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BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 05:36:38 GMT

I am hoping someone can help. We have a Smart hub 2 and 3 black wholehome wi-fi discs. The hub is constantly dropping the connection. At least 6 times a day. I have had 3 engineers out over the past 10 days, both BT and Openreach engineers. They all give me conflicting information either they can’t find a fault or they have fixed the fault. I have reset the hub back to factory settings and also all 3 wi-fi discs back to factory settings. I have also ran a quiet line test on my house phone and that is fine.

We had a new smart hub 2 about 6 months as we were having the same problems, BT say they have checked the Smart hub and it’s working fine. They just can’t give me an explanation as to why the hub keeps dropping the connection. I have read all the information about the best place to position the Smart hub etc etc. I am at my wits end, as when the hub goes off my son is disconnected from Fortnite when he is in the middle of a game.

When I talk to BT about the problem they see always see a fault but when the engineers turn up to my property they never know anything about the fault and I have to explain all over again. I have had at least 15 engineer visits in 2020 alone and quite often the engineer can’t find a fault.

Does anyone have any other ideas as I am getting no-where with BT ☹

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 06:37:25 GMT

@andreaferns120472

Welcome to this user forum.

Do the lights on the home hub change colour when you get the disconnections?

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:07:28 GMT

hi there. Yes when the hub disconnects it flashes orange then eventually after about 7 minutes it returns to stable blue. But this is constantly happening throughout the day

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:14:35 GMT

@andreaferns120472 wrote:

hi there. Yes when the hub disconnects it flashes orange then eventually after about 7 minutes it returns to stable blue. But this is constantly happening throughout the day

During the time that its flashing orange, have you checked the phone line for any noise, using the quiet line test?

What does your master phone socket look like?

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:24:07 GMT

My master socket is an openreach double socket

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:32:21 GMT

@andreaferns120472 wrote:

My master socket is an openreach double socket

Is it this one with the clip on front? If not, then which one 5 or 6?

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:36:08 GMT

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:38:20 GMT

Did you receive the picture?

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:44:27 GMT

Thanks.

They are know to have a very high fault rate due to poor connections, and will often disconnect when people walk past them, which will most likely be the cause of your problem. The front section makes very poor connection with the back. You may find that the clips holding the front part on, are quite loose.

You need to unclip the front part to reveal the test socket, then connect things up as shown below. Leave it like that for a few days to see if it stops the disconnections.

NTE 5C Test socket check

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:45:17 GMT

Do you mean when walking past the master socket? This is in the corner of a room with a small cupboard in front of it. So no one every walks past it

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:47:15 GMT

Also the picture you have shown is for a single socket we have a double socket. And also I cant really see the instructions in detail as the picture is too small

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:52:04 GMT

@andreaferns120472 wrote:

Do you mean when walking past the master socket? This is in the corner of a room with a small cupboard in front of it. So no one every walks past it

No, even just a slight bit of vibration can cause the disconnection, it a known problem. The front part is a broadband filter which plugs into the test socket behind. The tension on the clips is insufficient to ensure a good connection between the two parts, and this caused intermittent disconnections which are difficult to locate.

Provided you have a spare microfilter (they come with the home hubs), then connecting that to the test socket as shown on my diagram, will eliminate that bad connection, and prove whether that is what is causing your fault.

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:55:34 GMT

ok many thanks I will give it a go and let you know

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:56:41 GMT

@andreaferns120472 wrote:

Also the picture you have shown is for a single socket we have a double socket. And also I cant really see the instructions in detail as the picture is too small

That is explained on the diagram.

Its the same whether its a single one or a double one, its the same connection inside.

The diagram should be big enough unless you are trying to show it on a mobile phone.

Here it is again a bit bigger.

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 08:00:13 GMT

@andreaferns120472 wrote:

ok many thanks I will give it a go and let you know

This issue has been reported quite a few times on this forum. Its a design fault with the way the socket is constructed. Hopefully, that is the cause of your disconnections.

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 06:35:55 GMT

Hi There

Just giving you an update as you have been so kind in trying to help me with my problem. So, I followed your advice and removed the plate and used a micro filter and yes, the smarthub 2 has stopped disconnecting after doing this. I contacted BT explaining this and they just kept telling me that the Smarthub does not need a micro filter. I told them them that the Openreach plate is faulty but they say they are not responsible for this. I have bought a new Openreach Master Socket but no idea how to fit this and of course if I try to do this and I do it incorrectly then I will have more of a problem. However I have managed to get a BT Home Tech Expert Engineer to visit on the 5th January any advice on what I should ask them to do?

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

Keith_Beddoe — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 06:50:57 GMT

To be honest, that design of master socket gives lots of problems, owing to the fact that its only held together by a couple of clips. There have been a number of similar reports on this forum. Its a waste of time explaining it to BT, as they do not understand the problem.

Personally, I would just leave it as it is, with just the microfilter plugged into the test socket, as it going to be the most reliable and has the minimum of connections.

I would not advise changing the master socket, unless it was one of an older design, which has screws to hold both parts together.

I cannot see that the BT Home Tech Expert can do anything, as they would not be able to change the master socket for an older design, so I think it would be a waste of time.

If its now working without any problems, then I would leave things alone.

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 03:27:00 GMT

Hello again

So the Smarthub 2 has been OK since I followed your instructions. It maybe went of only about once a day. However over the last couple of days it has gone back to disconnecting around 6 or 7 times a day mainly in the evening. Thought we had fixed the problem 😞 Any other ideas?

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 06:44:36 GMT

@andreaferns120472 wrote:

Hello again

So the Smarthub 2 has been OK since I followed your instructions. It maybe went of only about once a day. However over the last couple of days it has gone back to disconnecting around 6 or 7 times a day mainly in the evening. Thought we had fixed the problem 😞 Any other ideas?

Perhaps there is a bad connection in that master socket, or an intermittent connection on the external network? This could of course, be a new fault.

Are the lights on the home hub still changing colour when you get the disconnections?

Sometimes its just wireless connections that are lost, as that would be a different issue.

Re: BT Smarthub 2 disconnecting

andreaferns120472 — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 08:12:20 GMT

When the hub disconnects the lights flash orange, purple and then eventually go back to stable blue. All devices loose connection when this happens apart from Sky Q boxes as these hard wired using a Net Gear Switch. My sons PC also looses connection even though his PC has a hard wire connection using a BT Mini connector. Hope that makes sense.