Clearly not selling very well if they've dropped the price by a third a few weeks after launch!

quick question i have a ethernet cable from the router into a cupboard that i had a bufflo media player that i never used. if i can connect this to it, it would extend the internet. seems interesting could do with two of them

I've used these with great success https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-WA801ND-Wireless-Access-Point/dp/B004UBU8IE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1493154897&sr=8-2&keywords=tplink+access+point
bare in mind it will be a seperate SSID though.

You need to run an Ethernet cable to the point in question. The only reliable way really. Going externally is often the best route too.

ive just arranged to be sent back, had a problem if i went out the hosue and came back in it wouldnt connect to my phone, it started off really well. Im back to the bt hub and two bt powerline wifi extenders. I might see if i can buy two more of those and set them up in other rooms as they seem to be stable.

Mine are going back too. Unfortunately whole house doesn't mean whole house - in our case it misses the 25 metre extension altogether.

Not sure if there is a better system available or whether there are installers out there who can recommend something. Wiring is tricky as it would probably have to run outside.

Thanks

hi i seem to be having problems with my bt home wifi. the signal keeps drpping out, one of the discs keeps going orange even though previously it wasnt. also if i walk out the house and come back, my s8 cant connect saying, 'failed to connect to ip address'

any ideas on what to do been googling it see if its faulty. the kids sometimes struggle to connect to it wiht their ipads too, its been upto now.

I guess some of your devices such as your camera don't have support for 802.11k/r/v which these mesh Wifi systems rely on - modern Apple devices do support these protocols which provide seamless roaming:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202628

If you don't use 3 then it defeats the purpose of the mesh network. With the older tech: wireless distribution system (WDS) in which the bandwidth also halves every hop, with a mesh its smarter that it only hops the shortest route necessary thus keeping the half bandwidths down to a minimum. If you are only ever hopping once then you might as-well use WDS which any old access point should have built in.

quick question ive heard or read that three discs is sometimes overkill, a work colleague has got two discs and said its enough, would adding another disc to my three water down the signal. I'm thinking of puting a disc in our back dinning room and then it would reach to the back garden so we can stream musci etc.

:-) 2 x Cat6 to each room so you can fire video over the house too!

That would be an option but to be honest I'm not keen on spending £200 to still have to use my homeplugs. (The ethernet cables from the homeplug to the disc would be a pain)

My homeplugs have wifi built in so are a neater option than using both them and the discs (I'm using a pair of these...)

When I get shot of the sprogs & move into a nice wee house with straight walls & no leaks I'm deffo going to have it etherneted up :-)

The wireless network extension function that has been around for ages just doesn't work in houses like that, Apple networking kit has done it for years but I've always linked them via ethernet in the end. If signal strength from each disc is acceptable but it's the transmission of backhaul between discs that's the problem what about some gigabit homeplugs wired to each of the 2 extension discs if you don't fancy running ethernet over the house?

My box of tricks arrived today.

Unfortunately its going back tomorrow :-(

The "discs" just dont seem to have the power to make it from one end of my house to the other.

In order to get an "excellent" connection they appear to want to be in direct sight of each other.

I currently have my house covered by an EE Router and 2 access points running off home plugs.

To achieve the same coverage at a similar speed I'd have to have 4 or possibly 5 whole home discs.

Its an old, largish 4 bedroom house I'm & the internal walls are more substantial than a new house but if I bought enough "Whole House" discs to cover it I'd have to spend £400..... (just to save switching from one point to another).

One of the discs wont even provide a signal from one room to the other side of the adjacent one (& its up agains the wall).

I did get it working easily enough but only covering 2/3 of the house - it looked good but just not enough oomph.

Shame - I had high hopes...

Looks like you can use the ethernet port for wired connection to the network, or to another device

http://btsupport.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/57951/c/8071/session/L3RpbWUvMTQ5MjU5MjU1MS9zaWQvbmhfR0V0Z24%3D

Thanks OP, we struggle with wifi in our extension and because it is on a seperate ring extenders don't work very well.

Can I just ask - is it possible to connect a tv box to one of these via etherent or can you only use them as wifi.

Thanks

Question for UniFi and BT disc owners ...

