BT new 500mb and 900mb Broadband packages

Did that include the broadband voucher, was worth up to £2,500?

I had a quote from virgin media business including the voucher for 450 a month for symmetrical one gig. I wouldn’t mind but they confirmed I would be connected to their cabinet which is across the road 13m away....
I'd guess not as it was residential. Now I'm working a bit more from home perhaps I could justify a dedicated fibre connection to the house for the business use only...
 
Just ordered. Should be activated tomorrow. What hardware are you guys using throughout the home?
 
I have ordered the 900MB service today, and am told it will be activated tomorrow (I'm an existing 300MB customer) - I use the Amplifi router / mesh system - does anybody know if this will still work at these higher speeds? BT told me that I needed their new router.
 
I have ordered the 900MB service today, and am told it will be activated tomorrow (I'm an existing 300MB customer) - I use the Amplifi router / mesh system - does anybody know if this will still work at these higher speeds? BT told me that I needed their new router.

BT will tell you that. Haven't used Amplifi but according to this is can. Achieve Marketed Gigabit Speeds in Router Mode
 
Personally I bought a Netgear Nighthawk AX200. It seems good so far. I'm getting fairly steady 400-500Mbps throughout the house on WiFi. You have to use the OpenReach modem which is in with your ONT in the big plastic box. My connection dropped and re-synced and that was it. Nothing more.

The BT Router is their SmartHub2 which is actually not so bad but I don't have faith in their WiFi generrally speaking to perform at those speeds which is why I went for a higher end WiFi router in the Nighthawk.
 
Just ordered. Should be activated tomorrow. What hardware are you guys using throughout the home?

NETGEAR Nighthawk X4S for a router, and a cheap TP Link Wifi extender upstairs and a slightly more expensive Netgear one for the Conservatory / Garage / Hot tub area.

£30 worth of extenders were considerably better than the BT Mesh system, and didn't take up as much space.

I'm getting Between 600-700 on my 900 package which I'm happy with. £15 more a month than the 300 package and getting more than double.
 
I got that free WiFi Disc thing -- it's garbage. Invest in a better router and better WiFi. :)
 
Personally I bought a Netgear Nighthawk AX200. It seems good so far. I'm getting fairly steady 400-500Mbps throughout the house on WiFi. You have to use the OpenReach modem which is in with your ONT in the big plastic box. My connection dropped and re-synced and that was it. Nothing more.

The BT Router is their SmartHub2 which is actually not so bad but I don't have faith in their WiFi generrally speaking to perform at those speeds which is why I went for a higher end WiFi router in the Nighthawk.
+1 for the Netgear RAX200 which I also have. Copes with my BT 330/50 FTTP line without breaking a sweat, I'm sure it will be more than enough once I upgrade to BT Business 1000/220 FTTP.
 
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Hi, I am wondering how you connect a netgear router to the SmartHub 2 with the full fibre bundle? Is there a different process since the SmartHub is actually connected to the Openreach panel? I’m pretty new to setting up routers so any detailed steps/advice would really help! Thank you!
 
Which model NetGear router...? For a lot of kit, the model name is cited on the "serial number" label if you don't happen to know what it is.
 
Incidentally, why do you want to connect the NetGear...? If the SH is working what problem are you hoping to "fix"...?

Routers sit at the "edge" of networks joining the network to other networks, not in the "middle" bossing it. Thusly, in most SOHO scenarios you only need one router connecting to your ISP.

Some people change out their ISP router (completely) for another usually because the 3rd party router offers some features not available in the ISP router. BT are usually pretty forgiving about that and are happy to let you use any 3rd party router (some ISP's forbid it.) To do so with a fibre service, you need to ensure your replacement router is a so-called "cable" router that can connect to the ONT using ethernet - have a look at the WAN port, that generally the best indicator. Thence the router needs to have the "right" software to be able to establish the link to the ISP, though I've no idea what that is for BT FTTP - probably PPPoE. For high speed packages, you'd also want to check that the router has a fast enough processor to handle the amount of traffic, (called "WAN-to-LAN routing capacity") though I'd be surprised if the Nighthawk did not.

If you want to use the Netgear "as well" as the SH2, then essentially "all" you are using the Netgear for is as a combination ethernet switch (giving you more ethernet ports) and Wi-Fi Access Point (AP.) You are thence not using the majority of the Netgear functionality (router/firewall/NAT etc.) as the SH2 will (still) be doing all the clever stuff. Typically people do this because they want to add an additional Wi-Fi AP to extend coverage and/or increase the number of ethernet ports, and deploying an "old" router they have lying around is a cheap way to do this, There's a few hoops to jump through to achieve this, how to do it is described in the "Using two routers together" FAQ pinned in this forum.
 
The main problem with the SH router that is supplied by BT is that the signal is very weak upstairs and in the back garden. My house is solid built with bison slabs so the signal isn’t getting thru effectively. I thought the nighthawk router would help with range.
 
Hi, I am wondering how you connect a netgear router to the SmartHub 2 with the full fibre bundle? Is there a different process since the SmartHub is actually connected to the Openreach panel? I’m pretty new to setting up routers so any detailed steps/advice would really help! Thank you!
By "Openreach Panel"i assume you mean the Openreach ONT? If so, disconnect the SmartHub 2 from the ONT,plug the Netgear R8000 into the same port on the ONT and setup a PPPoE connection on the Netgear.
 
Upgrade from 300mbps to the 500mbps service completed today, got it essentially free, no increase in my monthly payments after a chat with a nice lady on the phone. Well pleased with the outcome!

