EE Brightbox2 and devices dropping wifi connection (WPA security?)

klnc

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I have the misfortune to be with EE for (fibre) broadband, and within a couple of weeks of going online, I noticed that devices were being occasionally dropped from wireless connectivity. The network SSID would still be listed, but I'd be unable to connect to it as I would be prompted for the password, which if re-entered, would not work. Sometimes this would last for hours, sometimes days, after which the devices would reconnect automatically. It happened to all devices - windows, mac, iPhones and Blackberry, and no amount of either device or router resetting would make any difference.

EE's overseas technical support were next to useless (one of them even advised me to switch off all security, which I did for the purposes of testing the problem, but he then proposed to leave my wifi in that state trying to tell me that my network would still by secure!!). Eventually they sent me another router, which didn't work at all. In the meantime, I kept calling hoping to speak to someone who might have a clue, and eventually got hold of someone who conceded they were aware of the problem and it was down to WPA security. He suggested I set up another SSID, but this time with only WEP security and give it a couple of days. I indicated I was not in the slightest happy with having only WEP (I was amused that he'd either been told to say, or genuinely didn't know, but kept insisting that WEP and WPA were the same levels of security....) Yeah, right...

The other issue is that the faster 5GHz network, can't be set to WEP (if you even wanted it), so effectively, their "solution" was to offer me downgraded security and no 5Ghz network speed. I've since been using this as grounds for terminating the contract, but this will be a war of attrition. Meantime, I've accepted another router, just to see if it was a genuine one-off.

Interested if anyone else has experienced similar problems.
 
The symptoms described in para 1 sound suspiciously like interference issues, either from other nearby wi-fi LAN's using the same or similar radio channels as yours, or from "non Wi-Fi" sources such as video senders, car alarms, baby monitors, etc. The radio waves are not exclusively for the use of Wi-Fi - other things can use them two (Wi-Fi is regarded as a "secondary" use of the radio spectrum.) There are some free tools that can be used to test for other nearby Wi-Fi cells, but you tend to need to pay money for kit to diagnose other radio sources.

There's an FAQ about diagnosing Wi-Fi interference issues pinned in the Networking an NAS forum.

If you are suffering from interference, a new router - whatever the brand - may not make any difference.
 
Belated response, but in case anyone else was interested, the matter was completely resolved when I bought my own VDSL modem/router (an ASUS DSL-AC68U), and got rid of EE's crappy Brightbox 2. Don't know what the issue was, but I went through 3 of them, and all had the same issue with wireless connectivity periodically dropping on certain devices.

Now to get EE to pay for it, which they said they would.
 
ours was the same mate, i really hate ee. Our interent would drop all the time as well, seem slow, silent hold 30 mins for a line test......em no

back to sky we went, but we had changed the bright box for a cheap tp link router from argos, fired the details in, and it worked like a charm

They stopped us from downloading tho, utorrent was a no go
 
Very interesting read, klnc. I also have a Brightbox 2 at the moment and I don't think it's much cop. WiFi dropping, and very poor reach to other areas of the (1 floor) flat. The ASUS you linked to looks terrific. Is it a straight swap, or would I need a separate modem? i was also looking at the Netgear Nighthawk - think it's quite similar to your new ASUS.
 
Apologies for delayed response, but the ASUS I referred to above is a straight swap, and very easy to do. Be careful there are two models with very similar model numbers - one is with VDSL modem, the other is just a router. Make sure you get the one with the modem.

I've had it for 4 months now, and it's been faultless. Much stronger signal, and haven't had to call EE once. They're almost a passable broadband company in fact!
 

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