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Internet Dropouts and very slow Smart Hub 2 speeds

CaptainTed — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 14:38:16 GMT

Hello, I'm wondering if anybody can help.

I've had BT for years spanning 3 addresses. I used the same BT Smart Hub across all three. The first 2 addresses I had no problems... my new address I have nothing but problems. I am on BT Fibre with ~70mb internet.

We have noticed that several times a day we lose internet connection for circa 5 minutes. We are still connected to the router via WiFi and the light is still blue on the router. Where we are both working from home, this is cutting us off from work calls and isn't acceptable. Speed was fine on this - just the dropouts that were the issue. Even upstairs away from the router on Wifi I'd get 60+mb speeds.

I spoke with BT who sent me a Smart Hub 2. Plugged this in and had a lot more, different, issues. This time the WiFi I could get stood next to the router was 25mb, and if I go into another room this goes down to <5mb.

First question - why is the Smart Hub 2 so much slower than the Smart Hub here? Impossible to have two people on a conference call at once with these speeds.

So I contacted BT again who sent an Openreach engineer. These guys were really helpful and tested the line but confirmed there was no problem at their end and confirmed the fault was a throughput issue at BT's end.

I spoke with BT again to which their response is, pick one of:

A. Have another new Hub - not going to make a difference, we are noticing the dropouts on our router which has always worked fine and on the brand new Smart Hub 2 we were sent.

B. Get another Openreach engineer - not going to make a difference, the guys were here for 4 hours today doing the tests and getting further advice and diagnostics with HQ on the phone. We also can't afford to be without internet for another half day just because BT doesn't fix their issue.

I'm wondering if anybody can help... I don't understand why the Smart Hub 2 is so much slower than Smart Hub - if I did an identical speed test next to the router for both, I'd get ~67mb from the original Smart Hub, but less than ~25mb from the Smart Hub 2. I also don't understand why I'd be getting network dropouts unless there was a fault with BT's systems.

Any advice with dealing with BT on this gladly received as we are going round a merry-go-round at the moment.

Re: Internet Dropouts and very slow Smart Hub 2 speeds

imjolly — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 14:12:51 GMT

welcome to the BT community forum where customers help customers and only BT employees are the forum mods

in order for the forum members to help please can you post the stats from your router (if hub enter 192.168.1.254 in your browser) if HH6/SH2 then advanced settings then technical log information .

if your router colour remains blue that suggests hub is still connected to internet and it is probably a wifi problem. have you tried connecting a device with ethernet cable to see if that helps

Have you tried the quiet line test? - dial 17070 option 2 - should hear nothing - best done with a corded phone. if cordless phone you may hear a 'dull hum' which is normal

enter your phone number and post results remember to delete number https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

have you turned of smart setup

Turn Off smart setup

Someone may then be able to offer help/assistance/suggestions to your problem

Re: Internet Dropouts and very slow Smart Hub 2 speeds

CaptainTed — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 15:07:20 GMT

Hi, thanks for the reply. We haven't got a landline phone so can't do that test. Smart setup I believe is off as the Openreach engineers also looked at settings and set up for me today, but still really poor speeds from Smart Hub 2 - it's not usable and I will need to revert back to Smart Hub.

The Openreach engineers specifically stated that it is a BT throughput error causing issues but can't find a way of getting BT to investigate rather than being fobbed off with them sending me a new hub or trying to book another openreach engineer visit - I now have 3 hubs and have had an engineer visit.

I guess two main topics I want to seek an answer to:
1. Why is the Smart Hub 2 so slow compared to Smart Hub 1? Settings have been optimised for me (best band chosen etc).
2. How do get BT to investigate this Throughput issue without fobbing me off?

Re: Internet Dropouts and very slow Smart Hub 2 speeds

imjolly — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 15:15:08 GMT

to get some progress from the forum you need to post the information I asked for as that will help forum members help you. a landline phone is a basic tool in checking internet problems as noise on your landline will have serious affect on your broadband as will no dial tone on your landline is it possible to borrow a phone