EE 4g's handling of IP addresses has beein infuriating since they use CGNAT which is the work of the devil. Its not routable, and changes daily :mad: I've ended up with a VPN terminating in London with a static IP and port forwarding which works pretty well but the 4G connection is still very variable.

I did try a microwave wireless broadband provider called Airband, but their customer service explains why Plusnet win awards! After 2 weeks of no connection and no response to support calls I cancelled the contract.

Thanks for all the advice. My router turned up today. I did a simm only contract with Three and bought a Huawei B535-232 Cat7.

It seems quite capable, so my thoughts now are to use its router facilities and my TP Link as a WIFI access point.

I have to have the Huawei at one end of my house at the bottom of the chimney stack as the external aerial is on the end of 5 metre tails. Any longer and the gain drops off. ��
So the TP Link can sit in the middle of the house and provide WiFi?

One of the features of the Huawei is that further units can be added and they clone the primary unit and any changes made to the primary unit are automatically applied to extensions. Didi read that right?

Edit:

If I sound like an IT pygmy it's because I am!

I'm totally confused.
Details?
Well here we go, but short and simple version (KISS).


I'm on cable with Virgin and allegedly at 300MBPS download, but usually over 360MBPS.
Over the last few days, well about six, my service has been very intermittent. Contact in the house with WiFi and Ethernet has been the normal high standard but I kept losing the Internet. No tintermet is the dogs.
Had a phone chat with an Indian chap that I could not get to understand that the problem was with them. How I see it it is if I can talk to and through the router within the home network but have problems with internet connection then the problem is owned by them, because the Router is a rental. I eventually confused him enough so that he gave in and sent me a replacement router that he claimed would be plug and play and would sort me out. This was Thursday evening with a three working day delivery that I did not like. Then with a bit more rabbiting from me he put it on express and it arrived 17:30 Friday.
Swapped the routers and it was a complete failure, in fact even worse, no internet at all.
Phoned Virgin and hung on to stupid music for just over an hour, landed up with another Indian chap that was even harder to understand.
I then deployed my super powerful secret weapon, Daughter-out-Law Jennifer. She spoke to this bloke and magically the router worked after a few minutes, and we were promised a major discount on next months bill.


I do have three Zyxel Multy boxes that extend my WiFi throughout the house and back garden. Even my car picks up the WiFi but loses as soon as I drive.

I’m hoping that someone will post a ‘plain English’ version of this thread! I’m stuck with crappy wifi as I have no idea what to do, other than use the ISP router (BT) and the little disc-shaped booster that they provide.

You could consider 'powerline' adaptors as a simpler/cheaper solution, Jim.

By far the the best way is to use professional wireless 'Access Points', like I mentioned earlier, but they do require network cables and a fair bit of setup.

Powerline adaptors are a decent second-best option and usually work reliably, as long as your mains wiring is good and you plug them directly into a wall socket (not an extension). They're not perfect, and you may find that occasionally (~once every month or so) they stop working and need to be restarted (ie just turn them off and on again).

They work by sending the data over the mains wiring and act just like a network cable, requiring little-to-no setup. To simplify things further, some powerline adaptors have a built-in wireless access point, which works a bit like having another wireless router that you can use in any room, simply by plugging it into a wall socket.

TP-Link do a kit that includes 2 powerline WiFi access points:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA4220T...dp/B07N1HDMFR/
You just plug the smaller unit into a wall socket near your router and connect it to your router via a network cable. Then you plug the two access points in wherever you need them. Additional access points are available too if you need more:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA4220-.../dp/B00DEYDF8I

Good advice. I don't know what you house construction is like Jim, but older, thicker walls can play havoc with WIFI.

Even though I live in a 1960s house with walls apparently made of balsa wood I've got almost the exact setup Mark describes, just an older version of that kit and with only one secondary.
In my case the main BT router is at the front of the house and the secondary WIFI unit at the back, serving also the patio and much of the back garden.

I've set mine up so that the secondary is actually a different name. The only things that causes confusion with are iPhones as I wander around. Sometimes they just sort of give up and revert to 4G until I give their WIFI settings a prod.

And yes I do have turn power cycle mine occasionally.

We have a very old house - some parts much older than others - with solid stone and brick walls. I’ll give Mark’s solution a go once we’ve finished some pretty extensive decorating. Thanks Mark!

One thing to note with older properties, particularly if they've been extended over time, is that not all the wiring may be on the same circuit. This stops powerline adaptors working, but with some careful location so the point at which you're 'injecting' your wifi into the house wiring is on the same circuit as points that can deliver the signal you need to other powerline adaptors, they can still be workable.

I've got a decent Asus router in a downstairs cupboard by the front door, with my micro server, as that's where BT decided to dump the phone point into the house! Luckily the wifi from it is really good, so works right out the back of the house with no issues. For hard wired connections I've got x3 powerline adaptors dotted about the house to deliver ethernet connections to TVs etc and the PCs in my study. Works pretty well for a budget setup.

I suspect the problem may not entirely lie within your house Jim, but could be due to slow speed delivery from your ISP where it enters the building. I presume you may be some distance from nearest exchange and service is delivered over copper phone lines?

A speed check using the My BT app might show this? It would at least show the speed to the hub and then if that is reasonable the rest would be down to WiFi. I'm on BT with about 80mbps fibre to the cabinet and have no problem streaming, my TV is connected by powerline adaptors too as it doesn't have a WiFi connection.

Which version hub do you have Jim? The BT Smart Hub 2 is much better than the older versions.