This topic

NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

Newstarter — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 15:36:55 GMT

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

licquorice — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 16:22:51 GMT

No need to shout. Have you reported the fault to customer services?

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

Newstarter — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 19:06:56 GMT

Hi there

Apologies for the uppercase heading. I thought it was a message heading and not part of the message body. Clearly I was incorrect. No offence or shouting meant.

Yes the matter has now been reported to Customer Services and I have received a pretty quick voice reply from a member of that staff. Very helpful reply/discussion and an engineer to call on Friday afternoon.

Lost the broadband connection immediately the smart meter was connected this morning. Voice is fine and working properly. All router settings have been checked. I am assuming that maybe there was some kind of power surge which maybe has upset the broadband side. Some devices are hard wired to the router and some are wifi to the router. However there is no internet connection from any of them.

Let's hope the engineer can resolve the issue on Friday.

Again apologies for the upper case - it does look awful.

Many thanks

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

Les-Gibson — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 20:45:38 GMT

I'll be interested to hear the outcome of this one if you don't mind please, I don't have a smart meter yet but my energy company keep on at me to get one

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

WSH — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 21:09:06 GMT

As I understand it, these meters need 2.4GHz only.

Most modern routers run 2.4GHz and 5GHz combined. The first engineer probably turned 5GHz off. Of course, if your computer (etc.) connects via 5GHz it would immediately lose connectivity.

The fix is to run 2.4GHz and 5GHz as separate SSIDs. You will need to give your computer etc. the new SSID for 5GHz.

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

licquorice — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 21:28:49 GMT

I very much doubt the OP gave an Electricity company employee access to his BT hub to allow him to turn off wifi.

He also reports Ethernet connections are not working either.

You can't give the bands separate SSIDs with a Smart Hub2.

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

Les-Gibson — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 22:17:11 GMT

@WSH

Smart meters don't use wi-fi, they have their own dedicated network

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

NigelB72 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 03:55:33 GMT

Smart Meters have a sim card in them and send data via the mobile networks and the connection between the meter and visual display is Bluetooth. My theory would be that when the engineer has isolated the power, it's caused a surge which has taken out by of your Hubs circuit in a similar way to what a lightening strike would. This could have happened if things weren't powered down properly before he disconnected the old meter.

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

Ribblelancs — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 06:48:42 GMT

Agreed.
When the smart meter is installed, the mains supply has to be powered down. It's the same with a gas smart meter.
The OP probably didn't switch off the hub, before the installation, to avoid surges and possible repeated power on/off. It's a warning which should have been given by the installer, perhaps.

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

Newstarter — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:14:28 GMT

Hi Les

Well the outcome is good having found the cause !! The router is a BT Hub 6 (later ones may have changed ?). Anyway, The smart meter engineer switched the main consumer switch off, I think took the main fuse out of the supply (ie the one that is separately sealed with a lead crimp ?). I didn't power down the router first and the engineer didn't mention anything. He did the installation, switched on and left pretty quickly. At a slightly later stage I needed to use internet and that's when I discovered it wasn't working - although the telephone was.

I still have my former, but older, BT router I think it's a model 4, and configured this. It worked first time both voice and data. So, the Hub 6 was obviously broken and probably by a surge when the main system powered up, and not being switched off prior to the work being done.

I have cancelled the BT Engineer for Friday, explained the matter to BT and they are very kindly sending me a replacement Hub6

Like you Les, I have refused a smart meter for ages but succumbed finally. Bad decision !!

Many thanks to all for your assistance.

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

JohnC2 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:32:49 GMT

Hi @Newstarter, thanks for the update and good to know that you've found the problem and got back online.

cheers

John

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

Newstarter — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:36:32 GMT

Hi there

Problem now resolved. The smart Hub 6 was switched off prior to the smart meter engineer starting the work. He merely switch the main house supply off.

I subsequently tried my old Hub 4, and everything worked first time. All the other devices, voice, and mail functioned normally.

BT engineer for Friday now cancelled and BT are sending me a replacement Hub 6.

Thanks for your help and input.

Re: NEW ELECTRICITY SMART METER FITTED - NOW NO BROADBAND !!

Newstarter — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:41:14 GMT

You are 100% correct Nigel. The engineer didn't power down the Hub. Merely switched the consumer unit off and removed the main supply fuse.

At a later stage in the day I put my old Hub 4 back in circuit and everything is working properly. BT are kindly sending a new Hub 6 - hopefully by Saturday.

Many thanks for your input - much appreciated.