This topic

Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

Barisax18 — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 16:52:38 GMT

I now have Full Fibre 900 and was wondering what the pros and cons are of turning off the router and modem when away on holiday? Turning it off has obvious eco benefits but I seem to remember that when I had an ADSL connection the advice was to leave it on to avoid BT thinking there was a line problem and trying to correct it. Does the same apply to Full Fibre?

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

licquorice — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 16:55:05 GMT

No, there is no DLM on FTTP.

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

CMW192422 — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 09:59:20 GMT

Could someone please explain this reply? Is it advisable to turn off a BT Smarthub while away from home for a few weeks?

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

imjolly — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 10:14:12 GMT

the DLM dynamic line management was the problem on adsl/vdsl if turning off hub for long period but there is no DLM on FTTP so just turn hub off

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

gg30340 — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 13:49:51 GMT

It is your Smarthub. There is no right or wrong. If you want to turn it off just turn it off. If you want to keep it on just leave it on.

Either way no harm will come to it so enjoy your holiday.

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

WSH — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:06:24 GMT

Personally, I never cease to be amazed how people talk about “eco” today before safety.

If you are going to be away for more that 24hrs and it’s a non-essential, pull the plug out. Even with the reliability of modern kit, anything left running unsupervised is still a potential fire hazard.

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

gg30340 — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:20:47 GMT

@WSHwrote:
Personally, I never cease to be amazed how people talk about “eco” today before safety.
If you are going to be away for more that 24hrs and it’s a non-essential, pull the plug out. Even with the reliability of modern kit, anything left running unsupervised is still a potential fire hazard.

... and is it not a fire hazard if it is essential or when left on 24/7 when you are at home or when you are away from home for only 23 hours!

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

WSH — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:22:27 GMT

It is but why exacerbate the risk?

The insurers are even more cunning than BT. They will take great delight in reducing a claim if they can see any to way of blaming the policy holder and going off and leaving something running for several days is a gift to them.

Plus, even in the FTTC days, DLM would ignore it if the hub was off for more than half an hour.

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

gg30340 — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:43:07 GMT

@WSHwrote:
The insurers are even more cunning than BT. They will take great delight in reducing a claim if they can see any to way of blaming the policy holder and going off and leaving something running for several days is a gift to them.

How can an Insurance company blame a home owner for leaving any electrical appliance on 24/7 if the appliance is designed to be left on 24/7 such as in this instance a BT Smarthub.

I'll have another look at my Home Insurance policy but I am pretty certain that it does not state anywhere that electrical items must be supervised or be unplugged if you are not supervising it and in particular if it is a non essential item or if you are away from home for more than 24 hours if it is a non essential item. I'm also pretty sure they never listed what is and is not an essential item.

I'll take my chances and decide on an individual basis on what and when I unplug devices.

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

chrisjp — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 17:42:37 GMT

"Plus, even in the FTTC days, DLM would ignore it if the hub was off for more than half an hour"

Ahh..that's useful to know. So if I want to move my hub (connected by FTTC) from one wall socket to another, it's best if I leave at least 30 mins before turning the hub back on?

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

licquorice — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 17:58:51 GMT

Yes, there's a lot of myths about DLM.

A single disconnection in a 15 minute window won't invoke it's wrath. Hence leaving 30 minutes between any disconnections ensures only 1 disconnection is seen regardless of where in the window the disconnection occurs.

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

Kimberlin — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 19:08:13 GMT

@WSH Eeek! My TP-Link router is left on 24/7, 365. I’ve got too much stuff that relies on my router being operational, security IP cameras, Hive thermostats, lights that are programmed to come on and go off when we’re not at home especially when we’re on holiday.

We don’t turn off our fridge freezer when we’re on holiday either.

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

gg30340 — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 19:46:52 GMT

@Kimberlin

And like many millions of other people who do not unplug electrical appliances nothing untoward will become of it.

I will just add that in case it was not clear I was being sarcastic in my last post about checking my Insurance policy!

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

Kimberlin — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 19:58:02 GMT

@gg30340 😆 I’ve got a diploma in sarcasm!

I do switch off my boiler when I go on holiday in the summer months but not in the winter. There’s nothing more satisfying than turning on the heating 4000 miles from home the day before flying back and that’s why I leave my router on!

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

Samarca — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 15:33:56 GMT

As an Openreach engineer I would say no to switching your hub off. Firstly when the lines are tested during quiet times it will show as a fault. On FTTC your speeds are managed and automatically raises a fault. If we can’t gain access and when we do you could be possibly be charged by your service provider. I am not saying you will but when we close our task we have to report the problem, as it’s down to you switching it off they may charge you. I would check your contract with your SP as they all have their own policies.

hope this helps

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

licquorice — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:24:31 GMT

There is no way in the world that an ISP could charge a customer for a visit that the customer hadn't initiated. It would be laughed out of court if they tried that.

Re: Should I turn off Smarthub when away on holiday?

gg30340 — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 17:28:43 GMT

@Samarca

I wonder how much Openreach made when they must have been running about checking for faults and charging people for a visit when their power was off for a few days during the storms over the last few years.