22.8.2019

I live in an old house and the location of the single master BT point is in the lounge - the oldest part of the house, and the room with the thickest walls. Brilliant for insulation, a nightmare for wifi.When I moved in I chose BT to provide broadband (a rural location, so figured BT would be the best choice as I would be ahead of the queue when they upgraded the exchange to 'real' broadband), and worked through the BT hubs 4, 5 and 6. None of them were able to penetrate the thick walls and give me wifi throughout my property - which I understand: I don't doubt they are predominently designed for newbuilds with walls that allow the signal to penetrate.I have tried numerous signal boosters,but all have suffered from one draw back or another, and none have proved reliable. I also replaced the BT hub with an [expensive] ASUS gamer router with multiple antena - again, it was not able to provide a good signal throughout my property, and definitely wasn't as reliable as the BT hub .... but that is the subject of a different review!About a year ago (when I moved from BT to EE for my broadband provider) I invested in a BT 2 disk system, on the assumption that I could use the second disk to utilise mesh technology and provide a decent signal to the rest of my property. Hey presto - it works!The 'base' disk is plugged directly into the router, and the second disk has a decent line of sight to the base router, and this provides more than a good relay signal (completely workable) to the rest of my property.Move on another year, and I decided to go with Blink cameras for security. To explain for the purpose of this review, the Blink cameras (located outside) need a good wifi link to my broadband in addition to a good link to the Blink hub - something which I would imagine is difficult in many households, and although my two disks provide me with a 'good' signal throughout my property, the second disk doesn't provide a great signal throughout - I don't blame this on the device but on my very thick and old walls!Given previous positive experiences with the BT disks, I invested in the three pack to expand my existing network, locating the disks in rooms near the Blink cameras.The results? I now have EXCELLENT wifi throughout the whole of my property, which extends to the nearby perimiter completely sufficient for the Blink cameras which show a 5 bar wifi signal .... and inside, I have absolute coverage of excellent strength wifi in all rooms.I haven't needed to contact support, hence no rating, but I would happily recommend this product as a best buy for a number of reasons:1) if you can have 'rough' line of sight between some of the disks, they can extend your wifi signal transparently to all devices throughout your household (my smart home technology just links to the best signal, and yes, I have seen an improvement in responses since I expanded 'the mesh').2) even if you don't have line of sight, you could potentially use a network over mains adapters to connect the devices remotely to your base router and share the signal throughout the house - I have tried this with numerous options, but I really didn't find it as reliable as allowing the disks to be able to relaythemselves. In my experience, providing one disk has a semi-decent line of sight to the 'base' disk, the others all work very very well and provide a good signal: useful if your phone point it located somewhere with thick walls.3) numerous devices nowadays need a wired connection to your router - I have an alarn and CCTV (separate to the Blink) which need a hardwired connection to 'the router' - the RJ45 network connection on the back of one of my disks (each disk has a connector to plug in a network lead) works perfectly well, and each devices 'believes' they are plugged in to the router.4) I really like the guest wifi option - this is a separate wifi network you can set up which is kept isolated from your main wifi network, so guests can connect to the internet without being able to connect to any of the devices on your home network - great, as you don't have to rely on your guests having antivirus and malware protection, and potentially infecting your network devices (it's also useful for connecting 'suspect' devices to your network when the company doesn't have a clear privacy and security policy, e.g. IoT monitoring cameras, though I'm not talking about Blink ... of which I'm a huge fan!).5) linked to 4, you can switch the guest network on and off without impacting your main network, and you can also pause your network - stopping internet access - the nice part being you can specify which devices this affects. I would imagine this would be useful for adults with kids, or guests who are streaming annoying music!6) I like the phone app (also available via a web portal) that allows you to see what/who is connected, the signal strength between the disks, and to easily control reboots, guest network and numerous other settings such as if the disks lights are on or off.7) I like that you have the ability to block specific devices from connecting to your wifi - my guest wifi is setup with the default BT Hub 4 settings, as this is what my guests previously connected to. As the network is quite easy to hack, several uninvited guests took the opportunity to utilise my broadband connection - I don't blame them ..... but their MAC addresses are now blocked. Not infaliable, but it makes it harder and so hopefully they will move on to another wifi network.The only downside, and I wouldn't say this is a reason to not purchase [more feedback for BT], is that there is no option (currently) to turn off the LED on one disk - the option is for all disks and it is either off, low or bright - personally, I want to keep the LED switched on for my disks as it is a good indicator that things are working well (or not!), but for the disk in my bedroom, I would like to be able to switch it off - but you currently can't for a single disk. In the meantime, duck tape means my bedroom isn't lit up with the [good status] blue LED.No matter who your broadband provider is, I would highly recommend this product - it's REALLY easy to setup either via the web portal or preferably the phone app, and it works. I am a very satisfied customer.

