BT Mini Wifi disks -can these be used instead of router wifi

I am on the Smarthub 2 on the 900Mbps packages with BT but the wifi speeds are awful (they have sent a replacement in case the one I had was faulty but they are both the same). If I used https://shop.bt.com/products/bt-mini-whole-home-wi-f... would these be used in conjunction with the smarthub 2 wifi or could I set it up instead of it?

If they can be used separately does anyone have experience with them and are they worth the money?

You still need a (replaced the with a) router to act as a router for the broadband connection

The BT discs are setup to work in co operation with the Smart Hubs

BUT will work with other routers from other providers (added this clarification)

Edited by MrSaffron (Sun 24-May-20 12:38:19)

Thats fine. Just wondering if I can turn off the wifi on the smarthub and only use the wifi from the mini disks, and if so will that make any difference to the wifi speed

That product does NOT depend on smart hub. Suitable for any ISP.

Yes BT have confused ; but the the discs that require smart hub can only be rented and are coloured black.

Edited by jchamier (Sat 23-May-20 18:53:20)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

That product does NOT depend on smart hub. Suitable for any ISP.

Yes BT have confused ; but the the discs that require smart hub can only be rented and are coloured black.

ah ok. Are they worth the money and is the signal good between them?

To be honest, you aren't going to get full speed from wifi, unless of course you spend out a lot of money (around £300 to £400) for a wifi 6 router

In reply to a post by ravingkamikaze2:

ah ok. Are they worth the money and is the signal good between them?

I've not used the mini ones, but the larger ones. They're pretty good as getting signal around a house, my parents have 3 of the larger ones in their home, plugged into an Asus router with its WiFi turned off. They get their full 80 Mbps in every room in the house, which they are pleased by.

It depends what you want, most WiFi devices max out between 300 and 450 Mbps in the best of conditions. What do you get from the Smarthub ?

Edit any better?

Much! Thanks.

BT has two products:

1) First is exclusive to their broadband customers with SmartHub where they are rented, and may be included in some packages, the discs are coloured black to match the SmartHub.. This is branded "BT Complete WiFi" and pictured here:
https://www.bt.com/broadband/complete-wifi

2) The second is a a retail product suitable for anybody, connects to any router via Ethernet, and competes with Eero, Google WiFi etc. This is branded "BT Whole Home WiFi" and there are at least three versions at different price points. All of these are coloured white, scroll down this page to the table, https://shop.bt.com/learnmore/bt-branded-products-an...
* Mini Whole Home
* Whole Home
* Premium Whole Home
The Premium uses a second 5 GHz channel for the link between the discs, rather than sharing, and hence why a lot more expensive.

It appears the BT Whole Home products are rare, most of the competition wants to replace your router, and connect to a modem. Easy if you are with Virgin Media, not as easy for other types.

PCPro magazine this month compares 19 different makes of mesh WiFi.