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Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes on.

Chrise00 — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 16:52:39 GMT

I live in a block of flats, my smart hub with fibre broadband has worked perfectly for years since installation however the management company for the property has recently changed lighting in communal corridors to come on when it's dark and whatever system they are using causes the signal to the hub to drop briefly, causing wifi to drop out until the hub reconnects within a few minutes.

BT suggested moving the hub so I bought a longer cable and tried this however this hasn't worked and thinking back, why would it because it's a fixed cable that's connecting the hub.

I'm complaining to the management company and asking for details of what was installed re the timer for the lighting in case that helps in finding a solution for the problem but does anyone have any suggestions of anything I can do to resolve this issue as it may be just twice a day (with a bonus cut-out if the weather causes it to suddenly get dark outside) but it's driving me nuts, cutting off any work Zoom calls/disrupting any services such as Sky channels - thanks!

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Chrise00 — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 17:55:49 GMT

Minor correction, for what it's worth, from looking at the hub's log, I think it's only happening when stair lighting comes on at dusk (or if it suddenly gets dark earlier in the day) and not when it turns off at dawn.

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Gary_C — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 21:55:52 GMT

So things to try

Connect to the hub using 2.4ghz and 5ghz and see if the same happens on both frequencies (you might have to log into the router and give each frequency a different SSID so you know which is which)

Log into the hub and change the channel from Auto to a different channel and see if that makes a difference.

The switch maybe interfering with a specific band or channel, or it might be making such a large spectrum of noise that its swamping everything.

But its worth trying.

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Chrise00 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 08:36:02 GMT

Thanks, I've given it a try so fingers crossed for this afternoon although the problem doesn't seem to be the signal coming from the hub but the signal going to it which is via the broadband cable plugged into a filter in the home phone master socket.

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Gary_C — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:58:48 GMT

Any change ?

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Chrise00 — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 08:44:21 GMT

The hub's currently staying on (maybe coincidental but street lighting has been changed but is faulty so isn't coming on but that should be separate to my block's internal issues!) but the 2.4 signal tends to drop at times.

Block lighting contractor came back with the below which sounds very plausible to me:

(Seen this on another site) had to get BT out to reroute cables as it was getting interference from Electrics cables.

This is more of a BT issue as it's probably been like this since day one but because lighting has been on 24/7 it never interfered before.

Moving the router won't do anything, it's the cable going to the router that really should of been protected but obviously has not been when installed.

Nothing we did has caused this, the problem has always been there if it's an interference issue and BT will have to repair this. They will have to test the cable and find out where the cable is going.

Regarding the spec. It's a lighting photocell connected to a contactor.

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Gary_C — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 15:26:52 GMT

That does look like its the cause now.

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Chrise00 — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 10:58:04 GMT

Your ideas were much appreciated - engineer reckons a REIN problem and has replaced the original master socket (which would be around 14yrs old) with a 5C Mk4 one which they reckon in theory should solve the problem. Hopefully so, as otherwise it sounds like a lengthy process to resolve.

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

pippincp — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 11:15:13 GMT

That's a new solution for REIN.🤣

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Chrise00 — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 14:42:47 GMT

I'm guessing the logic is one of the light fittings that works off the photocell is immediately through the wall from the master socket....

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Chrise00 — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 12:01:00 GMT

It didn't work, so back to BT.......

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Chrise00 — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 10:37:22 GMT

So the problem continued, stair lights coming on knocking out the hub and the internet being dire - the Ofcom speed check service noting download as low as 2.4 Mbps, Upload 4.3Mbps.

Engineer no.2 reckoned the filter on the new socket should have stopped the hub dropping out however he surmised that possibly the lights going on might be causing a problem at the box in the street and said he'd renew the fibre connections there. Hub no longer drops out, internet back to normal (Ofcom check shows download 58.0/upload 18.1).

Result!

Re: Smart hub fibre broadband is knocked out daily at dusk when lighting in a communal stair comes o

Gary_C — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 18:56:37 GMT

Excellent.