Increasing Wifi Strength

[Mr-H]

I have what one might describe as "ordinary" broadband, provided by Sky. However, when grandsons visit (every weekend) there are 2 laptops, 3 iPads and maybe 4 iPhones all competing for wifi. What can I do to get a better/stronger signal, that everyone can use all of the time please?

[Guilbert53]

It is not so much the wi fi signal that is important but the broadband speed coming in down the phone line.

You could have the strongest wi fi signal in the world (from the router to the various devices), but if your broadband speed coming down the phone line is only 10mbps then it will not be able to cope with all those devices.

Do Sky offer a faster broadband speed in your area, or is Virgin cable available in your area? I am on Virgin cable and get 150mbps.

[mikey4444]

Mr-H....Guilbert is correct. What speeds are you getting now ?

Try this ::::: http://www.speedtest.net/

Do a test at various times of the day, as there will be variations.

[Buenchico]

If you're on Sky's "ordinary" service (which is 'ADSL2+',rather than the slower 'ADSL Max' which many ISPs still provide) you've probably got a download speed in the general region of 9Mbps.

Fibre-based services are now available in most areas, meaning that you could upgrade to Sky Fibre Unlimited (typically getting you around 34Mbps). That would be adequate for the multitude of devices in your house at weekend as long as only one or two of them were doing things like streaming video content. However if it's likely that everyone would be watching Youtube videos, or BBC iPlayer content simultaneously, you might need to consider Sky Fibre Max, with typical speeds around 60Mbps:
http://www.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/broadband-compare/#section-2

Either way, it's going to cost you money!

[mikey4444]

Sky do not provide telephone lines....BT does that through Openreach. If you want higher speeds but the green BT cabinet that serves your house has not been upgraded to fibre-to-the-cabinet, SKY can't provide it.

Remember that for the majority of people in Britain, its BT that calls the tune.

[gumboil]

mikey4444, is right to point this out. Sky, BT have done mailshots to properties in my area stating that they can provide fibre complete with high speeds to my property. They can't.

The reason is that although OpenReach have supplied fibre to the cabinet to their equipment cabinet, the cabinet is half a mile away with ordinary copper cable to my home and others on the street. No one has come along and dug the road up to lay fibre cabling. Therefore, there is no way on earth they can achieve these stupendous speeds in my street. The copper cabling slows down the signal once it leaves the cabinet to get to my home.

A guy in my street has subscribed to Sky Fibre and they are charging him a horrendous monthly fee for it. For months he was boasting about his fast download speed and excellent streaming. This week, he ran a speedtest and discovered he's only marginally better than he was before he had "fibre" installed. Sky have told him he should have read the small print and they will not listen to his protestations. This fibre-to the-cabinet business is a national scandal that should be addressed by the government.