F20388A7-7005-4015-A070-EEBDAA10E2E5.jpeg
 
(Apologies for not reading through the previous, icba 😂)
Has anyone connected the 900mb to a mesh?
If so which one?


thanks in advance
 
(Apologies for not reading through the previous, icba 😂)
Has anyone connected the 900mb to a mesh?
If so which one?


thanks in advance

I have a 1.2Gbps connection to multiple WiFi AP, that are running in an equivalent arrangement. Depending on the client device you can get up to around 700Mbps (not WiFi 6) which isn't too far compared to a normal gigabit connection at ~930Mbps.

The question has to be so what? It doesn't really benefit those clients in any way, streaming video doesn't need any more than 50Mbps and most a lot lower. I would rather have a more stable connection sharing the speed than a headline figure.

If you are buying a 900Mbps service then to benefit from it you need to have wired machines and\or a client network that can support it and real use cases for it. Otherwise its a bit like having a Ferrari for the 2-mile 30mph commute to the office ;)
 
I have a 1.2Gbps connection to multiple WiFi AP, that are running in an equivalent arrangement. Depending on the client device you can get up to around 700Mbps (not WiFi 6) which isn't too far compared to a normal gigabit connection at ~930Mbps.

The question has to be so what? It doesn't really benefit those clients in any way, streaming video doesn't need any more than 50Mbps and most a lot lower. I would rather have a more stable connection sharing the speed than a headline figure.

If you are buying a 900Mbps service then to benefit from it you need to have wired machines and\or a client network that can support it and real use cases for it. Otherwise its a bit like having a Ferrari for the 2-mile 30mph commute to the office ;)
thanks for your reply
It’s mainly for gaming, streaming, general surfing ect...
I was thinking of the deco.. but maybe someone can shed some light on something before I commit to buy?
I got a few dead spots around the house
 
thanks for your reply
It’s mainly for gaming, streaming, general surfing ect...
I was thinking of the deco.. but maybe someone can shed some light on something before I commit to buy?
I got a few dead spots around the house

Then you won't really benefit from the speed apart from the odd time you download games and that wouldn't be that much faster than the next service down which is usually around the 500Mbps mark. You certainly wouldn't notice the differences in other areas (with the possible exception of uploads if you do lots of them)

In order to get the best Mesh make sure you have a wired backhaul or a separate radio for the mesh comms otherwise you end up halving the bandwidth before you start.

Also, anything that involves powerlines will be lucky to get past 200Mbps for those devices routing through that.

Most Mesh users are still stuck with a FTTC or worse which won't show any deficiencies however jumping up to Cable or FTTP will do and suddenly a bad choice of home networking equipment results in not being able to use the full BB bandwidth. At this point you are overpaying...

I am a fan of UniFi but that is not as plug and play but has much better control.
 
Then you won't really benefit from the speed apart from the odd time you download games and that wouldn't be that much faster than the next service down which is usually around the 500Mbps mark. You certainly wouldn't notice the differences in other areas (with the possible exception of uploads if you do lots of them)

In order to get the best Mesh make sure you have a wired backhaul or a separate radio for the mesh comms otherwise you end up halving the bandwidth before you start.

Also, anything that involves powerlines will be lucky to get past 200Mbps for those devices routing through that.

Most Mesh users are still stuck with a FTTC or worse which won't show any deficiencies however jumping up to Cable or FTTP will do and suddenly a bad choice of home networking equipment results in not being able to use the full BB bandwidth. At this point you are overpaying...

I am a fan of UniFi but that is not as plug and play but has much better control.
Gotchya.. some good food for thought, appreciate your help @ChuckMountain 🤙🏼🤙🏼
 
Then you won't really benefit from the speed apart from the odd time you download games and that wouldn't be that much faster than the next service down which is usually around the 500Mbps mark. You certainly wouldn't notice the differences in other areas (with the possible exception of uploads if you do lots of them)

In order to get the best Mesh make sure you have a wired backhaul or a separate radio for the mesh comms otherwise you end up halving the bandwidth before you start.

Also, anything that involves powerlines will be lucky to get past 200Mbps for those devices routing through that.

Most Mesh users are still stuck with a FTTC or worse which won't show any deficiencies however jumping up to Cable or FTTP will do and suddenly a bad choice of home networking equipment results in not being able to use the full BB bandwidth. At this point you are overpaying...

I am a fan of UniFi but that is not as plug and play but has much better control.

Got 2 unifi AC lites and easily do 400mbps on them via WiFi. Plenty of bandwidth.

The router easily does my 900+Mbps too
 
Got 2 unifi AC lites and easily do 400mbps on them via WiFi. Plenty of bandwidth.

The router easily does my 900+Mbps too

Never said it wouldn't as Unifi is not sold as a "Mesh" package :)

What do you actually use that bandwidth for though?
 
Never said it wouldn't as Unifi is not sold as a "Mesh" package :)

What do you actually use that bandwidth for though?

I wasn't disputing you.

Tbh I don't need 900, it was barely more expensive than 300. I down loads of downloading and run a Plex server. It's nice to have a game to play within 10 mins rather than 45 too.
 
I wasn't disputing you.

Tbh I don't need 900, it was barely more expensive than 300. I down loads of downloading and run a Plex server. It's nice to have a game to play within 10 mins rather than 45 too.
Game downloads rarely get up to full speed, I have 600mb virgin and Steam, XBox and other sources all struggle to max it. I often end up VPN to the US for better speed.

The only service that maxes my connection is my usenet provider.
 
Game downloads rarely get up to full speed, I have 600mb virgin and Steam, XBox and other sources all struggle to max it. I often end up VPN to the US for better speed.

The only service that maxes my connection is my usenet provider.

Funny you should say that. Steam, Battle.net and my PS5 all hit gigabit mostly.

My usenet provider stops out around 600mbps, looking to add some more connections.
 

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