UKC

We have NowTV broadband which is generally fine - the router we got with them wasn’t great though and we had issues with getting wi-if upstairs.

It’s only about 7 or 8 meters away from laptop to router (3 bed, two story terrace house), but the router is in an MDF cupboard on the other side of a chimney breast so we put the poor signal down to that.

We upgraded to a decent router from Currys but this was also a bit hit and miss upstairs. So we then added a set of TP-Link Deco Wi-Fi extenders. So one plugs into the new router, and the others are spread around the house in such a way that there should be no structural walls between their line of sight. 

In general it’s fine for our laptops and my iPad, but we both generally switch to using mobile data on our phones as they both (apple & google) often get “stuck” whilst loading webpages and is generally pretty slow/crap.

My dad (different area/supplier, but same size house and router in the same place) doesn’t have any issues with his plusnet supplied router.

So I recently wondered about changing supplier or set-up to try and make thing work better. 

Could there be any reasons why our phones don’t seem very compatible with the Wi-Fi? Could it be anything to do with the fact the new router (TP Link AC1600) is still transmitting it’s wifi signal, but we just use the one transmitted by the Deco?

Could a better/faster interner provider help?

Should we even need the Deco network for a relatively small house?

You phones could be still connecting to the old router, as you mentioned. You could try:

Giving the old router a different SSID, to the relays. That way you'd know which you were connected to.

Set the new devices to 5Ghz only, rather than 2.4Ghz or auto select.

Change default channels. You could be conflicting with the neighbours wifi. Both systems might be trying to share the same channel.

You should definitely turn off the WiFi on the router you're not using. It might not be the only problem but it certainly won't be helping.

Apart from that, you need to figure out whether the problem is actually the connection between the router/s and your devices or the incoming internet itself. Do you have any wired devices and what's the experience like on them? Do you only have trouble with webpages not loading in certain parts of the house or everywhere?

One decent router should generally do the job in a modestly sized house, depending on the structure. Does also partly depend on how many other WiFi networks are around congesting the airwaves (which you're not helping yourself with). Worth finding a phone app to find out which WiFi channels are heavily used around you and switching your router/s to a less busy one. Also worth checking how the antennae on your router are aligned to send signal in all directions.

You can have a look at the signal strength and channel of your Wi-Fi networks (and your neighbours’ ones) using the Apple Airport Utility app. You need to enable Wi-Fi scan in settings. The results can be confusing - my Google Chromecasts like to create their own network. I used this to set up the channels of my various routers to have least overlap with my neighbours. Might help?

1. You need to establish if this is a problem with the internet coming into your house (in which case, it's the ISP's problem) or how it is distributed around your house (in which case, it's your problem). 
2. You need to check that your devices are connected to their nearest entrypoint, not to the main router. Change the SSID on your main router or turn off wifi transmission from the main router altogether so you know exactly what you are connected to. This way, you will know you are definitely connected to an access point. For debugging, it can sometimes help to give all your access points different SSIDs temporarily so you can connect to one at a time and identify any faulty boxes. It may help to have your devices "forget" the network, then reconnect from scratch.
3. If you have older devices that require 2.4Ghz, check your network is transmitting this. If you have newer devices, you might get a more stable connection on 5Ghz. I have different SSIDs for the two frequencies on my network so I can explicitly tell my devices which one to connect to.
4. Change the default channel on your access points. This will help to minimise interference with neighbours (who are almost certainly also using default channels). 
5. If you have any options to move things around, you might find things work better if your master access point is not hidden behind the chimney breast!
6. If your main router and your master access point are both trying to route traffic, it may be causing conflicts. Try putting the router into pass-through mode. This means it will simply pass the signal to your access point and allow the access point to route it.

It sounds like exactly this issue to me, i would try disabling the 2.4Ghz on the Deco and see if it improves things.

If you are using the Decos Wifi only then turn off the old routers WiFi, you don't need it and it will only cause issues rather than solve them, this is how i run my Decos.

Thank you for all the help. I will go through the advice and hopefully diagnose the issue this weekend. 

I seem to remember struggling to switch off the wireless on the router and ended up deciding to leave it on. 

I’m still unsure why the actual router signal is so bad though. Right now I’m about 6m away (but upstairs) and have 1/5 signal bars showing on my laptop.

Are you use the  speedtest app on your laptop and phone. If not, its a good way to get objective measurements.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000058989/wireless....

For you and anyone else tweaking their WiFi channels this is worth a read! In summary on the 2.4 GHz band only set channels to 1, 6 or 11 - any others will only increase interference given and received.

Just a thought, if you have two devices in a row, have you got both of them performing firewall/filtering functions. If the new Curry's purchase is a router - can it be directly attached to the raw internet or can you turn the supplies modem into modem mode and then use the new router for everything else. 

I would definitely do an ethernet broadband speed check attached to the original router and then to the new router and see if there is a difference. In a vertical house built into a hill we have wired ethernet to the downstairs and upstairs access points from the router and that has been our only solution (you could use plug ethernet adaptors to mimic this).

5GHz has shorter range and less ability to pass through walls, so bear that in mind.  As stated upthread, you first need to prove the problem by elimination.

The correct order to do things is:-

1) is the problem inside the house or out? If it's outside you'll just be chasing your tail troubleshooting the wifi, especially with an intermittent issue.

2) Is it the wifi on your BB router? Prove this by turning everything else off and connecting to it with an ethernet cable and comparing the performance of that and of the same device on wifi. Make sure you do it around the same time as your raw BB speed will inevitably decline in the evenings when the internet is busier.  If you check the cable at lunchtime when the internet's fast, then the wifi in the evening when it's slow you're not comparing apples with apples.

3) If the BB router's performance is the same on wifi in the same room as it is on the cable, you then need to work out if the BB router's wifi has a range issue. Compare speeds in the same room as to around the rest of the house.

4) If there is a range issue, then try adding the extenders in one at a time until you solve the problem. As suggested above, different SSIDs will help you know what you're connecting to.

Good luck, it's a faff doing everything logically and laboriously, and repeatedly, but you're at the stage where your 'quick fix' hasn't worked and you need to go back to basic principles to definitively identify the problem and fix it.  You can download free wifi analyser apps which will show you signal strengths on channels in use (yours and any of your neighbours you're able to receive). If you notice you're both on channels likely to interfere then before you change yours have a word with them and get them to find out if their performance improves when you move off their channel - that will improve your relationship with them no end

I've got a TP link (Deco M5s and M9s) mesh network around my house and generally it works well. Their app is helpful and can run speed tests so you can check your incoming internet quality and save reports over time to check trends (eg if you've changed a setting), and there is also an 'optimise the wifi' option which checks for interference and reallocates WiFi channels. Worth running once a week. 

Also check in advanced WiFi settings and play with the beamforming option which is good but doesn't work so well with older devices. 

Also make sure your network is truly setup as a mesh where your devices seamlessly connect to whatever access point has the best signal rather than staying connected to the same AP.