9.9.2017

This works, out of the box, gives excellent performance (so far), and WiFi coverage across the whole home [like it says on the box]. The iOS app also works fine, once you figure out the undocumented trick of ensuring you have not connected to a VPN on your device. If you do, then most (but not all) attempts to use the app fail, and the app claims not to be able to connect to the WiFi network, although it is up and working fine.Before buying this, I spent quite a lot of time figuring out ways of getting WiFi boosted in our two-floor flat in an old Victorian house with an extension that is close to a Faraday cage owing to the steel frame and metal stud internal walls. We have Ethernet cabling to various rooms,and use Virgin Media, Hub 3.0. My starting point was: something that I can plug into an Ethernet port that will extend or bring WiFi to the room concerned. If you try to connect an old router then a) you need to spend time getting your Hub 3.0 into Modem Mode, and b) you may need to spend a while fiddling with IP addresses and installing new firmware ... and then it may not work. See four of five reviews and articles and forums for the sorry tale.Next stop: Powerline with WiFi boosting: very high speed TP-Link devices with mains power "passthrough" (three-pin UK socket in the device enables it to be used as a normal electric socket too were all looking good, with "WiFI synch" (i.e. they all offer the same WiFi network id or SSID and use the same password), until I realized that to buy more than one of the latest, smartest "range extenders" (the devices that go into a room away from the router to provide boosted WiFi) ... I would have to buy more than one "Starter Kit", meaning that I would end up with two base stations (the devices that plug into the router via Ethernet) to get two range extenders. And to get three ... I would need to buy three Starter Kits. I could not believe that a company had product-managed themselves into such a hole, but sure enough, people reported the high price of a working solution for this very reason. And I also noticed that the range extenders are not actually mains power "passthrough". So I thought again. And read more reviews.Which brought me to the BT Whole Home WiFi product.EXTRA PLUSES: things it does that I didn't know about when I bought it.1. I would expect this, but you never know: I plugged the primary disc into an Ethernet port away from the actual router location (and in a much better place to form the WiFi "mesh" with the other discs) and that all worked just fine.2. You can plug each disc into an Ethernet port if you have on available. Then each disc "just" acts as a synchronised repeater of a single SSID with a single password, boosts WiFi, operates directly off Ethernet etc. All without touching the Hub 3.0, no switching it into Modem Mode (and losing an Ethernet port) etc etc.3. There is a web admin interface as well as the iOS/Android apps, and it is very good, clear, easy to use (in fact both are OK once everything is working, see MINUSES below).MINUSES1. No information in the app, online at BT's generally very good FAQ/knowledge base, or from their technical support department about the VPN problem: that took more Googling. Remember to switch off your phone's VPN to administer the network (and to set it up if that's how you are doing it) and also remember that you can use the Web interface (http://mybtdevice.home) once the primary disc is connected via Ethernet to the router.2. The app guides you through set up, and two things went wrong: it asked you to test connections before switching on the second and subsequent discs, but when used to test the connection (signal level) in close proximity (a foot away) or at a reasonable distance (a location that actually works for a second disc) is showed a red disc and No Connection, which was a lie. I was wrongly told by BT tech support that you cannot test connections before plugging the second disc in (it will show signal strength when only one disc is working, at a potential location, if the app is reinstalled).3. The quick start doc available on line (but not in the box, bizarre) says: don't switch on discs until the app says so. If I had followed this advice I'd be writing a different (one-star) review. Once the first disc is up and working (plug into mains, plug via Ethernet cable into router Ethernet port, power on) then WiFi works, devices can be connected etc. Take the second and third discs. Plug them into mains and power on, successively, and they hook up and work too. You don't need the app to make this work.4. Minor niggle: you can't turn off the LED on only one or two discs: all three or nothing. But at least you can turn it off.5. If these discs were Power over Ethernet (PoE) then it would be a happy day, but I'm sure that the next generation will be. And if BT are smart they won't make you buy a whole new system to get PoE, they'll let if all work with the old discs. Don't make the TP-Link mistake.The system seems to be really good, and the price, given the alternatives, is not cheap, but not unreasonable. The simplicity of setup (given the info above) is amazing. The admin is really simple and effective. This is a class product!

