Just got an email from Robert Dyas with this offer in - use code JULY15 to take 15% off anything until Monday.
BT Whole Home Wifi system (3x disc kit) at Robert Dyas currently priced at £189.99, but with code this drops to £161.49.
Reviews of these are good. Not something I need as I don't have a large flat, and a recent router upgrade has dealt with my wi-fi issues, but larger households would be likely to benefit.
Should be able to get cashback with TCB.
Top comments
TehJumpingJawa
28 Jul 174#4
£160?!?!
If you need better coverage, why not just put a few old routers in AP mode and spread them around your house? Cost: free.
Mentos to youngsyp
29 Jul 173#16
Distance and how much your walls attenuate the signal aren't the only factors you need to consider. You also have to consider number and type of devices, what people use them for, how they move around the house while using them, how well they switch between AP's, ability to wire the two AP's together, wether you can wire other devices (cable routing is usually challenging in residential properties) and number of devices competing for the same spectrum.
We live in a large town house, ~77sqm per floor and 3 floors. We have a central comms cupboard with CAT6 distributed around the house for multiroom AV, so theres no issue with adding more access points. The wifi spectrum is quite congested as I live very close to a large town centre. Some devices play fine with a secondary access point, others grind to a halt as they hold on to the first and don't switch. I haven't looked at it in detail, but I suspect either congestion or interference leads to the channel becoming congested rather then signal attenuation due to walls/distance and some devices don't handle such a scenario too well.
A mesh network is possibly a better answer then several access points in our scenario. And to be honest, amortised over several years of usage, given Wifi is one of the most used services in our home, £160 doesn't seem like much.
saintagnes
29 Jul 173#15
I have just ditched all my wired PoE APs (4 of them as we have granite walls in Cornwall which are impervious to WiFi) and replaced them with 6 of these, all meshing nicely. The main advantage is not having to switch between different SSIDs around the place as I move around with my devices - it used to be a real pain disconnecting and reconnecting to get a better signal. I value this product enormously, and I have been through a lot of different options in the past! This is product is much more than a wireless extender, a powerline or a standalone access point.
All comments (26)
Longy
28 Jul 17#1
Good price and good value system. Very pleased with mine.
WolverhamptonDealDon
28 Jul 17#2
Can these be used with virgin media
halliwells99
28 Jul 17#3
Yes, these work really well with VIrgin. Got mine set up easily. 100MB throughout my large two bed flat. Very happy with this system. Highly recommended and have yet to have any dropouts after using the system for about 6 months now. Vastly superior to the buggy Superhub,
TehJumpingJawa
28 Jul 174#4
£160?!?!
If you need better coverage, why not just put a few old routers in AP mode and spread them around your house? Cost: free.
SFJnet to TehJumpingJawa
28 Jul 17#5
A man (or woman?) who thinks like I do!
Sambat to TehJumpingJawa
28 Jul 17#6
That's what all those old Home Hubs that BT don't want back, and send me in error, are doing.
mayzi to TehJumpingJawa
28 Jul 17#7
Please explain this in layman's terms. How do I put them in AP mode?!
vclaw to TehJumpingJawa
29 Jul 171#10
But it doesn't work very well for switching between them in my experience. End up with devices hanging onto the signal from one point, even though there is another closer. Or it drops the connection for several minutes as it switches from one to another.
I want something that works seamlessly.
chinds to TehJumpingJawa
29 Jul 17#13
Old AP's do not form a mesh network or support AC wifi
youngsyp
28 Jul 172#8
Playing devil's advocate, I'd question the need for these in most residential properties. We live in a 2000 sq/ft 260 year old house with 1-3 ft thick stone walls in most places. I have a ZyXel VMG8924 (internal antennae) gateway at one end of the house and an Archer C7 (3 x external antennae) at the other end of the house, on the ground level, and we don't have any Wi-Fi black spots.
I think part of the issue is the often mis-informed strive for 5GHz connectivity, when a decent 2.4GHz link will be more than enough bandwidth to transfer all the data most broadband connections can throughput, and offer less issues in the average home.
Instead of spending £170 on this, most would be better off spending £60 on a reasonable cable router and 8 port GbE switch, then hard-wiring any static IP enabled kit and use the router as a wireless AP along with your gateway (assuming that's also wireless), strategically placed in the property, for your mobile kit.
Paul
SFconvert to youngsyp
29 Jul 17#12
I agree unless you live in mansion. I did a similar thing in a friend's house, just powerline from one wireless router to another. One router at front corner of house (where their PC is) and another (old router in AP mode) in opposite corner at rear (where TV is) it needed this anyway for their Youview box.
