This topic

Smart Hub 2 required for Full Fibre 900 with BT Halo 3 to get full speeds?

discostu1 — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 10:38:04 GMT

I had a previous BT plan and was getting 140 down / 30 up very reliably. Logged in recently and for £3/month more, I could upgrade to FF 900. Great. Note - I've had fiber to the house since day one in the house, new build, wired that way. Just didn't want to pay for the fast speeds until the prices had come down. This latest deal finally got us there. No new install was required for the new package.

I'd been using my Netgear R8000 instead of the smart hub for years as I've got parts of my house where the home hub wifi was terrible. Never had issues.

Activation date comes and goes and no speed increase on my netgear. BT sends me a new smart hub 3. Plug that in and 500+ speeds. Great. Swap back to the Netgear (removing the smart hub completely, off, not in the cable flow) - speeds back down to 140. Everything I read suggested that you do not need the Smart Hub installed with FTTP, but seems like you actually do? Or am I missing something?

What I'd like to have happen - (1) no smart hub, netgear giving full speeds. Is that possible?

Next best would be (2) smart hub with wifi off, netgear coming out of it, and full speeds.

If (1) isn't possible, what do I need to do in setup for (2) to get data flowing.? I tried it yesterday and got no data when connected to the netgear (which was connected to smart hub). Now, I might have been impatient, so happy to try again. But if there are known steps to make this work and avoid any issues (I've heard the term double nat, but don't know what it means!) - thoughts are welcome. Thanks!

Re: Smart Hub 2 required for Full Fibre 900 with BT Halo 3 to get full speeds?

iniltous — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 11:13:39 GMT

TBH , what you describe doesn’t suggest that you have to use the BT hub , but that your own ‘third party’ equipment is either faulty, or much more likely, incorrectly configured.

The only time a BT Hub is absolutely necessary is for those that have DV ( digital voice ) and wish to keep using it , if DV isn’t an issue , many BT customers use third party routers and get the speed of the product they purchase.

Although it’s possible someone will have post the appropriate settings to get your equipment optimised for your new speed , it may be useful to enquire with the router manufacturer or a users forum for that brand of router .

Re: Smart Hub 2 required for Full Fibre 900 with BT Halo 3 to get full speeds?

licquorice — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 11:32:34 GMT

You don't need to use a BT hub to get full speeds, you do however need a device that is capable of the speeds. It would appear your Netgear isn't up to the job.

Re: Smart Hub 2 required for Full Fibre 900 with BT Halo 3 to get full speeds?

Les-Gibson — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 11:54:50 GMT

The R8000 should be coasting at 900Mbp/s.

Have you downloaded the Netgear app onto your mobile? this should enable you to identify the problem.

Edit:

There have been some reports on this community of people not getting their full speeds when taking up 900, this has usually been put down to a configuration issue on the network. Have you tried searching from the search bar above?

Re: Smart Hub 2 required for Full Fibre 900 with BT Halo 3 to get full speeds?

discostu1 — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 12:34:15 GMT

Thanks - it looks like the router *should* be very capable at those speeds. Will try their mobile app. Thanks for the suggestion.

Re: Smart Hub 2 required for Full Fibre 900 with BT Halo 3 to get full speeds?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 12:44:14 GMT

Does this help?

Re: Smart Hub 2 required for Full Fibre 900 with BT Halo 3 to get full speeds?

discostu1 — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 12:52:34 GMT

Looks like the Netgear QOS functionality was the culprit. Thanks for pointing me in that direction!

Re: Smart Hub 2 required for Full Fibre 900 with BT Halo 3 to get full speeds?

discostu1 — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 12:54:30 GMT

Thanks - Access Control was already off, but QoS being on was the issue.

Re: Smart Hub 2 required for Full Fibre 900 with BT Halo 3 to get full speeds?

discostu1 — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 12:55:40 GMT

Thanks - I just wanted to make sure my approach (no BT unit in the flow) was okay before I started digging into Netgear. Appreciate the confirmation!

Re: Smart Hub 2 required for Full Fibre 900 with BT Halo 3 to get full speeds?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 13:13:21 GMT

From being at the pinnacle of domestic networking Netgear seem to be a pale shadow & have been for many years IMO. Given that router is 10 years old it's probably time to look at an alternative, or at least investigate a third party firmware.