This topic

THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

BeWary — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 11:31:00 GMT

Waited for over 6 months for full fibre connection – openreach and BT do not communicate! They dug up a neighbour’s property for ducting 🤣 Finally had it installed about two weeks ago……….

Before new connection – BT with copper to the home, old hub no disc, full signal strength in all rooms and stable connection with about 60mb download and 20mb upload. Signal reached garden office also with full signal strength and stable connection and 60mb download and 20mb upload.

After new connection – Top speed first day 149mb download, 27mb upload for about 2 hrs. Since then, 8 mb download when lucky, but oddly 27 mb upload most often. Devices haven’t worked properly since due to slow speeds. Dare not connect to disc as all devices grind to a halt. BT app speed checker used and sitting virtually next the hub and disc to get these readings. Connected to Dumb Hub 2 using work laptop as that still has an ethernet connection – got full speeds of 149mb download, 27mb for that test. Will test again when time permits. Waiting for customer services – yawn yawn – perhaps as speedy as their hubs.

Using up data on phone as having to hot spot to attend online meetings.

Incredibly disappointed as did intend to go to the other supplier beginning with S…….NOW REGRET THAT I DIDN’T!

Any ideas out there………

Yours,

Mr Angry (BeWary) 😠

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

imjolly — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 11:59:14 GMT

have you turned of smart setup

Turn Off smart setup

try selecting the wireless channels manually instead of relying on auto. I would use a wifi analyser on your phone which will show channels in use near you and let you select a free or less congested channel

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

DavidM — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 16:09:45 GMT

Hi @BeWary and welcome.

I'm sorry you're not happy with the connection. Can you please try the advice posted by @imjolly and let us know if that helps.

Cheers

David

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

BeWary — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 10:22:47 GMT

Thanks for the advice.

I made the changes but it made no difference.

An update. Full signal strength in all rooms in the house, and for good measure, to the furthest corners and my back garden and repeatedly checked. This hasn't changed since installation so excellent wifi connection. Connected to hub with ethernet cable twice yesterday and this morning and speed showing 150mbps download and 29mbps upload as expected. Sitting 1 meter away from hub with a personal laptop that cost £1000 and 3 months old and getting about 15 - 20mbps per second at best and very often 0mbps. At times of tests only my mobile connected to Hub whilst children at school and other devices switched off including BT TV box etc . Run speed checker provided in BT App confirms the same speed, also sitting next to Hub.

Must be dud kit. Having waited 6 months for new connection and countless visits to my property by openreach and BT as they don't communicate with each other, and with the school holidays approaching and working from, the BT Smart Hub wont cope so concern now growing and massive disruption to my work.

Others reading this post, I am now writing a letter with all details waiting to send to the Ombudsmen (after BT customer services contact me........) to see of that makes any difference.

Unhappy days ☹️

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

stevebrass — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 10:41:53 GMT

Can you log in to the hub and see what devices are connected by wifi. For example is your laptop showing as connected?

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

imjolly — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 10:46:21 GMT

there is no guarantee on wifi speed as it is subject to many variations of interference from within your home and outside. the ombudsman may note your problem but do not action individual complaints

is your speed over ethernet connection as expected for your connection speed?

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

BeWary — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 17:59:52 GMT

Yes BT App showing my laptop as a connected device.

Only two weeks ago with my old BT set up with 20mbps upload and 65mbps download speeds maintained near constant. All family laptops in my house, four of them, when all connected no degradation in upload and download speeds experienced. Now with new setup I have tested with all laptops connected and the Smart Hub 2 waves a white flag.......

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

BeWary — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 18:11:55 GMT

Agree that there is no guarantee on wifi speed and I wouldn't expect that to be the case with many possible factors at play. However, contrasting old set up with new set up, the new set up is very poor and should be better. Tested with all family laptops connected today, all experience excellent wifi connection but appalling upload and download mbps. Checked with ethernet cable again and that shows bang on 150 mbps download and 30 mbps upload.

Tried other suggestion about channels but that didn't work either.

One very interesting observation though. For three days running I noticed a sudden increase of download and upload mbps to near 150/30 mbps respectively for about 30 minutes when connected with wifi only. This happened about midday on each day so will investigate.........

