toob users, what router did you get given by them? Just been installed, they left me a Linksys Velop MX4200
Soldato
How long did people have to wait for the build to order completion? I know there are many factors, but I've read about builds being completed, but going live to order still being a while off.
About 6 months, assuming no doddery residents object to fibre being laid or a pole being put up in their area which requires much political faffery etc.
Soldato
Darn, it'll be looking like a renewal with Virgin then
- I might try and survive on Smarty 4G that I current have on WAN2 for failover, but will have to use tailscale for any VPN to home activities.
Soldato
CityFibre install in our street finally went live in March this year, but our Sky BB contract ended June 2023 (150Mb, £32/m), so we had to renew for another 18 months, rather than try and wait it out with a Three 5G hub (great speeds, but appalling dropouts).
Toob mailshot in Feb offered 900/900 for £25/m, so I signed up with an install date the week before our Sky contract ends (6th December), in order to secure that deal.
I've just spotted their "9 months free if still in contract" offer, but that's at £29/m, so I'm in two minds: Get it installed as soon as they've got an available slot, or wait 8 weeks to secure the £4/m cheaper contract..?
With 5 of us and a house rammed full of tech, we're frequently finding 150mb isn't quite enough, especially of an evening:
3 gaming PCs + Xbox/PS5, with 5 tablets, phones or TVs streaming, there's frequently a few complaints about "Laaaaag!"
The Wife & girls are off to Mallorca next week, so I'll see if they've got any slots then
Update:
Gave them a ring, cancelled the December install date and they've honoured the original price of £25/m, so long as I commit to a 24 month contract.
I asked if they'd also do October, November & December's bills for free, as that's when my Sky contract ends: No problem.
So we've got Toob getting installed next Thurs, but will only start paying the £25 bill in January.
I've just ordered a handful of Cat7 cables and a TP-Link BE3600 (WiFi7, 2.5Gb WAN ports) for £110 (Prime deal), to replace our 10 year old WiFi router and make the most of the 900/900 speed...
...can't wait to see my son's face when he realises his ping is no longer in triple figures.
Toob mailshot in Feb offered 900/900 for £25/m, so I signed up with an install date the week before our Sky contract ends (6th December), in order to secure that deal.
I've just spotted their "9 months free if still in contract" offer, but that's at £29/m, so I'm in two minds: Get it installed as soon as they've got an available slot, or wait 8 weeks to secure the £4/m cheaper contract..?
With 5 of us and a house rammed full of tech, we're frequently finding 150mb isn't quite enough, especially of an evening:
3 gaming PCs + Xbox/PS5, with 5 tablets, phones or TVs streaming, there's frequently a few complaints about "Laaaaag!"
The Wife & girls are off to Mallorca next week, so I'll see if they've got any slots then
Update:
Gave them a ring, cancelled the December install date and they've honoured the original price of £25/m, so long as I commit to a 24 month contract.
I asked if they'd also do October, November & December's bills for free, as that's when my Sky contract ends: No problem.
So we've got Toob getting installed next Thurs, but will only start paying the £25 bill in January.
I've just ordered a handful of Cat7 cables and a TP-Link BE3600 (WiFi7, 2.5Gb WAN ports) for £110 (Prime deal), to replace our 10 year old WiFi router and make the most of the 900/900 speed...
...can't wait to see my son's face when he realises his ping is no longer in triple figures.
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Soldato
Disappointed the installers couldn't route the cable to under my study window, with all my networking gear ("too many bends would reduce the signal"), so I opted to have the Fibre port under the lounge TV, where the router can use the existing Cat6 cable to link up with the switch in the study, then distribute to the rest of the house:
*
I've not noticed any significant impact to speed/latency and all three PCs (2.5Gb ports) are showing the full 900mb up/down, with under 10ms ping.
(*Excuse the mess of cables - still deciding whether to commit the media unit to under the TV, so I can trim the 5m worth of buffer cable I gave myself, or if we're still going to put all the tech in a sideboard, out of sight (and route the cables back through the wall).
*I've not noticed any significant impact to speed/latency and all three PCs (2.5Gb ports) are showing the full 900mb up/down, with under 10ms ping.
(*Excuse the mess of cables - still deciding whether to commit the media unit to under the TV, so I can trim the 5m worth of buffer cable I gave myself, or if we're still going to put all the tech in a sideboard, out of sight (and route the cables back through the wall).
Soldato
Spent the day testing/comparing the Toob provided router (Linksys Velop MX4200: Wifi6) with the WiFi 7 TP-link I picked up recently...
...and now my WiFi speeds are absolutely appalling, compared to a wired connection.
I understand that wired will always outperform WiFi, but I'm struggling to understand how 40-60mb download on WiFi, with my pretty decent phone (OnePlus 9 Pro), on the 5Ghz and standing literally on top of the router, is acceptable compared to 900/900 wired.