I'm running a 5 AP UniFi setup and some devices see each AP as it's own SSID (albeit with the same name). The devices that exhibit this quirk also seem to have issues with choosing the best AP to connect to (I can see which AP they're connected to via UniFi dashboard) and to work around this I've set signal connection thresholds (Min RSSI) to be strict to force them onto an AP with a strong signal. Is this a client issue? Or a UniFi / AP issue?

I guess what I'm asking is do all clients see the BT system as a single SSID, or do some clients see each one as per above. For static devices (TVs for example) I create a private SSID on the AP closest to it and tie it to that, but for items that move around the house (Camera is one example, my EOS M5 sees each AP as it's own SSID) it's a real pain.

BS, yes each disk connects back to the base disk but the 5GHz band works flawlessly with my iPhone connecting at 866Mbs (Pretty much its maximum speed)

I'd be interested to know this too as I plan on daisy chaining my discs. I've had a quick search only and the online thing I've found is a BT advert that lists the following feature:
"Self - configuring network (star or daisy chain)"

Does that mean it will automatically decide whether to daisy chain the discs or connect the 2nd and 3rd disc to the 1st?

This is an extremely bad deal. If you have any clue about networking you could buy a cheap $20 router, flash ddwrt/openwrt and setup your own wireless repeater.

Hi. Can you let me know how you did this please. My third disc is trying to connect to the hub and says poor connection. I want it to connect to the second disc.

Thanks OP - just bought and set up in 30 minutes. Finally fixed my wifi issues - can roam around without having to force a change on my devices! Heaven!!

You need to keep your superhub but switch it to modem mode so it's not doing any routing or wifi and acting just as a cable modem. You then connect a Google Wifi "puck" to the modem.

I have the Google Wifi setup at home and it's faultless for me.

Hi all
some questions.

1. I have read that its best to disable the wifi on your own router is this true ?
2. can you use a computer and web browser to set it up or access
3. can you split the frequency's 2.4/5ghz or are they all in one. the think is I have hardware that is only 2.4ghz and I have herd its always best to separate the wifi frequency's.
4. can you plug these into network points instead of using each device to extend the wifi as I have network sockets in every room and this would improve my distance since the bt home would not need to be that close.
5. how go are they at picking the right frequency and strength.
6. can you hide the wifi name or broadcast
7. can use use mac address access only so you can tell which devices can access the wifi
8. is there any slow down of the wifi when many devices are trying to stream video as I find the bt home hub rubbish at delegating the data for each device when in use.
9. is there a guest network
10. do these support Ipv6


any other info would be great

will google wifi replace virgin superhub? or i assume it still needs to stay connected

set mine up when i got in, took 15 mins max, very impressed so far, speeds upto 20mbs in rooms which had 2 -5mbs before.
i havent turned the wifi off on the bt router yet so still got to do that as ive read that actually helps

Any of the Google Wifi devices will act as your main router. The BT devices are wireless access points that form a mesh wifi network, but they still need to be plugged into another router.

My understanding is that K improves the scanning of AP to select best AP based on strength, and V relates to BSS transition. So when combined it allows your devices to move seamlessly between access points?

these r great if you want cancer

There's none near me but might be worth checking Argos. Price matched but you now get a £10 voucher for spending over £100
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/6866839

No, that's not what 802.11K/V does.

Just going to offer an alternative - I've just replaced a Linksys EA6900, a wireless repeater and a Unifi AP LR with a single Linksys EA9500.
The range is unbelievable. In areas where I had to use the repeater & Unifi (over powerline) I am getting full signal over 5ghz and the throughput matches the device I use it on at the furthest former blackspot area.
No handoffs, no powerlines - honestly couldn't recommend it enough.

Same price at Currys and Maplin.

Treat yourselves, go Unifi long range. Got some "seller refurbished" for £50. They were brand new and work a treat - reach from rubble filled stonewalled house to a large greenhouse at end of garden. Nothing else has managed to get through the walls .

if only it was that easy!

Just get a couple of powerline adapters and use an old router with DHCP disabled. Setup the WIFI with the same SSI and Password, job done.

how does this compare to google wifi

Ahhh I see ... makes sense.

Yes it would be cheaper but you still wouldnt get a seamless one wifi network. Even if you name all the access points to the same SSID its not a true mesh system.

The previous owner of the house did a smart thing by running network cables in the walls to each floor (3 floors).
Can I connect all 3 via ethernet and feed them all back to the same switch for a solid connection? Or does the mesh system not work that way?

