Wi-Fi Pod Speed Tests

[Aptic]

Up until recently I was getting between 300-600 mbps on my POD and Hub over wifi. (I don't have wired connections) However, I am at best getting around 150-200 mbps on my POD now (no change with the Hub, and there was no change to my set up).  I rebooted everything to see if it would make a difference, but it remains the same.    This has been going on for about a week, and measured at different times throughout the day.

When I run the Bell wifi checkup, it is showing a download speed of 1.8 gbps on the hub, and 1.5 gbps on the POD - with a strong signal to all my devices.  That said, I see no difference in the performance of any of my devices. I also note that the Bell wifi app is showing my devices are getting 2-3x the speed that I see when I run Speedtest or Fast. 

I am curious as to why the POD speed connectivitiy has dropped in half, and why Bell keeps sending me promotions to upgrade my speed, when I can't even come close to getting the speed I pay for now. 

[Symple_Syrup]

Hi there, I have been in conversations over the last few months with the technical team. The issue is the fact that the Sagemcom modem firmware and the Plume firmware is messed up for our 6E PODS. No one has provided details as to which one of the two vendors Sagemcom / Plume that Bell uses will be fixing the issue or if both need to update. It would be nice if they could provide a timeline/ fix in process/ testing a fix/  etc. You would think that the moderator here could provide SOMETHING other than wait.................................................................................... 

[Aptic]

Just asking for a timeline for the fix.

[WebGeeks]

I am recently running into the same issue with the PODs, everything worked great and recently, best speed I can get out of the PODs is ~100mb/s which is really poor. Something has changed and I am about ready to just dump the PODs for poor performance.

But I am wondering however, I use to have a Hub 3000 and the POD set of four. Some time ago, the Hub 3000 kept crashing and replaced it with a Giga Hub using the same PODs with 1.5g service. They have worked fine for weeks, until now and the speed is terrible. I had to force some devices to connect directly to the Giga Hub than a POD.

I thought about the newer 6E PODs, but sounds like they are not working any better.

[Aptic]

@WebGeeks   Yup.  Entering into the 5th month - still no fix or even hope of one.

[WebGeeks]

Well, one of my PODs stopped working as far as Internet access. It connects, good signal, yet no Internet access through it, weird. I'm swapping them out for the 6E PODs at this stage and if they won't work any better, I will just return them. They should arrive before the week is out and will see what happens.

[Aptic]

I have the 6E pods and can tell you they are capped at 200.

[WebGeeks]

My 6E pods arrived yesterday and set them up, dropping them in the same places the old pods existed. You are right about the 200mb/s throughput, the Plume specs suggest that 400mb/s should be typical. Under idea lab conditions, they say ~800mb/s, which no one will ever get realistically.

I can say for sure, all the issues I was having with the legacy pods no longer exist. The 6E pods are working like a charm and for typical Internet access for my Google TV Streamer, NVIDIA Shield Pro Streamer, IoT devices, Pixel tablets and smartphones, are all working flawlessly. The streamers are no longer occasionally buffering which was progressively getting worse with the legacy pods.

Now the question left is, why do they appear capped at 200mb/s?

[Vanadiel]

There is an issue with the speed of the pods, which Bell has been able to replicate.

Next will be some sort of solution, but currently there's no solution for the pod speed cap.

[rascar]

Welcome to the club. The cap is extremely weird, and Bell is not a rush to fix it.

[WebGeeks]

Given the pods do not deliver the speed they should, customers should be given a credit on on the POD rental(s) until this is fixed. It is a bit of a rip off paying for a hardware rental from a telco like Bell that has unknown technical issues. From the initial post, this has been a problem for nearly 5 months, this is really unacceptable it hasn't been fixed by now.

There doesn't appear to be any further update posted on an ETA other than they can reproduce the issue, but no additional update on when this will be addressed. Surely one of the Bell moderators can post an update on the issue.

[rascar]

Couldn’t agree more. People have been fighting for an ETA for months.

[WebGeeks]

Being a retired computer hardware and software guy, the issue is with the Bell modem they get from Sagecom. The mesh portion of the modem is what manages the wi-fi pods. Clearly it is an issue in the firmware that is causing the capped speed issue. One would assume the Bell technical side is dealing with Sagecom to fix the issue, but the lack of any feedback is poor customer service, given how many people are affected by this issue.

[Aptic]

I think I previously posted this but for those who didn't see it.  I filled out the form on the Bell resolve a concern site.  The next day I got a call from a individual who introduced herself as a senior support manager.  She listened to what I had to say about the pods and how it was unfair to pay for something that wasn't meeting expectations.  She was very professional and I actually felt as if she was listening and talking to me, without any canned responses.  All that to say is she waived the fee for the pods for two years.  

[WebGeeks]

That is impressive and does show good customer service. 😀

[User719]

1. Nobody contacted me unfourtunately. I think the best solution for all sides would be restoration of of a well functioning service (that we had prior to the rollout of this firmware), and the fact that it hasnt been rolled back in so many months is a disaster. Imagine how many people are wasting technical support time trying to resolve an issue that isnt with their setup? Lost time for customers, lost money and reputation for bell.