Have factory reset both routers to no avail: WiFi doesn't get over 60mb on any device.
...and now my WiFi speeds are absolutely appalling, compared to a wired connection.
I understand that wired will always outperform WiFi, but I'm struggling to understand how 40-60mb download on WiFi, with my pretty decent phone (OnePlus 9 Pro), on the 5Ghz and standing literally on top of the router, is acceptable compared to 900/900 wired.
Have factory reset both routers to no avail: WiFi doesn't get over 60mb on any device.
Ah the good old "I won't do more than the bare minimum at my job and I will pick the easiest solution possible but even if that looks too hard I'll pass it off to someone else" approach of "engineering".
The actual fibre cable being bent close to 50 billion times with no perceptible loss in signal quality:
Who would have thought that light can get round corners.
Sorry I had a similar installation nightmare with a sub contractor from Openreach who said the same garbage. Once his idea of the shortest possible route was shut down due to no near wall sockets then magically my idea of it going round a corner was possible. Really strange that huh?
As for your Wifi problems, might want to look at installing OpenWRT on your MX4200. You'll be able to run scans on the radios to see if it's some super weird interference. Are ping tests ok?
Soldato
Cheers - I've written to CityFibre regarding this, as my CCTV happened to pick up the conversation between the two chaps:
"He wants it where?"
"Nah, he can **** off. Tell him you can't do more than two 90 degree bends."
This was after offering coffees, biscuits and showing the existing cable routing & wall entry, meaning it would actually have been *less* effort to put the cable where I wanted it
Will await Cityfibre's response.
Regarding speeds...
Today's Top Tip:
Check internet speeds on a device that's actually capable of 900Mb!
...after my OnePlus 9 Pro went *crunch* the other day, it appears as if the internal 5G/WiFi antenna was damaged, meaning it could only connect to the 2.4 WiFi.
I discovered this when testing speeds on my son's £90 Xiaomi (600Mb+) and my Doogee T30 Pro tablet (which got the full 900mb connection from anywhere in the house).
Panic averted and currently eyeing up Black Friday deals for a new phone.
Will look into OpenWRT.
Bro if I had CCTV like that I'd be posting it everywhere. Make a ISP Review post and include just audio of their conversation. That is ridiculous.
It's ok about OpenWRT I just thought it would be a decent idea to check interference but if it's just a faulty phone not much point (although learning good routing software can be a plus for the future). I suspect that even the 2.4 had problems since it should be in 100+ range for 2.4 ideally.
I don't know if you go for super top spec phones but I find it a hard time saying no to the Pixel 7a deal for £210 at Vodafone. Can be had for under £200 via Blue Light Card discount via EE.
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Soldato
I'm holding off sharing it until I hear back from their executive team - if they don't make the right noises, then I'll just pass it to my solicitor (she is an absolute menace for Disability Discrimination cases).
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Looks like something just started to happen 
Soldato
- Joined
- 1 Oct 2006
- Posts
- 14,213
Here we go again.
They don't mess about when it comes to outages do they? All up, or all down.
They don't mess about when it comes to outages do they? All up, or all down.
It's back now, guess it was a random hitch.
Soldato
- Joined
- 1 Oct 2006
- Posts
- 14,213
And there's the email after the outage.
Crushing it as always Toob.
Crushing it as always Toob.
Soldato
Hi mrk, which site/software are you using to monitor?Looks like something just started to happen
It's thinkbroadband's quality monitor BQM:
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Soldato
Returned the TP-Link BE230 as it's "WiFi 7" but only dual band and misses a lot of features; particularly mesh compatibility with the Toob router.
Managed to find a bargain Linksys Hydra Pro 6E (Tri-band, Mesh compatible with the Velop 4200) for £150 (Warehouse, "Like New") - rather than £260 new.
It'll be placed in my son's bedroom in the middle of the house, to provide WiFi for the rest of upstairs. Reviews are varied, but if it does what I need, I'll be happy.
I've also ordered an upgraded switch (Yuanley 8 port 2.5G with 2x 10Gb SFP) to cover our gaming PCs and free up a few ports on the existing POE switch.
Will post back my findings...
Managed to find a bargain Linksys Hydra Pro 6E (Tri-band, Mesh compatible with the Velop 4200) for £150 (Warehouse, "Like New") - rather than £260 new.
It'll be placed in my son's bedroom in the middle of the house, to provide WiFi for the rest of upstairs. Reviews are varied, but if it does what I need, I'll be happy.
I've also ordered an upgraded switch (Yuanley 8 port 2.5G with 2x 10Gb SFP) to cover our gaming PCs and free up a few ports on the existing POE switch.
Will post back my findings...
