Vodafone wifi problem?

Boxman

I’m with Vodafone bb and use their hub. Due to house layout it’s not practical to use ethernet so all devices are connected by wifi. Primarily these are a desktop, LG smart TV, Humax pvr, a Roku stick, couple of mobiles and an ipad. The hub says it connects at about 42 mbps and usually all works well with speed tests around the house showing about 38 mbps. However every couple of days speeds at the pc will drop to about 2 mbps. Normally the wifi adapter reports it’s connected at 130 mbps but when the problem occurs it only shows 5 mbps. A speedtest on my smartphone carried out at the same time adjacent to the pc will however still show 38 or so and the hub will still say it is connected at 42. I accept that at first sight this would point to a problem with my pc BUT sometimes (not always) at the same time the TV will also not connect at all. The Humax and Roku stick next to the TV will however work normally. Rebooting the router by switching it off for 10 mins or so will usually restore expected speeds.

 Previously I was with Plusnet for a couple of years and the same arrangement worked well without any problems. Any advice on fixing this behaviour would be appreciated.

[Deleted User]

Probably need a bit more information about what band your devices are using - eg 2.4 Ghz or 5Ghz and the make / model of the wifi adapter in the PC. Connecting at 130mbps on 5Ghz suggests a pretty poor signal strength or outdated tech which could be the cause of the problem.

When the problem occurs and the PC connects at 5mbps it can cause problems with other devices as it will be hogging all the airtime to send / receive at 5mbps leaving very little for other devices to use - maybe your TV and PC are on 2.4Ghz whereas the other devices are on the 5Ghz hence the issue you have with the TV when the PC is suffering a slow connection.

Are the aerials on the PC wifi adaptor tight? Where are they located and oriented? Wifi for PC's can be an issue because of the big metal box they are attached to blocking the signal - I always recommend remote aerials for PC based wifi (after ethernet of course)

Also need to check with a wifi analyser like InSSIDer to see what you channels are and if there is any interference from neighbouring wifi.

ISP routers are pretty poor so in general I'd always recommend buying a proper wifi router if you depend on it so much.

And as for the ethernet challenge, it just takes a bit of imagination to run an ethernet cable anywhere around a house regardless of layout.

Boxman

Thank you T6, some points for me to think about there.

 The pc always connects at 2.4 Ghz via a Netgear adapter, this is pretty ancient but have never considered a replacement as up to now to the best of my knowledge it has always worked as expected. Signal strength indicator shows 4/5 bars and fine with a wifi analyser (no obvious channel clash).  I’ve previously tried the built in wifi adapter but that never gave very good speeds. The unaffected Roku stick is also on 2.4.  The TV however is on 5 Ghz.

 Take your point about buying my own router but am a bit puzzled as to why my setup previously used to work OK with the Plusnet router and most of the time with the Vodafone kit yet intermittently shows this problem. However as currently there are lots of bargains about might well take the plunge. Will probably replace the Netgear adapter as well as that would be inexpensive.