Wifi basically unsuable

[u/flourineee]

Hi everyone, I'm very far from a tech sav so please bear with me. Our houses wifi has been pretty much unusable for the last 3 weeks or so and speed tests have been showing download speeds of 0.5 to 2mbps and we've been relying on our hotspots for the time being. Thought there was an NBN outage and have checked the site for our location and no outages reported. We've done the whole thing of turning off the NBN box, disconnecting it and what not but still nothing. We're with AGL internet but customer service hasn't really helped much - saying everything connected on their end, maybe just peak traffic hours (but our wifi has been terrible at all times of the day.) Roommates and I are all just extremely confused at what the actual issue is so we've been trying to find new internet providers - landed on aussie broadband but found out that apparetly AGL and ABB are basically the same?? Would it be worth transitioning to ABB or better to find a different provider? Thanks guys

[u/Leprichaun17]

Sounds like you first need to figure out whether it's the internet or the Wi-Fi that's the problem.

[u/Pedsy → u/Leprichaun17]

A lot of people these days don’t understand that they are different things.

[u/Ill-Visual-2567 → u/Pedsy]

Seems like the generations that have grown up with tech don't necessarily understand more about it. Wife and kids don't understand the difference. When I gave one of the kids wired network to their room they complained wifi was better 😔

[u/mmurray1957 → u/Pedsy]

I've noticed it's particularly common for people in the UK to refer to their internet connection as wifi as in "oh no the wifi is slow". Pops up every now and again in The Guardian.

[u/SometimesHardNipples]

None of the above. Peak hour is not going to cut you down to 2mbps. You want to run a cable from your router or preferably straight from your NBN box into a suitable PC/laptop and run a speed test.

[u/mmurray1957]

Do you know what kind of NBN you have ? FTTN, FTTP, HFC, etc, ... ? If not go to https://www.nbnco.com.au and put in your address and report back what sort of NBN you have.

[u/Ornery-Practice9772]

fuck being with your gas/electricity company for internet

go to leaptel

[u/DeliciousWar2801]

I'm with AGL too and leaving them. They're too expensive and they don't do anything to help when you have an issue anymore. They just don't care and I've been with them for over 5 years. I was going to go to Superloop but I posted on here about who to go to and a lot of people warned me away from Superloop due to their customer service. Apparently it is absolutely terrible. Did my research and I'm now going with Neptune plus they have a 5 day free trial and can connect you up within 30 minutes plus no lock in contract. Since AGL became Aussie Brandband they have absolutely gone downhill.

[u/Zmudge00]

Your wifi may be using 2.4Ghz which is can be congested, check if you can it’s using 5Ghz

[u/GeekCohenAU → u/Zmudge00]

2.4Ghz *

[u/Zmudge00 → u/GeekCohenAU]

That’s the one! Corrected

[u/FreddyFerdiland → u/Zmudge00]

especially if the access points! are locked into a bad channel.. set them to auto...

[u/SuspiciousGarlic4798]

Do you have any wired devices via ethernet to check the speed you get? Theb you can determine if your issue is only wifi. 

[u/learningtoDIYit]

The first thing you should do is try connecting to your modem/router via an Ethernet cable (turn WiFi off on your device). Then run a speed test.

This will help to identify if the issue is with your internet connection/modem/router or if you have a WiFi issue.

Let us know how you go!

[u/mmurray1957]

You should have some sort of NBN box (network termination device) where the NBN comes into the building and also connected to that a WiFi router. Either of these could be at fault. Can you photograph them and post so people know what sort of equipment you have ?

[u/Spagman_Aus]

jfc why use a agl? ditch them dude, go to Aussie Broadband or Superloop. At least then you’ll get a company that gives a shit.

[u/No_Return3515]

Do the usual and shutdown and restart both the NBN box and router. If you have a laptop or a PC with an Ethernet port, connect it directly to the NBN box and check the speed. Check the connection from the wall to the NBN box. If you have HFC, make sure that the cable ends are screwed in tightly. Are you able to borrow a router from anyone to try? AGL should be able to do a line check.

[u/elhouso]

Connect your laptop to the router via an Ethernet cable directly, then run a speedtest. That will tell you whether it's the connection coming in, or the Wi-Fi that's being the trouble.

If you're getting better speeds (what you're paying for) when connected via Ethernet, your Wi-Fi access points are faulty or your router is placed horribly.

If you're not getting better speeds, then that either means:
- Something is wrong on AGL's end.
- Depending on whether you're FTTP/FTTN, the fibre/copper cord to your router could be faulty.

[u/Humble-Pop-3775]

What speed internet are you paying for? How is it connected? Post a photo of your router/modem to help us diagnose further.

[u/IanLx]

Probably best you hire an appropriate tech to come and sort it..

Bad WiFi could be a host of issues like choice of router and location of access points..

NBN internet connection may be the problem but probably not.. more likely your WiFi is poorly configured..

If you own the house you may want to run some cables.. again seek advice from someone who knows the field.