WiFi issues - PC cannot connect, everything else can! (1 Viewer)

[Laiders]

Hi guys

I've got a problem with connecting to WiFi.

My gaming PC can connect to WiFi router (BT hub) but doesn't get internet, it used to occasionally stop working for a few minutes then got progressively worse, today I can't get internet at all.

Other devices connect fine and get a good connection, my PC shows up on the router admin page as being connected. My PC connects fine to my phone's hotspot so it's a problem specific to the BT hub.

I used to have it on a homeplug connection but switched to a WiFi dongle as that seemed unreliable, probably the same problem as what is happening now on the WiFi.

Any ideas what could be causing this and how to fix?

 

[Cluck]

Any ideas what might be causing it? Yeah. It begins with B and sounds like Shitty Hub

Wifi problems on BT Homehubs are notorious, with the most common thing I've encountered being the hub refusing to allow a device to connect (or allowing it to connect but not giving it an IP address). Aside from powering the hub off and back on again (which often clears it in the first instance) your only proper recourse is going to be to replace it with something that isn't a pile of donkey poo

 

[The Wayfaerer]

you might have already tried it, but if not try ipconfig /release and then ipconfig /renew in cmd, when we have IP problems in our students apartment that often fixes it

 

[UnstopaPaul]

what cluck said. My only other advice is don't mix the words "Gaming PC" and "Wifi" into the same sentence, it's not worth the pain. If you have carpets, run ethernet under them. Otherwise, don't use the BT Hub wifi, but rather plug a well regarded wifi station into the hub and use it instead.

 

[Cluck]

I should add that despite my rather sarcastic reply, I am speaking from professional experience on such things. I would regularly find myself going out to customers, who were complaining that their "insert choice of internet browsing device" wasn't working, when all it would be was the BT homehub refusing to play ball. I quickly latched on to the common theme in those cases (yes, the hub) and just customers on the phone to unplug the hub power, wait a few seconds, press the on/off button a few times and then power it back on. 99 times out of 100 it would solve the problem.

The other common problem I see with them is the router firewall refusing to allow scanning to PC from a printer, even though both are on the same internal network.

There is something inherently shoddy about their routers and I wouldn't use one on my home or office network if you paid me. There's also the small matter of them hiding the connection quality in the log files, rather than somewhere easy to see - I can't think why they'd want to hide information about a poor phone line . Honestly, their routers are fine in terms of getting somebody on the internet but they really should supply them as "this is a temporary device, you are advised to replace it with something decent at the earliest opportunity".

For what it's worth, I haven't seen the Homehub 6 enough (ie, for long enough) to know if they've ironed out the problems but given their past efforts I'm not holding my breath. I have a Netgear DG6400 and aside from when I had to reconfigure it for my change of ISP last year, I honestly can't remember having had to reboot it for any reason. I should add that I've had my fair share of iffy Netgear routers in the past, but I had one of these routers at my old office and it never had to be reset or rebooted once, no matter how many wireless and wired devices I had connected to it.

And what Unstopapaul said, try and go back to homeplugs as soon as you can.

 

[Laiders]

Interesting to hear your thoughts. I will try going back to the home plugs then, weird I switched away from them and started using WiFi instead as I thought they were unreliable!

I'll be moving house soon, which ISP/router hardware would you recommend? I believe the street has superfast broadband and Virgin cable available. Not particularly fussed about included TV packages etc. I will run an ethernet cable to my PC in the new place.

 

[UnstopaPaul]

Interesting to hear your thoughts. I will try going back to the home plugs then, weird I switched away from them and started using WiFi instead as I thought they were unreliable!

I'll be moving house soon, which ISP/router hardware would you recommend? I believe the street has superfast broadband and Virgin cable available. Not particularly fussed about included TV packages etc. I will run an ethernet cable to my PC in the new place.

I always found virgin cable super stable. If you're considering streaming, bear in mind virgin medias "fair usage" policy is not that fair, and unless you're on something like a 200Mbs+ package, you'll find the uploads on streaming to be limiting (and then limited after a certain amount of data). It's pretty reliable though, I enjoyed it for 10 years.

EDIT: Yes, sometimes home plugs can overheat and cut out.

If you are moving house I would recommend you seriously consider whether the new place needs rewiring in the near future. If so, you really really want to get network points (multiple) in each room, it's a very minor additional cost while your house is being rewired anyway. Every room in my house has network points and I've never regretted it. Wireless is for phones and tablets...

 

[Cluck]

Homeplugs reliability can be compromised by the quality of the homeplug and the quality of the electrics. I have tried 5 major brand homeplugs here at my house and not one of them has worked flawlessly - even 1200Mbps units (from Netgear and Devolo) have had trouble maintaining a connection for more than a few minutes at times, whilst at other times they will work for 3 or 4 days without trouble. They are definitely an option if you can't run proper cabling or wireless is too iffy. Unstopapaul's suggestion is spot on, wire it up with proper sockets if you can, it's the only way to be sure