Hi, I have 50mbs fttp through a BT Smart Hub 2 but not clse to tv so a wireless range extender takes it round to the TV/Youview etc. This work ok and I'm getting 50mbs over that but it doesn't reach out to the garage/garden, a couple of spots upstairs. I've just bought 2 Tenda MW3s as a way to get better coverage. Setup instructions are to connect 1 to the router and 1 elswhere - which may improve coverage but feels like it's really only replicating the current setup so until I add more nodes what's the point? 1. Since the smarthub supposedly supports mesh could I use boths nodes with it wirelessly? 2. If I connnect a node to the smart hub by wire do I have to switch off the smart hub WIFI? 3. If I do setup with a wired node and a non wired node could I use my existing range extender out in the garage connected to the mesh or just the original router? Thanks in advance for any help.
There's not really much to the standards of mesh systems; they all seem to have some magic sauce to communicate within their own brand, and don't even attempt to work with others. I discovered recently that Virgin's 'intelligent pods' are also locked to your router, so while you can buy them on eBay second hand, they won't work with your hub. I'm fairly sure the BT WiFi/Meshing won't work with third party hardware, like the Tenda gear, either. Not unless there's some tie-up partnership there I'm missing(?) So in vague answer to your questions, I believe any Tenda you turn on will be running its own SSID/AP with a mesh between the two you've bought, and the SmartHub will no doubt be fighting any Tenda you have sat next to it for the 'best' empty channel(s). It'll have no way to 'mesh' with the SmartHub in any fashion. More exacting answers: 1) No, you'd need something like BT's 'Whole Home WiFi' stuff to do meshing with their hub, which I believe comes at some monthly uplift 2) I would recommend it if you want to do that - let the Tenda do your WiFi in the house, turn off the Smart Hub's WiFi AP. 3) I don't know how this 'range extender' works, but presumably it's a pair of powerline network devices, and one of them has an AP on the end of it? Are these BT things? My Dad's got some of those, and the remote AP copies whatever SSID setup is on the BT Home/SmartHub, so I wonder if it'll still work when the WiFi disabled as per #2. If they're not BT things, again they can't 'sync' from the Hub, so that might work *but* Powerline always depends on how the electricity supply is fed to the garage/outhouse/treehouse. Most of this would be a lot simpler with BT doing the WiFi meshing, or with no BT SmartHub (do Tenda sell a router as well?) I've a trio of Fritz!box 7530s all meshed together (though smaller devices are available) and works an absolute treat. Two came from Zen, but the third I just bought from eBay, BNIB. You can also use wired Ethernet backhaul as part of the mesh, too, which is nice.
Hi, im a Openreach FTTP engineer. BT in most of their packages have a "good" wifi signal in every room policy that i think is still going. https://www.bt.com/broadband/complete-wifi All you have to do is ring up and say you have solid walls and your struggling to get any signal upstairs or whatever. They will then send you 1 or 2 WIFI disks for free.
I have one of those disks as well as the EE hybrid connection. It’s pretty solid but I begrudge paying as much as I am for an “end-of-the-line” copper to property cable… hate to sound all first-world problem-ey but living in the south of England around fifty miles out of London and having an average of 9-18mbs and 1mb upload is **** considering I’m on the top tier price plan!
We are turning all copper off in the coming years and selling off most of our exchanges, we have to get 18 million homes on FTTP by 2025 so if FTTP isnt in your area yet it will be very soon.
I knew it was coming but was unsure on timescales thinking it will be around this way by 2030 and I wouldn't live here any more!
You may be able to obtain a (slightly) better estimate for your area via this overlaid map. It can take a bit of loading on non-desktop browsers, I've noticed, and it doesn't let you zoom in really far, but you should be able to see what the latest your area will be FTTP'd by.
