Power Hub wifi range + Booster (would a secondhand one work?)

[stefcha]

I'm using a Power Hub, the range isn't great. I've previously used an Orbi system, but I'm struggling to get it successfully set up with the Power Hub. I could run it on its own without the Power Hub, but then I lose the landline.

Are the Boosters any good, are they effectively a mesh system that works with the Power Hub? If I were to buy one secondhand, would it be a case of plugging it in and it "just works" or is it something that has to be assigned to your account by Vodafone? I was wondering how the administration of it would work, or if it just acts as an invisible extension of the Power Hub.  

[Jayach]

I'd concentrate on getting the Orbi working, getting a second hand Power Hub booster may not be easy (I've been looking on eBay) and it may need Vodafone to add it to your account, which they may not do.

Just what problems do you have with the Orbi, have you followed these instructions?

https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point

[stefcha]

Thanks for the reply. It's not necessarily the setup of the Orbi I'm having problems with, it's that it's just not performing very well. I have an old Orbi RBK23 set which has been great for years, but couldn't quite handle the throughput I want from the 500Mbps connection I have in the locations I need it to reach. So I picked up an RBK763 set thinking newer=better and I understand how to set them up, but the performance has been all over the place to the point I'm about to give up. The 5GHz band seemed to be terribly short range to the point many devices were connecting on 2.4GHz, and even when something did connect on 5GHz it was very up and down. I thought I'd cracked it the other night when I finally hit 500Mbps from the required location for an extended period, but then by the morning it was gone again. This is going through the Power Hub (with wifi switched off on the Power Hub), and also removing the Power Hub and connecting the Orbi system to the ONT directly using the Vodafone supplied login details. Reboots, channel changes, all sorts tried. I've just reset it entirely to give it another go from scratch in case something had somehow gone wrong somewhere, although I might even just go back to the RBK23 and accept I'm not going to be able to use my connection to the max if I can't get it running as expected. 

The Power Hub router isn't actually that terrible and up things can work very well in general, but the range of it is awful - I wasn't expecting miracles, but I was expecting a bit more. I can't even get devices to connect at the other side of the house, and it's not that big (standard modern newbuild, about 64 square metres / 600 square ft internal on each of 2 floors - I do want and need it to reach into the small back garden too, of which there's utterly no chance). So I'd consider a Wifi Booster if it is effectively Vodafone mesh that just extends this system, but not for the quoted cost which would be £192 (extra £8 per month for 24 months) because that's insane. I suppose I should ask what Vodafone support will allow before attempting something like that if the general answer is unclear, it's just quickly become apparent that it's a bit of a crap shoot whether you find someone who actually knows what they're on about.

[Jayach]

It is a dilemma, isn't it?

I think I would start by complaining to Vodafone, they might just send you a booster for free, but I've no idea how well they work.

A bit about the Vodafone "boosters". There have been 3 models, the original that was supplied with the THG3000 (that came in 2 versions, one with Alexa but that stopped working long ago).

Then the WiFi 6e one with the Ultra Hub and now the Wi-Fi 6 one with the Power Hub. They are apparently not interchangeable between the Hubs and personally I don't believe they are true meshes, but getting actual technical info from Vodafone is nigh on impossible.

Sorry I can't give you a definitive answer.

[stefcha]

The answer was good enough to push me into resetting everything and starting again; a confirmation on the lack of useful info on the boosters was actually useful in itself, what you've said there is the most I've ever found out about them. Which is a concern in itself, it's weird to find something so undocumented. 

Anyway, everything is now working fine, despite as far as I can tell nothing being any different to when I was having issues. This is currently still using the Vodafone Power Hub (with wifi still on, I've just noticed), and the Orbi in Router mode (I've been using the secondary 10.x.x.x range that it defaults to on that setting in a dual router setup for years anyway on the old system, I did have a long forgotten reason for not using AP mode), setting the Orbi IP as the DMZ device in the Power Hub config. UPnP on in both routers. Manually set the IP in the Orbi router to the IP served by the Power Hub, subnet to 255.255.255.0, Gateway to to 192.168.1.1, should anyone stumble across this wanting to do similar. Full speed, full range, no reported NAT issues on Xbox (which is usually a sign something isn't configured right). Given the Orbi is already set up as a router, it'll be simple enough to remove the Power Hub from the equation if we decide not to use the landline phone functionality - just need to input the login details in the Orbi router and connect directly to the ONT. If I dare touch the system while it's working.

Thanks for the encouragement!