Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Mr.OmegaMan on 02 October 2013, 23:23:14
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Do you use the one your provider gives you i.e. if your with BT a Home Hub 4 or whatever your provider calls their hub..
I'm getting fed-up with this HH4 from BT, Have been looking and there are many different types of routers out there..
Would something like this be any good for BT and for online gaming, streaming films from netflix and similar, HD content, general browsing etc.. ?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-N300-Wireless-Router-USB/dp/B004I9GSCI/ref=reg_hu-rd_add_1_dp
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Surely there's no need to go this expensive something much cheaper will just be as good ? :-\
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-N66U-Wireless-streaming-Warranty/dp/B007W16SMO/ref=sr_1_16?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1380751631&sr=1-16&keywords=netgear+router
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Most modems or routers are shite ime.
So we have purchased I wifi only router. Provides wifi over 2.4 AND 5.0ghz simultaneously, has huge range and doesn't drop the network every two seconds.
It works on cable or phone line connections as it just plugs into a cable port at the back. You could even take it with you on holiday ;)
Having said that, if Virgins wireless hub 2 is as good as they think it is, the wifi router is going back to pc world.
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Ours was £70 from pc world.
Not cheap.
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My home hub with BT has always been fine - well positioned modem with plenty of air circulation and wall mounted - never had any problems. Not gone to hh4 though.
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I wouldn't know. I've got an ancient Draytek ADSL2+ router and it has never missed a beat in all the years I've had it. Was pretty expensive at the time, IIRC, but it stays synced at 16mb day and night and the WLAN signal is "just there" all over the house despite it being basically just chucked in a pile of debris in my office at one downstairs corner of the house. ;D
One thing I would say is to turn off all services you don't actually need. My router has VPN, content filtering DDOS protection, print servers, etc. Turn them all on and it's not stable. I suspect routers get all of these features just to tick boxes on the product brochure, but the machine doesn't have the resources to cope with actually using them. Much better to shift whatever you can to a more powerful machine.
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too tech for me .I use bt. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Was searching the loft for my old draytek 2700....I know its up there...can I find the bugger?!?!?!
Need to improve the wifi at my Dads. (HH4)
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Put the HH3 back on today it's better than the HH4 for me at least. My iPhone just doesn't get along either the HH4 for some reason nor does the PS3 very odd. Could be a duff unit I suppose if others are happy with the HH4 and see it as an improvement over the HH3 :-\
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The router I use here is £200 worth of Taiwanese marvel, with equally dodgy tech support from UK vendor support (I had to explain basic firewall principles to them). But the unit is rock solid, handling both of my FTTC lines, 1st stage firewalling, multi NATing, a VPN into bro's business and (2.4GHz only) WiFi. And it gets the hell beaten out of it every day, sustaining all you lot making demands upon one of the servers hidden behind it ;D
I'd recommend to to those needing the specs it offers.
As the majority of you use BT as your ISP, I imagine most are using the god awful HH3. This device has nothing to recommend, its not that stable, the WiFi is shite, and some features simply don't work. My HH4 was pilfered from my desk before I'd even opened the box, so can't comment on that :-\
Virgin's Superhub is equally poor, suffers poor stability, poor wifi and just slows down.
Sky use a selection, seems to be mostly Thomson now (is that right tunnie?) based on me experiences. This is an old, featureless router, reasonably stable with Thomson f/w, but less so with Sky's locked down f/w, again poor wifi. That said, and improvement on the awful Netgears from a few years ago.
The Carphone Whorehouse also seem to be supplying an outdated Thomson, though I've not come across a new Whorehouse install for a while.
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Are there any recommended ones for under £50 i'm not familiar with the advanced settings on these things mainly just plug in and play so to speak. I currently get around 2mbps with both BT HH units, Would a better hub result in more mbps and a more stable connection ?
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At that price range, accept you are looking at shite. HH3 is probably one of the better allrounders at that price range. But its still shite.
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At that price range, accept you are looking at shite. HH3 is probably one of the better allrounders at that price range. But its still shite.
Ah :( , Are there better settings i could adjust on the HH3 or HH4 or is it best to leave them alone ?
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What exactly is your issue? If its, for eg, Wifi, you may be better off with a seperate Access Point. If its the modem, you may be better off with routers that are renown for coping with poorer lines...
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Interesting, I maybe getting one of these HH4's as the errr, new new place does not have Virgin cable.
Are they really that crap? I'd just be looking for a strong WiFi signal, nothing too intense is done at home bar some media streaming.
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What exactly is your issue? If its, for eg, Wifi, you may be better off with a seperate Access Point. If its the modem, you may be better off with routers that are renown for coping with poorer lines...
A mixture of things, Drop-outs sometimes on HH3 and more often on HH4 especially with the iPhone/PS3, Laptop seems fine.
WiFi range is more of an issue with the HH4 as where i had 2 bars of WiFi in a particular location in the house with the HH3 but the HH4 has 1 bar barely.
Speed seems slower sometimes which requires me to restart the HUB to get it faster again.
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Interesting, I maybe getting one of these HH4's as the errr, new new place does not have Virgin cable.
Are they really that crap? I'd just be looking for a strong WiFi signal, nothing too intense is done at home bar some media streaming.
