We have a BT Home Hub 3 which we've had since we moved into our house in Poundbury. It has been in use for 4 and a half years. We find we are often not getting broadband for 3 weeks now it drops and I have to restart the router ("hub" as my husband insists it is called). We are getting fed up with this problem and wonder if technology advances to the point that changing to a new router would solve the problem. If so, do we have to buy a new BT home hub v5? When broadband is working, my iMac gets fiber optic speed of (50.55 mbps download with 8.57 mbps upload) but my husband's PC which uses BT broadband extender hubs (to get the internet to his PC in the room above the garage) gets very slow speeds or it drops out altogether. That's when I have to restart the BT Home Hub 3 which then seems to get us back online. He has changed these extender hubs before so they could be the problem. Any ideas of other tests or methods to figure out the problem as I wouldn't want to buy another router if we still lose our broadband.
If your ISP is BT, they could be persuaded to give you a new hub free of charge. I assume that you have a BT (OpenReach) modem connected to the Hub3 as the Hub3 won't handle fibre. The Hub5 will handle fibre without the need of the modem.
Am I right in thinking the extender hubs are wireless? If so, you won't get anything like the speed through them that you're getting on your iMac and I would think the drop outs are more likely to be down to them rather than the Hub3
Thank you Mick. We have have discovered that the extender hubs are the problem as various changes of several of them have made a difference. They are not used as wireless. My husband uses an Ethernet cable to connect his PC to the extender. Meanwhile he called BT about the problem of our too often dropping out of broadband that they will send us a new BT hub 5 free, due in a days time. We shall see if this improves the entire system. I have tried to convince him to change over to a Mac but he won't.
Using a Plusnet Hub One which is very similar to the BT hub, I found as Mick says, that the wi-fi losses from one side of our house to the other were unacceptable, about half of the available speed of 72mbs. when connected by ethernet cable the speed on the far side of the house is the same as at the router. It is also more secure.
Georgia Cheer 