Wifi problems

[Redjag]

We have 3 pcs running voice zoom calls, and 2 xboxes plus 5 phones things seem to be OK but then the zoom calls start failing and the wifi speed drops to around 5meg from 45 Meg at each device. The house is a new 5 bedroom and the pcs are on two floors. We have a BT home hub 2 with a 3 disk mesh. Should this be strong enough or is there a fault please. Desperate

 

[Armageus]

What internet connection do you have FTTC or FTTP?

Depending on how much bandwidth you have available, it could be that is the problem with all those devices rather than an actual Wifi issue.

 

[ben1987]

That sounds fairly normal behaviour to me.

What is your overall connection speed as in what package are you paying for and what are you getting at your router? It sounds like an upgrade to your package may help.

45mb split across all those devices would fairly quickly be eaten up. I find zoom calls over my work laptop with their vpn hogs a fair chunk of bandwidth. If the consoles are gaming, people viewing social media on phones and two other computers running calls and applications I can see it easily being used up.

I don’t think that the isp supplied hardware is the best either. They seem to struggle to split and prioritise traffic and some of the mesh or access points have devices connecting to sub optimal points rather than always the closest one. Eg Your phone may connect to one point when you enter your home and then as you start moving round it will stay connected to that point until it loses connection and re-scans rather than automatically re connecting to a closer point.

I work at home a lot and ended up adding a network switch. Drilled outside from the back of my router and ran some network cable into a few rooms where stable connection was essential. My WFH setup is now hard wired and rock solid. If you have basic DIY skills this is pretty easy to do yourself.

 

[Redjag]

What internet connection do you have FTTC or FTTP?

Depending on how much bandwidth you have available, it could be that is the problem with all those devices rather than an actual Wifi issue.

It's fttc, don't know if fibre run here yet it's a new estate.

 

[JollyJamma]

Sounds about right for your line speed and with wifi overhead using basic consumer grade hardware.

LAN cabling would help a lot and would be relatively cheap and reliable.

You could also try Ethernet over power or better quality wifi hardware or just getting a much faster internet line.

 

[Redjag]

What internet connection do you have FTTC or FTTP?

Depending on how much bandwidth you have available, it could be that is the problem with all those devices rather than an actual Wifi issue.

Unfortunately FTTP isn't available here,just checked again

 

[eurokage]

When I was on BT their hardware was not great so I replaced it with Netgear mesh which was better performing. However, it reads like saturation of bandwidth due to all the devices. The best scenario may be to set up rules to prioritise Zoom during work hours, but I think BT's kit does not do QoS...