[DebF_EONNext]

Afternoon Community!

A little bit random but I need some tech advice. My son's new PC arrived yesterday he has been saving for what feels like an age to buy this thing, however it won't connect to our wifi and when it does it's very very weak to the point it's taking edge 3 months to load! .

Keep in mind we live in the back end of nowhere and don't have full fibre yet we are running on 35.5 mbps and we have thick stone walls.

He was however able to connect his old gaming laptop from his room and his Xbox but this new thing won't connect - when I ran the wifi troubleshooting thing last night while I was trying (or rather I was trying my own patience) to set it up last night it was saying the DHCP connection was poor or low quality.

What do I need to do to get this boy a signal and get him out of my ear?! Would a wifi booster or extender work or is there a setting I can configure?

We have a basic Plusnet Hub Two Router if that is any help 🤷‍♀️

This stuff is wayyyy over my head and as you can imagine I am getting all of the fun comments from a frustrated teenogre!

[DebF_EONNext]

@theunknowntech is this something up your street perhaps?

[meldrewreborn]

@DebF_EONNext

mine works fine but that means I don’t have much experience with solving issues like this.

Firstly direct Ethernet connection is best but running Ethernet cables is not simple. Positioning of the router is another consideration . Is it in the best place for whole house WiFi? Could it be moved to a better place - usually only telephone cable is needed to provide a new connection point, and that can be of any length and is thin enough to be hidden at the edges of carpets out of sight. If you have a spare router from a previous supplier you can connect that by Ethernet to the main router and have a second WiFi point of origin, and possible more still. WiFi extenders are also available, some broadband suppliers give guarantees of whole home coverage as a result.
is mobile data a better solution?

just thoughts - I’m sure more expertise is on its way.

[retrotecchie]

@DebF_EONNext

Forget WiFi. If it's a PC or laptop, connect it to the router with a wired Ethernet connection.

The only thing I use on WiFi is my phone.

Yes you will need a cable, but once it's done, it's done.

And an Ethernet cable will be a fraction of the cost of a wifi booster, doesnt need power and will give a guaranteed dropout-free connection 1.2x faster than any wifi setup.

My cottage is almost 200 years old and solid stone. All seven of my computers and two smart tvs are all hardwired. Of course, I have extra hardware for switching and routing and zoning two separate networks as I have a more involved setup, but a single CAT5 cable from PC to router is as cheap as chips. It will also 'just work'. Plug and go!

[geoffers]

@DebF_EONNext - @retrotecchie beat me to it 🤓

the fact that you're not on full fibre etc into the house won't have any relation to his weak connection to your router via Wi-Fi (apart from the ultimate transfer speed)

If it's the Wi-Fi which is a problem, as a test try connecting his pc to the Plusnet hub using an ethernet cable, which takes the Wi-Fi out of the equation

The Plusnet Hub2 has 2.4 and 5 gHz Wi-Fi and the latter gives speeds which you probably won't notice any difference from using an ethernet cable, since it's gonna be faster than your connection to the outside world which is the pinch point speedwise

A useful thing to check your Wi-Fi signal strength around the house is a WiFi analysis app such as this which will identify where your signal strength is good or bad, like this
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...astek.wifidata

[WizzyWigg]

@DebF_EONNext There's an old L1 trick which sometimes might do the job.
1. Switch off laptop.
2. Switch off router
3. Move close to router.
4. Switch router back on and wait until up and running.
5. Switch laptop on.
6. Once laptop up and running see if you can log on to router.
No guarantees 😉.

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by geoffers

@DebF_EONNext - @retrotecchie beat me to it 🤓

The Plusnet Hub2 has 2.4 and 5 gHz Wi-Fi and the latter gives speeds which you probably won't notice any difference from using an ethernet cable, since it's gonna be faster than your connection to the outside world which is the pinch point speedwise

For instance - my external fibre connection is 75Mbps but my internal +Net hub2 WiFi speed is around 130Mbps, so I'll only ever get 75Mbps to the outside world, so no need for ethernet in this case (even if I could connect it to the phone 🤣)

[DebF_EONNext]

Sounds daft but can you get an ethernet cable that long 🤔 I can't move the hub as all my plugs are on one wall (don't ask why as I have no idea - but I have 8 plugs on 1 wall and none anywhere else!) so the only other option would be a really long ethernet cable 🤣

[meldrewreborn]

@geoffers

i recently renewed my contract with Virgin Media for broadband and TV, keeping everything the same, primarily the price😇But now my 500Mbps is being replaced with 1Gbps and a new router, if only I had a use for that sort of speed I might be pleased, but as it is I’m not that impressed.

Do you remember the screech of dial up?

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by DebF_EONNext

Sounds daft but can you get an ethernet cable that long 🤔 I can't move the hub as all my plugs are on one wall (don't ask why as I have no idea - but I have 8 plugs on 1 wall and none anywhere else!) so the only other option would be a really long ethernet cable 🤣

Max recommended length is 100m - run one upstairs and connect to a cheap 5 port switch, which gives 4 more connections for multiple devices etc
https://www.toolstation.com/tp-link-...-switch/p37383