Just noticed baker200 has already answered this
"The first disc is connected to the router by ethernet, and then the other 2 discs connect on Wi-Fi. However, all 3 discs can be connected by Ethernet if you have Ethernet around your house."

Turn wireless off on your SmartHub and connect the base disc via Ethernet and then see whether you get a good enough signal from the other two discs.

Ordered one of these thinking it could connect wirelessley to the smarthub. Without that i wont get the range i want. I think this is going to go back

It does, it uses 802.11 K/V for Wi-Fi roaming

Nice price .. is this wireless backhaul only? Currently have a Ubiquiti setup with 5 UniFi AC lite APs tied to a UniFi gateway, customization is really sweet although it does take a little while to get it setup just right.

Swifi (thanks for the reference - I'd not heard of that) doesn't appear to switch between repeaters, only different wireless networks. With BT Whole Home you to connect to one wireless network but on any of the access points.

Whether BTWH intelligently switches you to the strongest access point as you roam around is not clear. If so, it would be a well priced package and significantly cheaper than Ubiquiti (which I have at work) or Open-Mesh (which I have at home).

I have 2 Netgear Nighthawks in the house. The AC3200 and AC2400 models, even with those covering the house, connected using my physical Gigabit LAN, I have not spots in the house.
I can see this doing well but will let the technology mature a little further.

Can this work with any Router and provider like sky or talktalk or plusnet.

On this point: " the BT discs each have to connect to the base so both must be in good range of the base."

This is not true, the BT system allows the discs to "daisy chain" and connect via another disc rather than directly to the one next to your router. This is how mine are connected.

Thanks OP.

Topcashback tracked at 11.55% = £19.24 so £180.75 net cost :smiley:

Seems rather expensive. I've got a Powerline adapter with wifi that feeds the back of the house, currently £40 on Amazon.

The seamless switching is the obvious benefit with this. However, I've got Swifi app installed on my phone which automatically switches to the connection with the strongest signal.

Whilst this would be a slight improvement, I don't think it's worth £160 extra. Good deal if this suits your needs, just writing all that in case anyone is looking for a cheaper alternative.

Aaagggrh wifi signals are frying my brain :man:

Wifi speed is terrible if those figures are correct. I was considering this to replace the wifi on my Sky Q hub

The BT system does allow one disc to connect to another and then the base. That's how mine is set up. (My house is a bungalow shaped like an 'L')

Tried extenders, power line adapters and extra wireless APs, this system does a better job, it 'just works' and getting more than reasonable WiFi speeds everywhere in the house now.

If you value your sanity and free time, get one!

Is this the same a Google.

Works really well. Got mine last week £249 :disappointed:

They priced it too high, then google priced it according to BT's price thinking its a non brainer, but we're thinking both prices are crazy. Well atleast I am.

The Amazon offer does not appear to offer the 30 day money back deal only shown on the BT website

That's rubbish - running unifi at the mo and that meshes together properly... was looking at this as a way to upgrade to 5ghz but alas :disappointed:

This is a mesh system as is Google WiFi, and it's completely different to WiFi extenders and extra access points - ie it works well and at the best speed you can get, not the half speed that extenders give or the drop outs and channel conflicts.

The other advantage is that it will accept multiple connections with little performance drop.

This is a steal at this price.

im running the bt powerline adapters for the kids xbox etc, would these really give a better signal than (abotu 20mbs) or can you run both of them?

I wonder if this would work down in the garden shed. That's the only spot (the garden) where my WIFI drops.

BT Shop cashback has multiple categories on TCB and Quidco, but if this falls under "BT branded products" you could get 11% cashback!

Great product - had ours just over a month and it just works better than the repeaters and electricity cable piggyback devices that we were using previously.

(We are in an old house with very thick walls but carefully positioning these three units has worked well)

NB Note that this is a "deal of the day" so don't sit on the fence for too long if you are considering!

There was some technical discussion on the previous deal thread. Seems like a great price
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/bt-whole-home-wifi-250-for-3-units-bt-shop-2649008

Just seen that its slightly cheaper on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BT-088269-Whole-Home-Wi-Fi/dp/B01NBMMVG7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492003680&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=bt+whole+home+wi-fi&psc=1

There are better solutions out there but at this price and how simple it is you cant go wrong.

Not looked into the Google one yet but I think yes, there both trying to do the same job.

Clearly not selling very well if they've dropped the price by a third a few weeks after launch!