9.11.2018

Like anyone buying this set, its because the WiFi coverage in your house is a bit rubbish. Certainly, that's the case in my house partially because of the area, partially because it's part underground in the side of a slight hill and partially because when I renovated it, I used foil backed plasterboard everywhere for additional insulation. And of course created a big Faraday cage....Doh!Anyway, me being me I like wired connections as far as possible. This is probably due to the fact that on construction ships for offshore work we have to make everything as foolproof and reliable as possible and that means hard wiring. And I figured as each of these WiFi units had a LAN port they must be able to be used with a cable,right?And, well, yes.They are designed so that the first unit is wired in and then you wifi daisy chain them around the house using the BT app on your mobile to determine the best spot to achieve good connection and maximise the distance.However, you can use Cat 5 or 6 - although it does not say so in the manual. Essentially you plug them all into a switch and run LAN cable wherever you want and then plug each one it. It all works perfectly as they are all set to the same login and passwords. Using cable guarantees a good connection and I like that.However, the app does not which may or may not be important to you. When I tried to use the app with all the units wired in, it refused to allow me to name each one and set it up. That isn't a problem per se because just plugging them in and entering the WiFi login details into your device allows you to roam your house using each of the units in range.However, if you want to use the app and use these as intended - and avoid running Cat5 everywhere - then its also simplicity itself.Plug in the first one, follow the app instructions, then do the next in turn. You can name each one as you go and all you need is a power socket close by.The only thing I noted is that the range between these is not huge using WiFi only so if you have a particularly massive house then you might need another couple to cover everywhere. Regardless, these do work really well and give great WiFi everywhere using the same details for simplicity.Now, onto other things. Design is neat and pleasing on the eye with a very good tactile feel and build quality. These do come across as being well made and high end.The weird bit is the fact that on the back there is a hole for hanging these on a wall which, frankly is hard to understand. It would be nice if it could be done, but the stand is integral and can't be taken off and of course the Cat5 cable on the master unit will stick out the back. I could I guess take one apart and remove the stand but I run the risk of damaging it in the process. I may give it a go and see if I can neatly wall mount one and if I can, I'll update this.Overall, a fantastic bit of kit that works brilliantly and well worth the money if you need better coverage.

4.10.2018

I have a long thin barn conversion with solid stone walls. Internal wifi has always been awful. I got Sky Q on the basis that it provided a wireless mesh. It did but it kept failing and was unusable in many places. I decided to supplement with a dedicated data mesh and leave the Sky Q one for the TV system. I spent ages looking at the Google Wifi system, but just could not justify the price difference. I have relatively slow broadband (~13Mb) and therefore comparisons of relative WiFI speeds didn't matter for me, especially as I was using the Sky Q mesh for video streaming.I got these and the main one is set up plugged into the Sky router and the setup was relatively simple (however I do work in IT).

6.6.2020

I have to confess my instillation is not like most as I have a LAN cable which serves as a backbone. My house is across 3 floors with thick walls and we have a history of struggling to get our wifi signal round the building. It doesn't help that the Fibre to the premises, and hence the smart hub, comes in next to a thick chimney breast so a double layer of bricks shields much of the property from the hub. However I do have the advantage of a LAN to the top floor where I have a study. Rather than start at the hub (like the instructions say) my first disk went to the study and it set up fine using the BT home wifi app even though it was going through two different 5 port gigabit network switches to get to the hub in the lounge.

30.1.2020

You may have heard a lot of hype about the mesh systems that are around today?A lot mesh starter kits come with a controller and maybe on access point (wifi signal generator).If you have a large house, solid wall or are using this for your business, you'll need to spend your hard earned cash on yet more access points.BT have a clear winner with this low cost solution.Like a Mesh system there are no seperate wifi zones and the one network name (SSID) does the whole house, so you don't have to flick networks as you mooch around your home into poor signal areas.There is a switchable guest network that you can name yourself and only turn it on when you have guests or visitors that would like to

10.10.2018

Our BT HomeHub5 has been misbehaving recently with failed or dropped wifi (and Powerline) connections as we have added more wifi connected devices. BT Whole Home Wifi was set up to be the wifi source with HomeHub 5 acting as only modem-router. With this things have been much more stable, in addition to receiving wifi signal in corners of the house where previously it was dodgy.Note - this system does require a separate modem-router, unlike some others like Google Wifi. Setting up was fairly straightforward using the BT Whole Home app. In the box are three discs, one LAN cable to connect the first disc to the router, and three power cables. All the cables are decent length to give some flexibility to siting the discs.

