Billion UK Forum

Hi folks, have configured a new 7800dxl with good results, but with one glitch:
I moved it to a vertical position using the screw mounts on rafters in the loft, trying to increase range in my old stone-walled house (stone really soaks up the signal). I am just using the 2.4 band presently. Any way, i was pleased to see an increase in signal strength to full bars, and a link speed of 135 when it had previously been maxed at 60.
Surprisingly, i found webpages slow to load, and speedtest on my tablet showed a broadband speed of around 1M, whereas prior to the move it had been 7.5 (downspeed in WAN status still showed 9215, same as from day 1).
I changed the orientation of one of the aerials and got an improvement, but didnt get full speed back until i returned the unit to a horizontal position, with the aerials vertical.
It was the same on my G/F's tablet, and on my Defy Mini. Walking into range of a different router or repeater brought the internet speed back up to 7M immediately the tab switched wifi connection to it.
How could the line speed, signal strength and link speed be so high, and the internet speed be squashed so low?
My other routers dont exhibit this behaviour, the aerial orientation isnt critical.
It's quite intriguing! Are the 2.4 aerials internal?
Regards,
John
p.s. software version is 2.32c, i flashed it as soon as i got it from amazon

Hi,

I also live in a stone walled house - a converted barn with 1m thick walls, and have a really strong connection on 2.4Ghz for the most part. 5Hgz is less good, but I understand this frequency has more line of site/range issues.

Not sure if it helps, but I've moved the ariels around and see no positive/negative results - even in weaker spots in the house seem to see no change with the ariel position.

I've actually opted for home plugs for harder to reach areas.

Best,
JonJ

Thanks J,

Interesting that your walls don't attenuate the signal so much. The stone here is granite, maybe that is worse.
Are the aerials used for both frequencies? I thought i read somewhere that there are internal ones for 2.4, and that the externals are for 5GHz? That might explain the symptoms that i experienced.

Hi,

I also have granite but the interior floors are wood and concrete, so I guess I'm lucky that the signal is bouncing around OK and seems to travel upwards well.

My BT Homehub seems to easily give me the same range on 2G, I just assumed both aerials on the Billion were used for both frequencies but that would explain the similar results between a router with external aerials and internet ones? I never thought to check the specs but seems crazy if the external aerials are only good for 5G.

In the end, it seems that stone and WiFi don't play well, hence I went for some Homeplugs and that solved any range issues I had.

Best,
J

Hi

john_billion wrote:Thanks J,

Interesting that your walls don't attenuate the signal so much. The stone here is granite, maybe that is worse.
Are the aerials used for both frequencies? I thought i read somewhere that there are internal ones for 2.4, and that the externals are for 5GHz? That might explain the symptoms that i experienced.

Both 5GHz and 2.4GHz aerials are in each antenna, no internal antennas at all.

Generally just having the antenna pointing in different directions is enough to give some diversity.

Regards

Phil

Thanks Phil