As said, my HH4 was pinched. Bastards ;D.
But for your needs, which are minimal, probably OK. May be worth investing in a seperate AP if you must use WiFi, but accept WiFi is always going to be disappointing compared to wires, and try to fit some CAT5 before you decorate ;)
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Ive got a netgear n300.....it works ok for me. But be aware the usb storage facility is crap (unless they've changed the firmware lately) The wifi on it is a bit weak, I get weak signals upstairs (n300 downstairs) however it has no problems streaming compressed media from upstairs to downstairs to upstairs again. It struggles with uncompressed media streaming tho. Also you will need 300n wifi dongles to go faster than 150n (most builtin n hardware is 150) . Also point to note, if you use 300n dongles, they use 2 wifi channels to achieve the speed which may not be a good idea if you live in heavily populated wifi area. And dont expect to achieve 300n, my desktop has a 300n dongle in it and rarely exceeds speeds of over 200.
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Interesting, I maybe getting one of these HH4's as the errr, new new place does not have Virgin cable.
Are they really that crap? I'd just be looking for a strong WiFi signal, nothing too intense is done at home bar some media streaming.
As said, my HH4 was pinched. Bastards ;D.
But for your needs, which are minimal, probably OK. May be worth investing in a seperate AP if you must use WiFi, but accept WiFi is always going to be disappointing compared to wires, and try to fit some CAT5 before you decorate ;)
If you do I might have a little left over. I also have the tools so all you'd need is the cable, faceplates ethernet plugs and boots :y
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Anyone got experience of Virgins super hub 2 ?
Any good? :)
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Anyone got experience of Virgins super hub 2 ?
Any good? :)
Not since I was about 19 years of age ::)
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TB, what's your Taiwanese marvel? I fancy replacing my Netgear WNR3500L (running dd-wrt) not because it's a problem particularly, just because it's wireless is lacking. Either that or I'll start slapping APs around the house randomly ;D
(My Virgin SuperHub 1 is in Modem mode and I don't fancy taking a punt upgrading to a '2' ;))
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Interesting, I maybe getting one of these HH4's as the errr, new new place does not have Virgin cable.
Are they really that crap? I'd just be looking for a strong WiFi signal, nothing too intense is done at home bar some media streaming.
As said, my HH4 was pinched. Bastards ;D.
But for your needs, which are minimal, probably OK. May be worth investing in a seperate AP if you must use WiFi, but accept WiFi is always going to be disappointing compared to wires, and try to fit some CAT5 before you decorate ;)
If you do I might have a little left over. I also have the tools so all you'd need is the cable, faceplates ethernet plugs and boots :y
Cheers :y
I did, many moons ago make network cables. A previous job also had some fitters come in, they left a whole 100m box of cable for us to use too :D
That said, I'm not sure I can do wires, the "new new" place is not far from old one, but it's totally different. It's a house only 9 months old, no floorboards to run cables under, I doubt MrsT would like me getting the drills out either for my tech stuff ::) ::)
Another additional issue is that it's over 3 floors, so will seriously need to look into an Access Point to boost the signal.
I'd have to look at mounting something on first floor landing :-\
Any recommendations?
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they left a whole 100m box of cable for us to use too
I'm sure you mean 305m ::)
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TB, what's your Taiwanese marvel? I fancy replacing my Netgear WNR3500L (running dd-wrt) not because it's a problem particularly, just because it's wireless is lacking. Either that or I'll start slapping APs around the house randomly ;D
(My Virgin SuperHub 1 is in Modem mode and I don't fancy taking a punt upgrading to a '2' ;))
PM'd
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they left a whole 100m box of cable for us to use too
I'm sure you mean 305m ::)
Well it was 8 years ago ::)
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they left a whole 100m box of cable for us to use too
I'm sure you mean 305m ::)
Well it was 8 years ago ::)
Check its cat5e, not cat5. Should be, but check.
If not, bin it. Its sooooo cheap anyway, £20 for 305m, or there abouts.
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Virgin duper hub 2 up and running.
Again, dual 2.4 and 5.0ghz networks. Fractionally less wifi range than the wifi router by about 10ft, but still plenty of range to cover the entire property.
That's pretty good for a stock providers router I rekon. Might be why only 60mb plus customers get it automatically.
Wify router can go back saving £70 :)
Should add, will see how it goes, early days yet.
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If anyone is happy with 54g, I have a couple of Netgear Prosafe wireless access points (WG102) going free for the price of postage or collect free if you live close by. I've not tested, but being the Prosafe range i would expect the range to be better than cheap routers with wifi built in :-\
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If anyone is happy with 54g, I have a couple of Netgear Prosafe wireless access points (WG102) going free for the price of postage or collect free if you live close by. I've not tested, but being the Prosafe range i would expect the range to be better than cheap routers with wifi built in :-\
I don't need these - have enough stuff myself - but nought wrong with 54g for most uses. My laptop is so old it only does 54g (I do have an 150n adapter somewhere, but never use it), and manages about 20Mbps throughput, and is plenty fast enough for web/email/streaming. Obviously, with it, I lose any my-knob-is-bigger-than-yours competitions down the pub on a friday night.
On the very rare occasions I need more, I plug in a cat5 cable, as even 100Mbps will be twice as fast as 150n.