Vodacom FTTH - Huwawei HG659

[Lashie130]

Hwsit Guys

So wasn’t sure where to post. Apologies if this is the incorrect section.

My standard Huwawei router given by Vodacom is currently having a slight problem which I noticed recently only. The 2.4Ghz WiFi signal is only giving me half speed. I have a 40Mbps Down and 20Mbps Up. When doing a Speedtest on my laptop or phone over WiFi I get 21-25 Down and 19-20 Up.

Whereas on the 5Ghz network I get 38-41 Down and 19-21 Up. I tried with just one device connected. Ofcourse when connected on LAN I get the same speeds I would when connected to the 5G.

I’ve contacted Vodacom they’ve said I shouldn’t be having the problem so they did a firmware re-load and rebooted but it still seems to be the same.

I wanted to find out if anyone else has this problem.

Also I know Vodacom is now Open Access and they all have deals with almost everyone but due to Vodacom installing the fibre in our estate we are limited to using Vodacom only.

Does anyone know when or if ever Vodacom will open up their fibre lines to other companies.

 

[Diesal]

This sound more that a WiFi signal issue.

Do you live in a densely populated building/area with a few WiFi networks? The others could be causing interference.

 

[Lashie130]

I guess you can say densely populated it’s an estate but the houses are quite far apart. When scanning for WiFi signals I do sometimes pick up neighbours signals but not all the time and in certain parts of the house.

I’ve checked and out of the 4 immediate neighbours only 2 have Fibre. Interference wise the router is by itself upstairs with no other signal broadcasting equipment around it.

 

[Lashie130]

Oh wait forgot a major detail. I have an access point in the downstairs area which runs a second WiFi signal. It is connected to the main Huwawei Router via Ethernet.

 

[deonmoodley]

I assume you are running the two access points on different channels? Or atleast switched off the secondary access point while testing to rule out interference from it.

 

[Lashie130]

I just tried that out now. Speeds are roughly the same not much of a difference. I did a router reboot after disconnecting and switching off the Netgear Access point but still similar speeds on the 2,4Ghz network.

 

[deonmoodley]

Oh wait forgot a major detail. I have an access point in the downstairs area which runs a second WiFi signal. It is connected to the main Huwawei Router via Ethernet.

Are you getting slow speeds from the downstairs access point on its 2.4 wifi as well

 

[Lashie130]

Are you getting slow speeds from the downstairs access point on its 2.4 wifi as well

I just did 3 speed tests half an hour apart. On the downstairs access point. Speeds are roughly between 28-30 Down and 19-21 Up. No other devices connected. So it’s defin faster then the upstairs 2.4 GHz.
I tested the upstairs Huwawei router again under the same conditions. Speeds have increased to 30-32 Down and 18-19 Up.

I guess it’s just the way it is ‍♂️ Not gonna bang my head on it I guess I’ll just stay connected to the 5Ghz network. Only crap thing is the range on the 5Ghz band.

 

[StoneCold]

I just did 3 speed tests half an hour apart. On the downstairs access point. Speeds are roughly between 28-30 Down and 19-21 Up. No other devices connected. So it’s defin faster then the upstairs 2.4 GHz.
I tested the upstairs Huwawei router again under the same conditions. Speeds have increased to 30-32 Down and 18-19 Up.

I guess it’s just the way it is ‍♂️ Not gonna bang my head on it I guess I’ll just stay connected to the 5Ghz network. Only crap thing is the range on the 5Ghz band.

Why not get yourself a Wi-Fi extender? Incredible Deception has a decent one on special for R399 (https://www.incredible.co.za/tp-link-tl-wa850re) at the moment. Configure it to connect to the router downstairs and then plug it in upstairs to use the 2.4Ghz band of the downstairs router. I have one in my house and it does an amazing job to extend the signal. I think I'm going to purchase a second one for the other side of the house as well

PS: There are other far more expensive solutions that can also help, but if you're looking for something inexpensive that will do the trick, the one I linked should work quite nicely. It also has an Ethernet port at the bottom, so you could always plug in an additional device to it as well for connectivity.