Skip to content
OneTouchSwitch

Home

The hub that lives with the coats

Under-stairs is a fine place for vacuum cleaners. It is a hostile place for the only radio you own.

11 min read · Home

OneTouchSwitch editorialIssue 01 · Autumn 2026 · Double3 min read605 wordsReviewed 10 September 2026

British houses hide the ugly objects: meters, vacuums, the hub. The hub then tries to paint a life through a coat and a bit of MDF. People buy mesh. The mesh node in the same cupboard joins the religion. The spare-room office sulks. The fix was always a cable to a shelf. It is still a cable to a shelf.

Split the ugly from the radio

Fibre ends where it ends. Power the ONT there. Run ethernet to a human shelf. Put the radio there, or an AP there and park the hub in bridge if you must.

One extra socket on a landing has saved more marriages than Wi‑Fi 7.

Coats, tins, doors

Measure with the cupboard open and closed if you enjoy theatre. Then cable anyway. Do not wedge a fire door. Do not unscrew a meter board.

If the only path is through a protected door, you have an AP-on-a-table problem, not a screwdriver problem.

Enough radio

A single AP in the right room beats a standard in the wrong one. Add mesh only after this move.

If the house is still dead after a central-ish AP, then walls are the story. Then mesh, with backhaul.

Cupboard versus shelf
Where the radio isTypicalFix
Under coatsPhones sulk, WAN tests fineEthernet to a shelf
Hall tableUsually enough for a small houseStop shopping
Far spare room onlyOffice fine, kitchen diesA second AP, not a cupboard return
The coats can keep the vacuum. They cannot keep the only radio.

The hallway cupboard is a British institution. So is complaining about Wi‑Fi. Only one of those needs a cable.

Questions

Can I move the whole hub?
If it is only a router after an ONT, yes, on a longer ethernet. If it is also the VDSL modem, the modem may need to stay near the master socket. Split the jobs.
Is the middle of the house a myth?
A myth if the middle is a cupboard. A truth if the middle is a shelf in a room. Placement is a room problem, not a floorplan slogan.
Will a Wi‑Fi 7 hub in the same cupboard work?
Better radios still dislike tins and coats. Move the radio.
Landlord cupboard?
Cable out, AP on a table. See renter ethernet. Do not drill a fire door.
Power for an AP elsewhere?
A socket that stays on, not a lamp switch. The number of households who kill the WAN with a ‘mood’ switch is not small.

Sources

  • Ofcom in-home connectivity
  • Fire-door common sense (do not wedge)
  • Openreach ONT placement notes

Figures move. Prices, coverage and eligibility must be confirmed with the provider. OneTouchSwitch is not Ofcom, TOTSCo or a broadband network. Last fact-checked 10 September 2026.

Continue in this issue

Practical guides