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

BeWary — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 08:47:36 GMT

Possibly final post in this matter as now chasing BT with this one.

Poor speeds most of the time over weekend. It did peak at more of expected speeds at a couple of times over the weekend but only for about 15 - 30 mins. Did a hub reset and download speeds were near max for about 30 mins then settled to its normal 30 mbps upload and 30 mbps download.

Can't say how much I regret going for a so called upgrade........also now children at home having to isolate and the new BT kit already starting to crumble.

Any ideas welcome and will check back to post.

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

stevebrass — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 09:00:42 GMT

Have you amended the wifi mode (Advanced settings, wifi)?

There are three modes - I think it defaults to mode 1.Try 2 or 3.

And what is the security set to?

Otherwise, I can only suggest you but a 3rd party wifi mesh system.

I use Netgear Orbi. It works faultlessly with the SH 2.

I know, I know, why should you buy something else but ...........

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

BeWary — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 14:29:02 GMT

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried modes 2 and 3, each worked for about 15 mins and then settled back to to about about 20 mbps download and 30 mbps upload.

More convinced that I have dodgy kit....

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

BeWary — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 08:48:51 GMT

Last post for this one.

Moved Hub to slightly new position in home. Maintained central position but placed higher (on top of a bookcase). BT also posted a second disk and so located both disks to serve more devices. More devices (laptops and phones) now pickup the 5Ghz signal hence higher throughput speeds (very rarely below 100 Mbps download and 27Mbps upload). Most of the time now achieving 140 Mbps download and 27Mbps upload. Before changing location of Hub etc nearly all devices used the 2.4Ghz, a better signal but slower data throughput speeds. Shame that the smart hub 2 can't be configured to identify the 2.4 and 5Ghz frequency bands so that laptops and phones connect to 5Ghz only. Last point, TV connected via ethernet cable, several Amazon devices use the 2.4Ghz frequency band. Quite a kerfuffle to find a solution but happier now.

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

Stu_H — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 10:46:13 GMT

the one named SSID never works well. Some manufacturers call it smart connect and so on but it's hit or miss so many will seperate their channels and connect devices to what they wish too.

Thats not a fault of the BT router, many routers suffer this but many allow you to at least turn it off. Unfortunately with 2.4 on some routers perform better than others in that department, for example I could hit over 100 on my RAX120 where I'm lucky to see over 40 on my unifi router. Ok different hardware but with wifi you rely on hardware, drivers, environment and software so it's never plain sailing.

at least BT sent discs and that has helped to solve your issue.

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

BeWary — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 13:04:20 GMT

Yes there are many variables to consider. The last thing I did today was to check the wifi adaptors on all family Windows 10 laptops . Three were set to no preference for 2.4 or 5.0 Ghz so adjusted using the following steps:

Start the Device Manager.
Expand the Network Adapters menu.
Right-click on the Wi-Fi adapter.
Select the Properties option.
Click on the Advanced tab.
Select Preferred Band (or Band option) option.
Expand the Value drop-down list.
Select 5 GHz only or Prefer 5 GHz band option.
Click the OK button.

Now all four laptops connect to 5Ghz and have full speed 150Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload. All four tested at different intervals 😁

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

BeWary — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 13:08:04 GMT

Anyone reading this also check Message 14 as this also helped significantly today.

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

Stu_H — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 13:26:29 GMT

Be aware that band steering can create issues too. You will need to see if devices drop off and the way wifi works you can end up with slower network performances pushing all devices over.

what tends to happen is devices start to hog airtime as they all chat on one channel and as its wave 2 it's one at a time so as you push away from the router retransmission tend to degrade the performance of the network.

Bandsteering, min RSSI settings are normally the culprit of an issue with devices.

Re: THE SMART HUB 2 IS AWFUL!!

BeWary — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 14:45:11 GMT

Good point. Will check over the next week and update post. Checked with MyBT app which says all other devices such as phones etc all connecting at 2.4Ghz, only laptops connecting at 5.Ghz. Devices/laptops not connecting at the same time and all is fine at the moment.

Will update in about a week.