Will router bought now be OK after the BT landline changes

JurassicMe

Sorry to ask a naive question. I'm having issues with WIFI coverage at home and wondering whether to stagger on, with maybe an additional extender plugged in somewhere, or bite the bullet and upgrade my router. That is potentially expensive, so I want to make sure a new one wouldn't be made redundant by the change to digital phones. 

flaneurs_lobster

Have you been converted to digital voice yet? I ask because BT offered me a Smart Hub 2 (free) as part of the DV changeover. If you have a "lesser" router then this may help.

cx6

If you are moving onto BT digital voice then you will use their smart hub 2, not your own router.

HaroldWren5

JurassicMe said:

Sorry to ask a naive question. I'm having issues with WIFI coverage at home and wondering whether to stagger on, with maybe an additional extender plugged in somewhere, or bite the bullet and upgrade my router. That is potentially expensive, so I want to make sure a new one wouldn't be made redundant by the change to digital phones. 

Are you with BT/Sky/Vodafone who offer/are going to offer the Digital Voice service? Also do you need the Digital voice landline in the future?

As far as your Wifi goes, you can still purchase your own Mesh system (which often include a router) and still use it in the future even if you get a new router from your broadband supplier. In that case, you can just put your new Mesh system in "Access point mode" in the future and plug it into your "main" broadband ISP supplied router. Instructions for doing that would be included with the new product.

The best way to get coverage is of course wired, followed by having "wired backhaul" with access points plugged into the wired network. For an internet connection of speeds up to 150Mbps, you could use a "Powerline Mesh system" with each node plugged into a power socket and the system using your existing electrical home circuit to get the connection around. It has limitations though which is why it doesn't really work for speeds higher than that. The next best thing would be to get a good triband Mesh system which uses a wireless channel purely for communication between the satellites. E.g. Asus Zen XT8, Netgear Orbi, BT Whole Home Wifi 6, Asus Zen XT12 etc. 

It also hinges on what your underlying broadband speed is coming into the property. Then you can check what each Mesh system can potentially (theoretically) go up to and purchase accordingly. As an example, if the incoming broadband connection was 30Mbps, then a simple BT Whole Home Wifi (dual band) system might suffice. Or you could use a Powerline Mesh system. If the incoming broadband connection was more like 500Mbps or 900Mbps, then one of the other aforementioned systems would vastly outperform the dual band systems in that case. 

Richard_T_

You should in theory be able to use your own ATA device

JurassicMe

Thanks everyone. I'll have  a ponder and make a decision shortly. We're in our 80's and whilst the current situation is a bit of a bind, when we decide to just use the ground floor we'll need to get signals in places they are reluctant to go now!

Neil49

I've recently received my Smart Hub 2 and to continue using a land line phone you need to connect via their Smart Hub 2 router, either by using a digital phone supplied by them for that specific purpose or a device that connects to the router and allows you to use an existing dect phone. 

You should be aware that you cannot use a different router and continue to use a BT landline via the new digital voice system. You must use the Smart Hub 2 that they provide (free of charge). 

The Smart Hub 2 seems to be quite a good router in terms of WiFi but I use a mesh network to improve coverage. If you want to improve your own WiFi coverage I recommend connecting up a mesh system to your existing router and transferring it to your Smart Hub 2 when it arrives. I just use a fairly basic Google mesh system comprised of just 2 devices as I don't have any major home network requirements.

I suggest that you brush up on mesh networks generally to get an idea of what they offer.