Poor WiFi Signal In Rooms Away From the Hub 2

[Anonymous User]

I’ve just joined nowtv broadband and my experience is not good. The hub doesn’t give good coverage whereas as my sky,bt have. The issue is with the hub and nothing else it works fine if your close to it. I cannot even play Netflix, PS4 in bedrooms upstairs as it doesn’t even show up and my house is small. I’ve called now broadband and went through channel switching and placement of hub( which I already now where the best place is FYI considering all the companies I’ve been with no problems)  which didn’t improve anything. WiFi extenders/boasters don’t work. It makes it worse in my house as I guess the furthest point in the house isn’t far enough and close to the hub. And to get through to technical support is another battle, their wait time isn’t what it says. it will say for example 9mins when it’s literally double that, I timed it last night. It seems they can cut their waiting times in half or more if they make a decent hub and unfortunately it will be at least 2 years before they realise this. I’ve put a switch to virgin on. Still have to live with no Netflix and PS4 for about 2 weeks and nowtv advisor wasn’t interested in helping much after he saw the port request. The poor WiFi coverage echos on the internet.

[Anonymous User]

We have just joined NowTV WiFi from BT.

WORST mistake ever. This is horrendous WiFi, so frustrating, so poor signals, horrific. So unhappy with it. Paying for fastest service and it’s  a total joke. Router doesn’t cover rooms other than where router is. Very poor indeed. 

[Anonymous User]

Try using a WiFi signal booster. They cost under £20. The nowtv router I have covers all the rooms in my house even up to the 3rd floor but those which are directly above. The other rooms which are not parallel do get poor coverage but with the WiFi booster on the middle floor all rooms get full coverage with full speeds. 

I bought my WiFi booster from Argos for about £15. The netgear universal. 

[Anonymous User]

I recently switched to Now TV broadband and have been experiencing exactly the same problem as many others on this forum.   Instead of the fast, reliable wifi I have enjoyed from several previous providers throughout my house and garden, there was an incredibly restricted area within my house I could pick up a signal.  At times, when sitting only three metres away from the router in the next room, unless I was within direct line of sight of it, I could not connect my devices.   I phoned Now TV who were sympathetic and told me I had a 30 day cooling off period from broadband commencing and suggested some things I could try to resolve the problem.  They told me the router operates on different channels and would have been set to “auto” when it was sent to me.   They suggested I try some of the different channels and after a few false starts, I have now got a reliable signal from all areas of my house and garden again.  I would suggest others try the same tactic to see if it improves their wifi at no cost.  I hope this helps.

[Anonymous User]

I've just complained to Ofcom as I have reason to believe they have mislead me as they are using very old and cheap tech in their router. They aren't willing to take responsibility or compensate other than give low credit to buy a cheap booster.

[Anonymous User]

YEP! Same here and its absolutely pathetic! I literally go into the kitchen a few metres away and I can nearly get signal! I had perfect Wifi all around the house all the way to the top of the house and now it struggles almost everywhere unless you are within literally a few metres of it. They've given the same response saying that 'they can't guarantee signal' however, why is the first ever time I've had this problem. They don't even want to try and fix it. Just giving £15 credit?? I can't buy a Wifi Booster with £15! Absolute Joke! 

I spent almost 2 hours on chat, which they told me to do something which meant disconnect the wifi then I was in the queue again, waiting another 30 minutes just to get someone on!

Its literally a pathetic service!

[RoyB]

@Anonymous User 

While the £15 quoted above is a little optimistic now, the recommended NetGear Universal WIFI extender is still only £19.99 from Argos:-

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1070754

There is a BT one there for the same price as well.

And Currys will do you one for £13.99, if you don’t mind an unknown name, plus more established makes:-

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/networking/wifi-range-extenders/321_3423_32064_xx_xx/1_20/price-asc/xx-criteria.html

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply Roy. I appreciate it. However, I don't see why I'm having to sort this out when the service provided isn't good enough nor is there any responsibility being taken. The truth of the matter is they has skimped on the technology used in their hub and they know it. They should fix this, nit give me inadequate credit to fix this. They won't last long at this rate!

[RoyB]

@Anonymous User 

I’m told the router that NowTV provide is the same as the Sky Q router, so I thought I’d pop over to the Sky Community and see if that was full of complaints about this Hub.

There are a few.... 😛

I also found this, which indicates Sky are bringing in a new improved hub. This is identified as 4.2, and was preceded by a Hub 3, while NowTV is on a Hub 2, so possibly two generations older.

I don’t know where Sky Q Hub comes into this; perhaps as a generic name for all of them?

But even with the Hub 4.2, Sky seem to have a booster they send out to spread the WiFi better. And I am pleased they have gone back to 4 Ethernet ports, as two is too few; even if you know how to add a switch, it’s cumbersome, and militates against how easy these things should be to use. 

[Anonymous User]

Roy, you really are a legend! 😆 Thanks for this information and things are becoming more clearer. now. How is it you know so much or know where to look to find out this info?

I think its quite out of order they continue to deny that there is nothing wrong with the router they offer when they clearly are taking short cuts and not using up to date tech. They talk about thickness of the walls etc. as an excuse for poor performance but if I go to the other side of the same room I still lose strength and with so many complaining, they are clearly not doing enough for their customers nor are they willing to.

[RoyB]

@Anonymous User 

Thanks for your kind words.

As to what I know, years of bitter experience - 50 years in IT, such that some of what I learned originally is a hindrance today (if you bought a Hornby train set or a Scalextric in the late 70s, that would have been processed on a computer with 120Mb of storage* and 120Kb of memory that I was running at the time - think about those numbers, and yes the units are correct - and it was the best damn match of system to company needs I ever saw). But what price that experience now, when CCleaner throws away about twice as much storage as that every time I tidy up my laptop?

Oh, and I have a memory that won’t quit storing new stuff in the wetware....

As to how to find stuff out, my tip is to make no concessions to how you think Google might or might not work, couch your request in natural language, be specific enough that you get results that are largely on target, but not so specific that you accidentally exclude the answer you are looking for.

As you type, Google will suggest completions for your search string underneath, if you let it; when you get down to about three options there , pick the best one and go with it.

Lots of people overthink their Google searches; don’t be among them.

I’m with BT now for broadband; nobody else serves my road, as there is no LLU in the local exchange. I found their hub unreliable, and they couldn’t swap it in less than 4 days, so I was in and out of the local Curry’s that very day for a Netgear Nighthawk that is as solid as anything can be. And covers the whole house, except for my study in the garden room at the end of our garden, where I am now. I’ll forgive it that, and the TP-Link WiFi extender over PLAs is seamless anyway.

Unlike NowTV, BT don’t prohibit you using a third-party router, cooperate by providing the logon details embedded in their Hubs which you need with a non-BT router, and ask only that you keep their Hub to maybe put back on if you ever get a problem with your broadband that they think might be down to the Nighthawk. Fair enough, but it hasn’t had to happen yet.

Before that, at our old address, we had Sky Broadband, with the router with the little faces on it. Good coverage, never a moment’s trouble an instantly answered phone line couldn’t fix.

NowTV streaming is great, but NowTV Broadband has some issues to work through.

*Back in the day, that didn’t look like a USB stick, exactly. It looked like an array of 12 washing machines 😛