Rebuffering & poor general performance

[Muggo]

Good morning,

I've been unable to find any online help from Now, so I wonder if anyone can advise what my issues are being caused by?  I suspect local network related, but it's the same local network I've always had & the only new component is the NOW hub two.

I have Super Fibre & it measures 80Mbps on a Now TV hub two sitting horizontally 1m from the floor & plugged direct into the BT box. 

I have a couple of TP-Link wireless boosters as the router itself won't cover much of my house.  All boosters are using the same wifi channel.  I've tried running with just 1 booster, but still have issues.  My mobile wifi analysis app shows no channel conflicts with my neighbours.  Router auto channel usually defaults to ch6 & app suggests ch11 would be better.  I manually set the router to ch11 & it suggests ch6 would be better.  Whichever I choose, I get 1 star or perhaps 0 stars & the internet connection then drops.  This is a problem. 

Ethernet is provided by Powerline adaptors that are all the same make & type & all rated at 1Gbps.  This system used to work well 99.9% of the time on Shell Broadband.  It doesn't work at all well with NOW broadband.

I stream hi res music files & it rebuffers every few seconds on some devices, whether ethernet or wireless connected.  I switch to a 128kbps radio station & that is better but not great, whether ethernet or wireless connected.  On Shell BB, it used to be fine, but now it's unusable on some devices.

It takes nearly a minute to get allocated an IP address on either ethernet or wireless.  It times out after 30 seconds & I often have to try 2 or 3 times before eventually getting an IP.  I think this is relevant.  Auto allocated IP addresses are often using low numbers eg 192.168.0.9 but I thought this was bad practice & it should be 192.168.0.109 etc.

My mobile often reports connected but no internet.  I switch wireless off & back on & this usually fixes it.  Mobile data connect often works much faster than local wifi connect.

You can see I know a little about these things, but not enough to identify what's wrong so I need some assistance.  Of course I've tried hard & soft reboots of all devices to no avail.

I'd really appreciate some good advice here.

Many thanks in advance.

[gavs82008]

@Muggo 

Outside of trying your own router as the NOW provided one is known to be well pretty poor. All I can suggest is to call the broadband team. 

It is possible there could be some sort of fault on the line somewhere as far as the cabinet.

See the link for the number.
https://help.nowtv.com/article/how-to-submit-a-broadband-complaint1

[Muggo]

Thanks very much for the information. I didn't know the hub had a bad
reputation so I might not be going crazy after all.
The only generic router I have is a Linksys WRT540L dated 2005. It was
great in its day but has twin external antennas so may be worth a go.
Otherwise I still have the Shell router from my last BB contract. Which
would you try first if Now tech support can't help?
Thanks again. 👍

[gavs82008]

@Muggo 

No harm in trying either mate. Can't say I am clued up on routers, as I was commenting based on seeing other users on here complain about the NOW router. 

Being a BT 500MB fibre customer, I can only say that anything on the FTTP network has been far better than what FTTC aka NOW can offer. 

[Muggo]

Thanks mate. The old router has no Internet input so I'll try the Shell one.
Cheers 🍻