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. 

[GS_5]

Since the beginning of the week the firmware of my POD 6E has been upgraded to 5.8.0-87-gc76b7f-prod-ig. Since that moment the POD no longer connects to 6Ghz, only to 5Ghz. I notice that the download speed has decreased to 800 and 900 Mbps rather than 1100 @ 1200 Mbps when the POD connects at 6 Ghz. Yes, a loss of performance. I hope this is not the prelude to another POD saga that will last 12 to 15 months! @BellDRock  can you ask your teams to see what's going on and correct the situation as quickly as possible. A Sugesstion for the future, can Bell push further the quality controls before important deployment such as a firmware update please?

[Aptic]

I noted mine are mostly connecting only to 2.4 now, sometimes 5ghz.  

[WebGeeks]

I checked my four 6E pods, two that are on the same side of the house as the Giga Hub (hub in basement) and pods are upstairs, both are 6Ghz, the two on the opposite of the house are 5Ghz ( one upstairs, the other is down stairs).

All pods are showing 'excellent' in the wi-fi app.

Odd that others with the same updates are seeing different results. I ignore the speed the wi-fi app claims, no idea how they derive that in the app. I always use Ookla Speedtest on my Pixel 9 Pro phone to run pod speed tests.

On the pods that are connected on 6Ghz, I am getting over 700mps, the 5Ghz pods, I am getting over 650mps and in all cases, I am not standing next to the pods.

I do find the speeds vary throughout the day which makes sense. At one point, one of the pods I was connected to, Speedtest came in on the edge of 1Ghz.

[WebGeeks]

I have been lately looking at better mesh wi-fi systems than the Bell pods. The Asus BT10 for example in test reviews are getting close to 1500mps locally and 900mps Internet speed. Most devices do not seem to ever get over 1000mps when the tested against Internet speed. These Mesh devices have either a 2.5Ghz WAN port or 10Ghz WAN port, but with a 1.5Ghz fibre connection you get slightly lower speeds with the 2.5Ghz WAN port to the hub (noting the hub does have a 10Ghz port available), but still over 1Ghz which on average I do not see with the 6E pods.

[Vanadiel]

I use 2 x U6+ AP's from Ubiquity to provide mesh coverage in the whole house, and they work without a hitch.

I don't mount them to the ceiling. I just set them on a cabinet or whatever piece of furniture is near by and out of the way. 

[WebGeeks]

I have tried using AP's in the past, but it is important they are hardwired for best results. In some situations, that isn't always possible unless the house is wired already. Newer homes now pre-wire network jack locations. AP's however are a cheaper way to bring better Wi-Fi into different home areas. Having said that, even with Mesh Wi-Fi, some have an option to wire them, which boosts speeds from each device.

[Vanadiel]

They are not using the same test server location. That might be an issue, pending on the server location.

If possible, try testing it again using the same test server.

One is using Burlington, the other is using St. Catherines.

[Aptic]

I ran the wi-fi checkup and it says there is congestion on the pod.  But there are zero devices connected to the pod.  It has been in the same place for the last 2 years and never had this issue.  Tried moving it to different locations, restarted the modem, but it always says poor signal, congestion no matter what I do.  Any suggestions?

[WebGeeks]

I'd say you have a defective pod from my experience, I would request a replacement.

[rascar]

Ok so speed is now abysmal again. Worse even than when there was the original issue. Has anyone from Bell responded? Do we have to threaten to contact CRTC for them to react?

[Aptic]

Thank you for the advice.  Its been 3 days now with a poor signal.

[Aptic]

May I ask what speeds you are getting now?  How is the signal strength on the pod?

[rascar]

About 150, even lower. Signal is between bad and acceptable. 

[Aptic]

I was getting 500-600 prior to my issues.  Now I am lucky if I get 50

[WebGeeks]

Have you run the virtual repair tool to ensure there are no issues? Have you confirmed based on more current posts listed, the firmware versions of the hub and pods?

If the repair tool passes and pods firmware is current, phone into Bell support and have them take a deeper look. We are community Bell Internet users and not Bell. We just like helping others where we can.