BT Complete Wi-Fi Review | TechRadar

Networking is about to hit hard. Anyone who has tried the best mesh routers, such as Google Wifi or Netgear Orbi, in a house where connectivity is uneven will tell you what revelation they're compared to the old-fashioned router (and maybe a repeater if you're feeling bold) system .

Creating a giant seamless network from multiple base stations means that Wi-Fi can reach everything you need, without having to worry about multiple SSIDs.

You do not need a luxury home in Los Angeles to enjoy the benefits of a mesh network. The small stone cottages in the English countryside can prevent the signal from reaching your garden, or even a few walls on a medium-sized terrace can make suspicious connections in the upper corner of the house.

But they do not tend to be inexpensive, especially when you already have a very good router that works, even if it's not perfect. A pack of two from Google Wifi costs £ 229. The cheapest entry is BT's Whole Home Wi-Fi system, at £ 94.99 for a pack of two.

Now, BT is here to make things even easier. As part of its BT Plus service (which combines mobile, broadband and landlines into a single contract), you can get your new Smart Hub 2 with a Wi-Fi disk, a pair called Complete Wi-Fi .

The idea of ​​choosing a mesh system as a basic network device seems promising to us; let's take a closer look.

Price and availability

The price of the BT Complete Wi-Fi system is simple: £ 5 per month. This is in addition to the price of your BT Plus contract and, with most BT Plus contracts lasting 18 months, it is £ 90.

Compared to the purchase price of one of these systems, it's pretty good, with the bonus of being spread over time. It is slightly less expensive than the BT Whole Home Wi-Fi system, and costs almost half the price of other systems.

Here's what's best: BT's charging is based on the idea that this setup will give you the perfect Wi-Fi anywhere in your home. If you still have problems, they will simply send you another Wi-Fi disk. And another one if needed. And if it does not cover the theme park that you apparently call a house, they will refund you £ 20.

That said, we are waiting for BT's confirmation that you will stop paying the £ 5 at the end of your contract, otherwise the value of your contract will get worse over time.

BT will not offer this particular configuration as a stand-alone purchase or something like that, it's only for BT Plus signups (whether it's a BT novelty or an upgrade to BT from another BT plan).

Design and configuration

If you've seen BT's other recent routers, you'll know what to expect here. This is the most intermediate design possible for this kind of thing: dark plastic, incandescent lights.

Unlike the sleek white washers of Google Wifi, the user-friendly design of the D-Link COVR soap dish or the simple white obelisks of the Netgear Orbi, this looks like a professional electronic device.

The Smart Hub 2 is wide and thin, upright to allow access to its four Gigabit Ethernet connections, as well as its power and USB ports. A light on the front notifies you when your Wi-Fi connection is out of order, in case you have not already noticed it due to lack of Facebook updates.

Likewise, the Wi-Fi drive is standing up and has a single Gigabit port on the back.

The setup was incredibly easy, in that there was none. We plugged in the Smart Hub 2 and waited for it to recognize our Internet connection. Once his light went blue, we took the Wi-Fi disc to a room at the back of the house where the connection started to go. dodgy, and plugged in.

We had our phone on the network, installed the new MyBT app, connected and … it was all. Both units had already configured and formed the network. We were operational and immediately benefit from enhanced Wi-Fi.

Performance

With the implementation of almost zero configuration, we had to test the speed.

After having first tested our BT Smart Hub next door, we then tested the new version in the same position and immediately saw a 30% increase in connection speed.

Then we headed for the garden. Here we eat in the summer, but now we are only going to test the limits of Wi-Fi. The connections are irregular at this point on the router, but the Wi-Fi disk is now specially configured for to reach further in the house.

Indeed, we are seeing an increase of 75%. BT expects a speed increase of around 25% around the house thanks to better disk coverage, which looks promising.

The main thing we wanted and were getting to stabilize our Wi-Fi everywhere in the house. Previously, the back edge of the desk and bathroom were really low, which meant that our Wi-Fi speaker in the office was only working was in a good mood and listening to Audible in the bath was getting better in 4G ( do not pretend you do not do it too).

But now, both areas are solid, thanks to the Wi-Fi disk installed. The Wi-Fi speaker is reliable, the download speeds in the office are satisfactory and YouTube in the tub is ready for use.

The seven antennas of the Smart Hub 2 (three at 2.4 GHz and four at 5 GHz), as well as four antennas (all dual-channel) on the Wi-Fi drive all seem to do the trick, and we We had no traffic management problems with 4K video streaming, file downloads and the general use of a dozen devices at once.

Several of our 802.11ac devices came in with a connection speed of 866 Mbps (with other close ones, but reduced because of their presence in remote parts).

The MyBT app is easy to use and provides diagnostic assistance for dark connections, including a speed test that identifies both speed at your home and whether that speed reaches your device.

You can check Smart Hub 2 and Wi-Fi disk settings, although these are largely limited to network and administrator passwords, light intensity, and number of times. devices connected to each one (including their speed), as well as to movements. the Wi-Fi disk.

It works well, but network enthusiasts will not have much room for maneuver, but they will probably not be targeting this offer provided by the network anyway.

Final verdict

At this price, and with this easy installation, this seems to be obvious for BT Plus customers. He promised to fix our Wi-Fi problems, and fixed. The speeds are very high, there seems to be nothing to mess and everyone can make it work.

It's a shame that the design is still basic, but it's not a big deal. It is also a little strange that your ability to get another disk to expand the network is subject to negotiations with BT rather than something you can get if you wish. We would also like to have more depth in the application if you really want to dig, even if it's not that bad, and it's nice to be able to rely on a company for your router troubleshooting needs and Internet, rather than struggle with two.

And yes, it's unfortunate that it is limited to a specific service when it works so well.

BT has the wind in the sails, as far as can be something so exclusive. Okay, you can not buy one on your own, but if you plan to opt for BT Plus and you ask if this will actually solve the dead spots of your Wi-Fi network as promised by BT, know simply that the answer is good. for us was a resounding yes.