5.4.2020

Our BT HomeHub6 is a good router but we live in a converted chapel with thick stone walls and it just couldn't reach the back of the house. As for the garden - no chance at all. With the Coronavirus lockdown forcing ever more reliance on WiFi we wanted finally to sort the poor coverage issue. Eventually chose the BT Whole Home 3-piece kit because of very good reviews and our BT router (although it should work with any router).Arrived within three days. The time from unpack to fully up and running was about 30 minutes. The BT app is downloaded on your phone then you simply follow its instructions. The first dish sits next to the router and plugs into one of its available ethernet sockets.

31.12.2018

I've been trying to get a good network across the house for years, for the last few, using a TP Link Powerline system. Unfortunately, that system keeps dropping out and is by no means as fast as I need.Now onto this, at last, a WiFi network that is not only fast but extremely stable.The set up process is a breeze, you just download the BT app onto your device (I've now got it on Apple and Android devices) and it walks you through how to do it. As you are locating the discs around the house, you use the App to find the best locations which is a real time saver, plus you get the best network this way. Probably all up and running within 1/2 an hour on the pack of three but then I discovered that three just were not going to be enough for the size and shape of the house.

13.11.2019

When BT first released this system the reviews went from excellent to appalling due to BT badly messing up the update process. Things have improved…I bought this system for a local arts venue that’s scattered over several converted farm buildings. I installed a ‘normal’ system of individual wifi repeaters, but this had the inherent problem of the user constantly having to manually switch to the strongest signal and, for their first visit at least, enter the (same) password for each repeater. We really needed a mesh system.The instructions tell you exactly how to proceed (flawless) and my fear was realised when it became clear that the four discs were going to be too far away from each other.

23.8.2018

I tried a Wi-Fi extender before this and could not get it to reach the far end of my house as there are four brick walls between the end of the house and the router (and maybe 20 metres). I was thinking of getting a power line but was recommended this. I doubted they would work and was lent one by a friend.I struggled at first and then moved the first disk away from the router (using a 5 metre ethernet cable) so it was more central in the room. This improved the signal to the second disk which I placed where my old WiFi extender was. Signal from the first disk was rated as excellent, but the second (4 metres and two brick walls away) was only good. However,

22.1.2018

Finally, something that removes dead spots from my Wi-Fi setup. Having used various different wireless routers and Wi-Fi extenders with little success I opted for this solution. I'm currently using Virgin's latest router which has rubbish Wi-Fi. No problems getting this to work with it. The BT disks have great range, speed and reliability!Very easy to set up. Download the App, Connect the first disk by wire (supplied) to your router and follow the instructions. You're then prompted to add another disk which clones the wireless info from the first. You can move the disk around until you find a "sweet spot", somewhere far enough away from the first to bounce the signal on without being too close and overlapping it.

24.5.2019

We live in an average sized two-storey house and always had trouble with our Wi-Fi signal. Despite everything that Ryan Reynolds said about BT Infinity in their TV adverts, we could barely get a signal in our bedroom and the smart TV in our lounge frequently lost connection despite it being only one room away from the hub itself.We tried various repeaters in our efforts to boost the signal but they never seemed reliable and most ceased to work at all within a few weeks if not days.The most important thing to say about 'BT Whole Home Wi-Fi' is that IT DOES WORK. We bought a set of four discs and have two downstairs (one attached to the BT Infinity hub and one in the lounge with the smart TV)

3.6.2020

I wish I'd bought one of these years ago. We only have a small house so I've been getting by for some time with a PlusNet router and another old router repurposed as a wi-fi access point upstairs. The problem with this was that as you moved around the house devices wouldn't necessarily switch to the strongest signal so you would have to manually switch over. Also the PlusNet router is a fast 'ac' router but the older Netgear router only has wireless 'n', running at half the speed.I did a bit of research before opting for the BT system. Most of the rivals expect you to replace your broadband router whereas the BT system runs alongside it, which helps keep the price down.

28.12.2017

Purchased the pack of 3 disks, because BT Smart Hub (2016, type 6) was unable to provide decent wifi coverage throughout the whole house (two storeys, five bedrooms, approx 2700 sq ft). The hub is located at the 'bottom right' of the house because that's where the external broadband connection point is. Rooms on the left and particularly the top left were receiving a slow and erratic wifi connection. Internet service is BT Infinity.My first disk is necessarily positioned near the hub, linked by ethernet cable, and my other two disks are positioned in the top centre and top left of the house. Positioning was constrained by the availability of suitable power sockets, so the optimum spacing could not be achieved,

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