Yes I agree though some devices do hang on to the weaker signal as you walk through the house, though in practice they never seem to notice, and having the second router at the rear of the house gives excellent coverage into the back garden. Cost only about £20 for the powerline. Modern routers (even the standard free ones) do give great coverage now, I've found the Sky hub and and EE brightbox to be very good, and even placed sitting in the front corner of my house gives excellent coverage through the house, out the front into the garage and in the garden. Compared with a talktalk router I had a couple of years ago (it struggled even into the next room so I ditched that in favour of a Plusnet Technicolour one) the coverage is great
Mentos to youngsyp
29 Jul 173#16
Distance and how much your walls attenuate the signal aren't the only factors you need to consider. You also have to consider number and type of devices, what people use them for, how they move around the house while using them, how well they switch between AP's, ability to wire the two AP's together, wether you can wire other devices (cable routing is usually challenging in residential properties) and number of devices competing for the same spectrum.
We live in a large town house, ~77sqm per floor and 3 floors. We have a central comms cupboard with CAT6 distributed around the house for multiroom AV, so theres no issue with adding more access points. The wifi spectrum is quite congested as I live very close to a large town centre. Some devices play fine with a secondary access point, others grind to a halt as they hold on to the first and don't switch. I haven't looked at it in detail, but I suspect either congestion or interference leads to the channel becoming congested rather then signal attenuation due to walls/distance and some devices don't handle such a scenario too well.
A mesh network is possibly a better answer then several access points in our scenario. And to be honest, amortised over several years of usage, given Wifi is one of the most used services in our home, £160 doesn't seem like much.
foggy
29 Jul 17#9
I've got a old terrace and this finally sorted out the loft room where even powerline couldn't probably due to the wiring job. It's plug and play to coin an old term which is what I needed.
Handy to have an Ethernet connection on each.
ehten
29 Jul 171#11
Excellent system, just make sure the firmware is up to date. App is a work in progress but due an update September if not before.
AshleyKingston
29 Jul 17#14
On mobile use Swifi to switch automatically without noticing.
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
BT Whole Home Wifi system (3x disc kit) at Robert Dyas currently priced at £189.99, but with code this drops to £161.49.
Reviews of these are good. Not something I need as I don't have a large flat, and a recent router upgrade has dealt with my wi-fi issues, but larger households would be likely to benefit.
Should be able to get cashback with TCB.
Top comments
If you need better coverage, why not just put a few old routers in AP mode and spread them around your house? Cost: free.
We live in a large town house, ~77sqm per floor and 3 floors. We have a central comms cupboard with CAT6 distributed around the house for multiroom AV, so theres no issue with adding more access points. The wifi spectrum is quite congested as I live very close to a large town centre. Some devices play fine with a secondary access point, others grind to a halt as they hold on to the first and don't switch. I haven't looked at it in detail, but I suspect either congestion or interference leads to the channel becoming congested rather then signal attenuation due to walls/distance and some devices don't handle such a scenario too well.
A mesh network is possibly a better answer then several access points in our scenario. And to be honest, amortised over several years of usage, given Wifi is one of the most used services in our home, £160 doesn't seem like much.
All comments (26)
If you need better coverage, why not just put a few old routers in AP mode and spread them around your house? Cost: free.
I want something that works seamlessly.
I think part of the issue is the often mis-informed strive for 5GHz connectivity, when a decent 2.4GHz link will be more than enough bandwidth to transfer all the data most broadband connections can throughput, and offer less issues in the average home.
Instead of spending £170 on this, most would be better off spending £60 on a reasonable cable router and 8 port GbE switch, then hard-wiring any static IP enabled kit and use the router as a wireless AP along with your gateway (assuming that's also wireless), strategically placed in the property, for your mobile kit.
Paul
Yes I agree though some devices do hang on to the weaker signal as you walk through the house, though in practice they never seem to notice, and having the second router at the rear of the house gives excellent coverage into the back garden. Cost only about £20 for the powerline. Modern routers (even the standard free ones) do give great coverage now, I've found the Sky hub and and EE brightbox to be very good, and even placed sitting in the front corner of my house gives excellent coverage through the house, out the front into the garage and in the garden. Compared with a talktalk router I had a couple of years ago (it struggled even into the next room so I ditched that in favour of a Plusnet Technicolour one) the coverage is great
We live in a large town house, ~77sqm per floor and 3 floors. We have a central comms cupboard with CAT6 distributed around the house for multiroom AV, so theres no issue with adding more access points. The wifi spectrum is quite congested as I live very close to a large town centre. Some devices play fine with a secondary access point, others grind to a halt as they hold on to the first and don't switch. I haven't looked at it in detail, but I suspect either congestion or interference leads to the channel becoming congested rather then signal attenuation due to walls/distance and some devices don't handle such a scenario too well.
A mesh network is possibly a better answer then several access points in our scenario. And to be honest, amortised over several years of usage, given Wifi is one of the most used services in our home, £160 doesn't seem like much.
Handy to have an Ethernet connection on each.