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]

No resolution yet. I will keep the thread updated.

[PodsSlow]

The number of devices has never changed for me when this issue happened. The ‘too many devices’ script sounds like a canned response. The call centre agents read out the same thing.

[dks]

Not a script but an observation of what I have seen here. I did find a manufacturer's specification on pod capacity, however. 

How many devices can I connect to Plume?

Plume Adapt is designed to spread out device connections throughout the home. While it is not a hard limit, connections of more than 32 devices per WiFi band are not recommended on Pods and PowerPods, and not more than 45 devices on SuperPods per radio. 

[ekstasis]

this is not true. as i stated previously in the thread, i'm using 10-20 devices at any given moment on my network, for the past 2.5 years, and the pod itself rarely has more than 4 devices connected to it at any given moment.

again, if you and @Vanadiel are going to act like troubleshooters in this thread, i encourage you to read the entirety of the posts. thanks

[Aptic]

At this point I really don't think there is anything left to troubleshoot for the end users.  This is clearly an issue for Bell to fix on their end.

[dks]

Perhaps you have confusion about the role of Community All Stars. We don’t work for Bell and are not troubleshooters. We are volunteers and users who have some experience which may be useful, nothing more. Yes, we have followed this thread from the beginning. But at this time it is reasonable to say there is no easy or quick solution to this issue. The manufacturers information is there. Bell staff is aware of the issue. 

[Symple_Syrup]

I think we are all getting frustrated by the responses you are giving. If you are not a technical trouble shooter then stop responding as if you are. I’m sure there is useful information regarding usage that you can respond to. I brought the attention to this issue to bell along with the others in this thread. I hope to have more information from the Bell technical team looking at the modem in (GIGAhub) on Monday.

[dks]

I look forward to hearing your report. Thanks for keeping the conversation going. 

[LearningToKnow]

FWIW: We have a GigaHub on version 2.13 and two wi-fi 6E pods. We have been experiencing the issues noted above for several days. The pods started "struggling" around 7:45 am local (Toronto) time this morning and have been completely offline for about 30 minutes now. We are using the guest network to assure a connection to the GigaHub. 🤞this reflects a fix being applied and not the situation getting worse.

[Aptic]

I finally connected with a Bell supervisor and explained the issue with the PODs.  While she did not acknowledge any issues with the PODs, she did offer a full 2 year credit for the PODs and apologized for any issues. 

[cuj0flow]

I'm a brand new Bell Fibe customer as of earlier today and am observing this exact issue.  Just spent the last three hours losing my mind trying to resolve.  Wished I searched here first, but I'm glad to see I'm not the only one seeing the problem. 

I currently have 3 wirelessly connected devices  to the Giga Hub, and three wired devices (via a 2.5GBE switch) connected to the 6E Pod.  Ran a speed test on the Pod wired devices and each are capping at ~210 mbps.  Devices connected wirelessly to the Giga Hub are getting around 600-700 mbps on speed tests.  Connected my PC directly to the Pod without the switch (so only one wired device using the Pod, and no wireless) and same result.  App is telling me the connection my Pod has to the modem is "excellent".  I wasn't sure if the Pod was even going to work as a solution for me (goal being a wireless bridge between my 2.5GBE local wired network and the Giga Hub/internet, which, unfortunately, are on opposite sides of my condo).  *Shakes fist in the air* at the person who decided the kitchen was the best place to install the Bell Fiber junction.  Previously, I had gigabit cable internet which was conveniently located not in my kitchen.

If the Pod was never meant to support speeds faster than 200 mbps, that would be one thing, but it shouldn't then be advertised as "6E" capable.  From the sounds of it though throughout this thread, they are meant to support faster speeds, and I'd expect at least to get the same wireless speed produced by the Giga hub.  I should note that my upload speed on the Pod is 700 mbps 🙃

Go home Google AI response, you're drunk.

Will keep my eye on this thread and tinker around some more.  Pod may not be the best solution for me, but neither is running a 100-foot cable out of my kitchen and along the floorboards of my condo to my switch/NAS/PC.

[Symple_Syrup]

Had a call back from the Bell technical team tonight. They do understand our frustration. They are working on a solution. I was visiting this weekend at my friends place. The have R*gers ignite, running at 500Mbs at the modem when i did the speed test. They have one pod that is the older level.(not 6E). It made me think..... I wonder what the speed test shows. They were getting the same lower speeds that we are seeing on our 6E pods. It did not bother them because they do not game or stream from the POD (basically web browsing). I told the Bell technical guys that maybe they have loaded the lower level firmware to our Pods. ( This is only my observation - no way to prove).... story continues...Hope to have more updates tomorrow.

[dks]

Thank you for the confirmation that Bell is, as has been said, paying attention to this issue. And thank you for the reminder that other providers also use the Plume pods. I had both Rogers and Bell up until 18 months ago and had both provider’s pods. They worked very nicely in the same house. 

[Symple_Syrup · Accepted solution]

So…. Drum roll please. Received a call from Bell technical today. They recognize the issue and are actively working with Plume support to get us a fix! I will let you all know when I get word on the release. I suspect it will be sooner than later.

[Aptic]

@Symple_Syrup  thanks for keeping us informed.  Looking forward to the fix.  What I find frustrating, and I had the same issue with Rogers, is how many times you have to raise the issue before they will admit there is a problem.