3BB Fiber WiFi Modem - LAN great, WiFi Terrible

[LivinginKata]

Title says it all.

I'm a newbie on this Internet forum. Made a search but so far no results found.

Dec/Jan we installed 3 off 3BB 30 Meg fiber packages on our 3 properties. Right away I noticed that the WiFi signal speed test checked out <5 Megs. Pointed this out to the installation engineer, he casualy said 'Oh that's normal - only get the 30 Meg speed on the LAN port'. I checked this out and sure enough I get at least 25 Meg on a LAN connection.

Trouble is that my tenants mostly use WiFi, and to say the least my 3 modems are all providing very very poor internet speed to WiFi users, talking about way less than 1 Meg. Where possible I have supplied a LAN line to selected tenants and they are all delighted with speed.

Question - how do I improve WiFi speed on the 3BB supplied modems. As a temporary method I have bought regular Wireless Access Points and connected LAN/LAN ports. This works quite well, but not such an elegant solution.

I cannot be the only member experiencing this problem. Solutions welcome, thank you.

[Gregory Morozov]

Yep, confirm that, all the 3bb fiber optic all-in-ones I saw so far have this problem. We disable WiFi completely and use separate access points.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Guest]

Generally Wifi can have 1/3 of the nominal throughput capacity even in the best environment.

Is the location busy area in the way that there is plenty of hotels, apartment etc which are using Wifi? If that's the case, it could be that the airwaves are 'busy' as everybody are trying to use the same resources.

You can check from your routers which channels they are using. These are normally marked as Channels 1 to 14. General rule of thumb is that only channels 1, 6,14 does not overlap each others radio frequencies. If in the locations there is someone using Channel 6, then change your wifi to use Channel 1 or 14 (the highest might be 12 or 13 as well).

You can also download for example Android application to your phone to do Wifi analyzing. These normally display how strong the connection is and which channels you could use for yourself (one which is not used). https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer

The best option would be to replace the wifi stations with 5GHz models as the frequencies are less used. Then again, the client laptops and other mobile devices need to have compatible wifi which can use the 5GHz wifi.

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/5ghz-access-point

http://www.tp-link.com/lk/products/details/?model=TL-WA7510N

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wireless-N-Access-Bridge-WNHDE111/dp/B00126V3EI

[LivinginKata]

@ Gregory

Oh dear, your are just confirming what I think. Thanks anyway.

@ Oilinki

Sure I use the different channel identities, although my 3 routers are all way far away from each other, like not within range, doubt that is an issue with Wireless speed. Right now I am stuck with the 3BB supplied fiber router as so far I don't see any alternatives in my local computer shops. I guess I could order something over the internet. Before I order I would like to hear other users positive or not so positive experiences.

[Gregory Morozov]

You can probably request just a simple GPON unit (think analogous to ADSL modem) and use it in bridge mode with any conventional WIFI router you like. TOT and CAT can provide it, don't know about 3BB

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[samuijimmy]

Strange, I find 3BB wifi great... coming from their modem, using laptop and up to two other users using mobile phones at the same time... (regular ADSL line... 13 mb (?) ) Sitting on patio, with signal coming through a concrete wall, too....

Just watched a BBC iplayer program with no buffering...or skipping at all...

I have never really had a problem with 3BB in a year and a half of use...

[Guest]

@livinginkata: What is the device model?

One possibility is that the wifi overheats and the signal starts to get worse. I had the problem with a bit higher end, Cisco E3000 router, which at the end of the day fried itself. Before that I tried to put an PC fan under the device, but it did not help too much.

For troubleshooting overheating. Shutdown the modem and let it cool down for an while (fan or vacuum cleaner can speed up the process quite a lot). Test the wifi connection speed right after the modem has booted itself up and while it's still cool.

[mexxx]

i think the op answered his own question when lan was acceptable & wifi wasnt to his tennants.

signal strength & speed is degraded with wifi due to distance from device to modem.

also wifi has to deal with all kinds of obstructions e.g. walls, furniture, external interferences etc etc

[LivinginKata]

Strange, I find 3BB wifi great... coming from their modem, using laptop and up to two other users using mobile phones at the same time... (regular ADSL line... 13 mb (?) ) Sitting on patio, with signal coming through a concrete wall, too....

Just watched a BBC iplayer program with no buffering...or skipping at all...

I have never really had a problem with 3BB in a year and a half of use...

Agreed - 3BB is great. Have no trouble with the regular 13 Meg ADSL. That's why I moved up to fiber. Just puzzled at this WiFi probrem, as I say LAN connection is terrific.