8970 (300 Mbps Wireless N Gigabit ADSL2+) The difference was night and day. I'm guessing its about 6 years old now so there will probably be a refreshed / better model by now. In terms of wifi, whilst the TP Link improved things dramatically, our mobile phone signal had historically been terrible (both network and wifi) I pressured EE for a "switch box" which now gives us 5 bar signal strength in the house and garden, whilst before we had to hand out our front bedroom window to catch half a bar. The TP Link soted our broadband and wifi issues, the switch box revolutionised our mobile network strength. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Those extenders can be really handy for your phones around the home. Not used the TP link stuff myself, but it does get a lot of favourable reviews/comments from home users! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Hello. I have EE provided broadband at home (not fibre). The range and performance of the free brightbox router is somewhat underwhelming. Can anyone recomend a reasonably priced alternative from the huge range available please? My plan was to transfer the settings and replace the brightbox entirley. thanks. That's the old Orange thingy that looks like a grey pyramid, isn't it? Try asking EE for a newer router, maybe they bill you for it, I don't know. Other way is to go on to Fibre broadband and in which case they will have to change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 I've had several Netgears, a TP Link, an Asus and now I'm on a Billion which is the best so far at hanging on to my rural copper broadband and has decent range. Currys don't sell Billion but I can recommend them if you want to try some other makes out - my local Currys has taken several back and let me change them for something else without quibble. Even when they were several months old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrops-paul Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 Hello. I picked up a TP Link ADSL router on the way home last night (£40). Took be about 40 mins to note down soem of the EE settings from the Brightbox (username etc) and then apply them to the new TP Link router. The transformation in speed speaks for itself (see below). Partly I think its down to the new unit offering 5Ghz as well as 2Ghz which the EE box did not. I also get a stronger signal throughout the house. It also offers better/newer 802.11 standards including AC. I have come to the conclusion that the 'free' routers offered by ISP's are free for a reason! The EE box despite being only a couple of months old only offered slower 2Ghz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsechris Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Good result. FWIW, I think the BT 'free' modems are actually pretty decent and they tend to get better every version as well. I'm still impressed to be getting well over 50Mbps out of my ADSL. It was 36Mbps or so until recently then BT gave everyone a 'free' upgrade. Even though I have some understanding of how this stuff works, it still impresses me that it actually does work so well given the state of much of the wiring. Truly remarkable how much data you can get down a damp piece of string these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrops-paul Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 My line speed is supposed to be upto 17mb. No fibre in my area yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 FWIW 2.4Ghz/5Ghz has nothing to do with connection speed to the exchange. Yes, 5Ghz is faster, but an N standard 2.4Ghz router can still deliver up to 300Mbps wirelessly, so using the 2.4Ghz band shouldn't affect connection rate. Main advantage of 5Ghz is that it is not used by so many people so there should be less interference. But the wireless range on 5Ghz is usually very poor - I've had a few dual band routers but never been able to use the 5Ghz band for that reason. Line speed in my village is 4Mbps and BT are very vague about when we might get upgraded Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 My line speed is supposed to be upto 17mb. No fibre in my area yet I average 12 to 14mb download and I'm already on fibre! Damned aluminium wires on the Exchange! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 but an N standard 2.4Ghz router can still deliver up to 300Mbps wirelessly, Only if you use 40Mhz channel width and MIMO. I have been trying for a while to get that to work on wireless N with mixed (and somewhat limited) success. Wireless AC works very well at 20, 40 and 80Mhz channel widths. I have not had a chance to test 160Mhz channel width yet and all the AC testing I have done was with an HTC One M9 for reasons too dull to go in to right now. At 80Mhz channel width I got just over 80Mb/s over wifi which is pretty handy for a phone. To get the very best/fastest from wireless AC the device in your hand (phone, tablet, PC or whatever) needs to have as many antennas as the transmitting access point to take full advantage of MIMO and MuMIMO. If the host has two antenna's and the AP has four antennas then the host can only really get half the speed as the AP can only use two of it's four antennas to send traffic to the host. More antenna's on the host = more speed. Very few devices have more than two antenna's and most phones and tablets have just one. That will change over time but right now that's where we are with AC. Do NOT be sucked in by the headline 1.3Gb/s wifi speeds. It will be almost impossible to achieve and DEFINITELY impossible when there is competing wifi nearby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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