This topic

Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

noopy66 — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 19:49:23 GMT

Hi, I have been having trouble with the BT smart hub 2 and complete wifi (2 discs), the wifi speed drops when moving from hub connection to disc and back again, the speed is only half of what I had when connected to hub via wifi. I found that by disconnecting my ipad or Android phone from wifi SSID and then reconnecting, my speed went up to the full speed. I cant keep doing this every time I walk around the house 😞

I raised faults with BT, they tested everything (Broadband has always been good speed for DSL line), I was sent a new smart hub 2 to replace but no difference, then a special BT engineer came to check and advise on my home setup and could not find out why, instead they set up a 3rd disc and said see if that helps - it has not and the speed of my wifi is slowly getting on my nerves.

So I am thinking of replacing the hub for a different router with a good wifi system, but dont know what router to buy, do I need a modem as well?

Can anybody suggest a good replacement for my smart hub 2?

I know the discs wont work without the BT hub

Thanks

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 19:53:45 GMT

@noopy66

Which BT Broadband package do you have?

Is it an FTTC (copper) connection, or an FTTP (full fibre) connection?

Do you use BT Digital Voice for your phone calls?

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

noopy66 — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 20:03:41 GMT

I have Fibre with Halo 1, this is a FTTC and copper into premises.

I dont use digital voice for phone calls, just basic phone

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 20:10:29 GMT

@noopy66 wrote:

I have Fibre with Halo 1, this is a FTTC and copper into premises.

I dont use digital voice for phone calls, just basic phone

TP-Link AC1200 Wireless Dual Band VDSL/ADSL.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/service-provider/dsl-router/archer-vr400/

This is very popular device, but will not work with Digital Voice, if you are changed over to.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

noopy66 — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 20:10:42 GMT

Thanks, that looks like just what I wanted 🙂

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 20:11:54 GMT

@noopy66 wrote:

Thanks, that looks like just what I wanted 🙂

Its very easy to configure. If you need help, please ask on this forum.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

noopy66 — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 20:32:27 GMT

Thanks, I will ask if I have any trouble setting it up.

I notice they sell other routers, such as AC2100, AC2800 etc, are these routers a better option, if I am buying a replacement then I might spend a bit more for a faster wifi/router, thanks.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

licquorice — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 20:44:01 GMT

There is no point in having faster wifi unless you stream or transfer very large files within your LAN as the governing speed will be the slowest link in the chain, your broadband connection.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

noopy66 — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 11:37:57 GMT

Thanks for all your advice, I purchased anew TP Link Archer AC2100, connected it up and configured everything OK, however the Broadband speed is not consistent and at the moment quite slow, most time I can get just below 30Mbps, but some days like today it drops to 20Mbps or has been lot less.

I have used Speedtest and directly from the TP Link router to measure speeds and they are both the same, so its not my iPad or mobile phone that's causing this, it appears to be the speed from BT exchange.

I have seen that I need to leave the router on so BT can increase speed on a steady line, which I have done, however if I report these slow speeds to BT will they be able to test to my TP Link router as I dont have the BT Hub attached.

Any help please.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

TimCurtis — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 12:47:22 GMT

@noopy66

Speedtests can vary considerably depending on overall loading of various servers.

Somewhere you'll find the connection stats and these are what we need to see.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

noopy66 — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 13:07:38 GMT

Hi TimCurtis , thanks for your reply, I am not sure what info the connection stats would show, if you could give me an example of one of the data in these stats, in the meantime I have found this info which might be what you was asking for?

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

licquorice — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 13:18:59 GMT

At some point DLM has taken umbrage and has lowered your speed to 32Mbps (from a possible 52Mbps) in order to provide a stable connection.

You possibly upset it if you made a lot of connection/disconnections whilst setting up the TP Link whilst connected to line. Give it a couple of weeks for DLM to restore your speed.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

noopy66 — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 13:32:20 GMT

Many thanks Licquorice - I will leave it a few weeks and hopefully the speed will increase when DLM restores it.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

licquorice — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 13:58:35 GMT

As long as your line remains stable, speed should increase. Don't be tempted to restart the router to speed things up, it will only make things worse.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

noopy66 — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 14:18:58 GMT

Thanks again, I will leave the router alone and let it stabilise.

I was not sure if the DLM would work to a non BT hub, I was going to put my BT Smart hub 2 back on my line but now I will leave the TP Link router connected and wait.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

licquorice — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 14:26:08 GMT

Yes, DLM works with any router, it is not specific to BT. The dialogue between DSLAM and router is enshrined in ITU G.993.2 which DLM utilises to obtain the necessary data.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

DavidM — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 08:06:00 GMT

Hi @noopy66 and thanks for posting.

If you don't see any improvement in the next couple of weeks as per @licquorice advice please get back to us and we'll look into this for you.

Cheers

David

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

noopy66 — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 09:08:39 GMT

Many thanks DavidM

According to BT Comms my download speed should be between 34 and 38 Mbps, and the method I use to test is Speedtest , however TimCurtis suggested the speeds using this app can vary considerably.

I tried using the BT Speed test via MyBT, however it fails all the time, assuming its because it cant see my BT Smart Hub online, so I cannot use that to test speed as I have a non BT router.

Another concern of mine is the amount of Errors (pkts) I can see on the stats from my router, yesterday it stated 1112 errors and today its now 8310, are these usual or excessive?

I will continue to monitor but not reboot or amend settings on my router and see what happens over the next couple of weeks.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

TimCurtis — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 10:38:57 GMT

@noopy66

Something worth checking in your DSL settings is whether G.INP (G.998.4) is enabled. No idea what TP-Link call it but it can enable faster download speeds on a matching FTTC cabinet.

Re: Alternative Router for Smart hub 2

noopy66 — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 08:22:04 GMT

Hi,

I asked TP Link if G.INP (G.998.4) is a setting I can enable, they checked and said it is not available on my Archer VR1200 router, showed me the drop down box and its not there 😞

I am also confused about why my router or line has reset itself, I was watching and for nearly 7 days it was same speed although the number of errors were slowly increasing.

Then this morning at 1AM it appears to have restarted or BT has done a reset as I have a new IP address and the UP time now only shows 0 days and 8 hours?

The downstream speed has also decreased by quite a bit.

This is very annoying as I was watching to see if the DLM improved my speed and not rebooting or touching anything as you had asked, however BT decided to reset my line and now I have to start all over again 😞 Is this going to be the norm......