This topic

Smart hub 2 issues & PPPoE

Salvagehunter — Tue, 18 May 2021 16:40:35 GMT

Hi All,

I recently upgraded from G-fast driven fibre 250 to FTTP fibre 900, as the cost benefit differential made it seem like a fairly easy choice. Unfortunately, I only wish the reality was that easy.

First couple of weeks seemed fine, I was hitting c900Mb by ethernet and c400Mb by Wi-fi. Then one day, it all went pear shaped. As most people are nowadays, I do a fair bit of V-Con by Teams or Zoom. I was in a meeting and over half an hour I got the ‘network not stable’ and ‘poor network connection’ 4 times. I thought, it can’t be me, I could speak to Mars with the speeds I’m getting… unfortunately, it was…

The speed was all over the place, but c100Mb and not stable on the Wi-fi and between 200-450Mb but not stable by ethernet.

Long story short, I’ve had 2x open reach and 1x cube engineers - both openreach engineers said it’s not the fibre (respliced and very strong light levels) or the ONT, 2 routers later and the last openreach guy said it’s definitely the router and probably linked to the recent firmware issue. Spoke to BT in Exeter and the lovely lady I spoke to had no idea what I was talking about when I relayed what openreach engineer said, so she went off, talked to her manager and was given an update… I’ll not go into what I think about the fact that the guys on the coal face didn’t even know.

I’ve read a number of threads and pages of comments spanning a couple of years and the common denominator is the absolutely terrible smart hub… whether it’s the hardware, software, or indeed a combination of both it is dreadful.

I’ve just invested in a Linksys Velop MX10600 system and am going to try to set the thing up with the PPPoE and throw the SH2 as far to the back of a cupboard as it will go… I’ve tried using it in conjunction, but even with CAT8 into the ethernet on the SH2 I’m only getting 600Mb , but the Velop pushes out 500Mb of that over Wi-fi 6.

I’ve had to invest in a couple more nodes to replace the BT Wi-fi discs, which I believe are redundant if you don’t use the SH2 - is that the case, before they get pushed in the same cupboard?

Also, have any of you tech experts got any advice on the PPPoE route?

Many thanks in advance.

yours

Frustrated (and now skint) from Lancashire…

Re: Smart hub 2 issues & PPPoE

Forthay — Tue, 18 May 2021 17:21:15 GMT

@Salvagehunter The black disks will only work with the smart hub 2, what help on the PPPoE route do you need?

Re: Smart hub 2 issues & PPPoE

Salvagehunter — Tue, 18 May 2021 18:26:57 GMT

Hi @Forthay ,

Thanks for coming back to me and confirming about the BT discs.

I’m not the most technical person, but am not quite a Luddite… I looked up how to get the Velop system going on the Linksys website, but just wanted to check that I was wiring it up correctly.

So a CAT8 cable from the white open reach ONT modem, into the WAN port of the Velop, go through the setup. I saw on another thread the username is bthomehub@btbroadband.com and the password is BT. Is that it, or am I missing something?

Thanks again, I appreciate your help.

All the best

Re: Smart hub 2 issues & PPPoE

pippincp — Tue, 18 May 2021 18:51:30 GMT

The user name and password you mention are all that is needed.

Re: Smart hub 2 issues & PPPoE

Salvagehunter — Tue, 18 May 2021 19:43:11 GMT

Thanks @pippincp,

Much appreciated.

All the best.

Re: Smart hub 2 issues & PPPoE

Forthay — Tue, 18 May 2021 20:33:13 GMT

@Salvagehunter Linksys Velop MX10600 looks awesome by the way, enjoy!

Re: BT Full Fibre Upload Capped

Salvagehunter — Wed, 19 May 2021 10:06:10 GMT

Hi @PaddyB ,

I carried out a factory reset on my SH2 yesterday, to try to get it to increase my DL speed, following the application of the patch to resolve the recent firmware issue. However, not only did it not increase the speed, but when it came back to life my 107Mb UL speed had reverted back to the throttled back 50Mb that it was when I got the latest SH2.

I called the fibre team in Exeter and the fella that I spoke to, didn't have a clue what I was talking about, and said that all he could do was send another SH2 - i'd previously struck lucky and spoke to someone who did know about this (as per this thread) and was able to change the backend profile and it was resolved in a couple of hours.

Can you please help me out, as I don't want to play call centre roulette...

Thanks in advance.

Re: BT Full Fibre Upload Capped

RobbieMac — Wed, 19 May 2021 11:16:41 GMT

Hi @Salvagehunter

Thanks for your post and welcome back! I have moved your post on to your original thread to keep the conversation in the one place.

I'm sorry that your upload speed is slower than what it should be. I have sent you a private message with instructions on how you can send us over your details and we'll look into this for you. See: Private messages

Cheers,

Robbie

Re: BT Full Fibre Upload Capped

pippincp — Wed, 19 May 2021 11:35:27 GMT

@Salvagehunter Why are you still bothering with the SH2 when you have a far superior router just waiting to be connected?

Re: BT Full Fibre Upload Capped

Salvagehunter — Wed, 19 May 2021 11:42:30 GMT

Hi @pippincp ,

As a back up plan if I need to roll back... Similar to almost everyone now, if the internet goes down, life isn't worth living and my family would lynch me!...

I'm waiting for amazon to deliver the extra Velop node I need today, but as I'm not that technically competent, i'd like to know that I can revert back if needed...

Keep everything crossed for me!

Best wishes

Re: BT Full Fibre Upload Capped

pippincp — Wed, 19 May 2021 12:41:01 GMT

Fair enough.

Re: BT Full Fibre Upload Capped

Forthay — Wed, 19 May 2021 18:41:02 GMT

@Salvagehunter yes you can unplug the Velop and plug the SH2 back into the ONT as a fall back if you ever need to. If you have different SSIDs the clients will need to connect back to the SH2 one. I understand why you’re thinking about a fallback but once the Velops are up and running you should just be able to leave them be. Note - it wouldn’t be unusual for a new install of any kit to require a firmware update and a reboot before settling down but don’t let that bother you.

Re: BT Full Fibre Upload Capped

Salvagehunter — Thu, 20 May 2021 10:31:04 GMT

Morning All,

Just a quick update...

Unfortunately, moving to the Velop system was a bit of a disaster... I was still only seeing c300Mb on the Wi-Fi (to devices wi-fi 6 enabled) and my CCTV system which has cameras and the NVR linked by way of the BT discs, didn't work when I swapped those for the Velop nodes... I can't describe the disappointment, as I'd built myself up for this being the solution to all my woes!

I did look and although capable of IPv6 connection, going PPPoE it wasn't able to connect that way and was only on IPv4 - not sure whether it was that or something else that was upsetting the CCTV system and killing the speed, but for now, the extra Velop node is about to go back to Amazon and i've rolled back to using the SH2 and discs, with the Velop system connected by CAT8 and pushing out the Wi-Fi (as it is still twice as fast as the SH2 Wi-Fi - which is c100Mb).

I'm gutted and when I can afford to get an expert in, I think that's what i'll have to do.

I'm also waiting for @RobbieMac to un-throttle the UL, which is still at 50Mb, but he seems like a good guy, so I'm optimistic on that front (If you do spot any profile issues on the DL, please feel free to give that a tweak and polish too! TIA).

So guys, back to SH2 and all the fun that entails... I wish it was better news, and/or I was more technically minded!

All the best

Yours

Disappointed from Lancashire...