I have BT w/broadband (cable) and TV. The home hub is a bit……well shit. The WiFi signal drops out and there are known issues with apple stuff (which we use). It also doesn’t reach the garage so I’d like a better range.
I understand that some of the TV goes through the interwebs, so I worry that replacing the router might stuff it up. BT just want to sell me an extender which does not address all of the issues with the apple stuff.
As we use apple, I have considered an airport express extreme.
By any chance has anyone done this? Does it work with the TV? Has it got a better range than the current homehub?

Bit of an obscure question, thanks in advance for any help.

you can get a huawei BT ready modem, and plug that into anywhich router/switch/wifi AP you wish.

My neighbour has just done the same, but then he hates BT Home Hubs. Personally mine works fine for me, and I use BT Hotspot powerline APs around the barn with no problems unless Mrs S turns the microwave on.

I don’t know much about WiFi other than it’s witchcraft.

We also have BT broadband (fibre optic) and find that the supplied wireless leaves a lot to be desired. I only know this as we also have a couple of old devolo homeplugs, and I get a better service from the network being broadcast from that than I do direct from the BT unit, even though it’s on the next floor up.

Might be worth trying to find a couple of cheap second-hand units on eBay and just turn off the wireless broadcast from the BT one?

I was having problems with my ageing Wifi router (only the wifi part), so bought one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LP8PGS2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

And set it up in access point mode, so it *just* acts as the wifi part of my network (not the routing part). Brilliant! Wifi speeds are now limited by the 100MBits LAN port on the unit.

I use a mix of Apple, Microsoft, Toshiba etc. and all works fine.

Use this – and disable the Wifi on your HomeHub.

The TV is connected to the router via powerline adaptors

If you switch off the router wireless and set up (probably the default) the Airport as a bridge, it won’t effect the TV at all. The Airport doesn’t have an ADSL modem though so you will still need either the HomeHub or something else.

Ah, OK. So I would still use the shitty home hub to get the interwebs, and use the AE for WiFi?
Could anyone make a guess if the range is likely to be any better?

I had similar issues with my BT router (a good few years old now). After much faffing around and investigation I came to the conclusion that it was due to interference with other WiFi networks I was in range of (I could see another 6 or more). So I decided at the time I needed a dual band router so I could transmit my WiFi on 5GHz rather than 2.5 (or whatever it is) GHz that is the usual standard assuming most other people were on the 2.5ish GHz frequency. The only downside appeared to be that 5GHz can’t penetrate walls as well, but since I have a newish house with plasterboard internal walls I didn’t think this would be a problem. At that time there were not many dual band routers around, but the Apple Airport Extreme was one, so I got one off eBay. I turned off the WiFi side of my BT router so was just using it as a modem, Plugged in the Airport extreme, in Typical Apple stye within 30 seconds after a quick firmware update it was up and running and it has been ever since over the last 4 or so years and hasn’t dropped out once. It has literally been 100% reliable. I’ve got an Apple Airport Express and a wireless range extender which also seems to work fine too.

I’m no networking expert so cannot explain why this solution has worked for me and i’ve probably just stumbled at random on a solution, but it’s worked a treat.

Thanks to this very forum and this issue being common due to MacBooks being fussy I was given the solution below which worked for me.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/44798/~/i-have-problems-connecting-5ghz-and-dual-band-devices-wirelessly-to-the-bt-home

Thanks drac. I had actually done that but I’m clueless so it was a bit vague from my end. Thanks to the (excellent BTW) BT technical support, the reliability issues have been sorted. Matey changed the settings from auto-channel to channel 11 on the WiFi and he looked into performance and it went from 19meg to 32meg. Haven’t checked the range yet though. If it isn;t up to it, i will probably get another airport express.