Service
Wi-Fi is not the line you bought
The speed a provider sells is a property of the line to the hub, inside the limits they state, not of every room in the house. Most “the broadband is slow” conversations are Wi-Fi, placement, or too many devices. Some are real faults. Telling them apart saves a wasted appointment and, when the line is actually down, gets the right clock started.
Reviewed 5 November 2026 · 6 min read · Independent · Not a price list
The test that means something
Plug a computer into the hub with a cable, as close to the hub as the cable allows. Run the test there, once, with other heavy use paused. That result is the closest a household can get to the line without the provider’s own diagnostics. A test on a phone in a back bedroom, on the far side of a brick wall, is a test of the house.
If the wired test is close to what was sold and the wireless test is not, the line is doing its job. Move the hub out of a cupboard, off the floor, and away from a microwave or a thick chimney. A mesh node or a cable to a desk may be the fix. An engineer visit for the pavement will not move a cupboard.
If the wired test is far below the sold speed, or the connection light is out, you have a better case that the service itself is at fault. Note the time, the light, and what the wired test showed. That note is what you give the provider. It is also what you will wish you had if you later talk about compensation.
Upload, and the jobs that need it
Headline adverts lead with download. Video calls, sending large files, and several people on calls at once lean on upload. Read the upload on the tier they will actually sell at the premises. A full-fibre product and a part-fibre product with the same download number can have very different uploads. They are not the same service.
Wi-Fi will not increase the upload the line does not have. If the wired upload is already the limit, another hub will not create a faster path to the exchange or the cabinet. The upgrade, if you need one, is a different tier or a different network, and only if that network can be installed.
A mobile phone on the kitchen table can do a call when the fixed upload cannot. That is a useful backup. It is not the fixed line, and the data is a different contract. Do not assume a “mobile backup” feature exists because the brand also sells handsets. Ask whether it is on this order.
Before you book, and after they miss
Tell the provider what the wired test showed. If they still book an engineer, ask for the appointment window and write it down. If nobody comes, or they cancel with less than a day’s notice, that fact matters under the automatic compensation scheme where the provider is signed up. The missed-appointment figure is on our compensation page. It is not paid for a visit you forgot to be home for.
Be at home if the appointment needs someone there. A missed appointment that was your absence is not their failure. A building that will not let an engineer into a riser is a wayleave problem, not a speed problem. Name it correctly so the next step is the managing agent, not a second copy of the same ticket.
Do not factory-reset the hub five minutes before the wired test you intend to quote. Change one thing at a time. Otherwise neither you nor the provider can tell what repaired the service, and a later dispute has no clean timeline.
Switching because of Wi-Fi
Changing provider will not move a thick wall. If the wired speed is fine, a new provider on the same underlying line will often leave you with the same rooms and a different bill. Spend the money on placement or mesh if the line is already enough.
Changing network can change the line. Full fibre to the premises is a different path from part-fibre to a cabinet, and cable is a different path again. That can be a reason to switch. It is a reason only where the new network can be ordered at the door, and only after you have read the upload and the price stack.
One Touch Switch will not reposition your hub. It will not run a cable under the floor. Keep that work in a separate note from the provider change, so you do not blame the switch for a cupboard.
Questions
- Is a phone speed test enough?
- Not if you want to know about the line. Test on a cable at the hub first. Use the phone test only as a picture of that room.
- Will a new router fix a slow line?
- It can fix Wi-Fi. It cannot raise the speed of a line that is already slow when you test on a cable.
- Does compensation cover a weak signal upstairs?
- No. The scheme is about total loss, missed appointments and late starts at participating providers, not about a room the hub does not reach.
- Should I switch to get better Wi-Fi?
- Only if the wired line is the limit and a different network or tier would raise it, and that product can be installed. Otherwise fix the house.
- What upload do I need?
- Enough for the calls and uploads you actually do at once. Read the number on the tier. We will not invent a universal figure.
- Who do I call if the wired test fails?
- The provider who sold the service. They own the fault. We do not.