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New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

DHC123 — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 21:32:59 GMT

Over the last 10 days or so I’ve been experiencing an almost constantly dropping signal.

I’ve been through tech support and done all of the things they advise, I shared a screen with them so they could see my set- up etc.

At first they wanted to send me boosters but told me I had to renew my contract to be sent the boosters. In 10 years of living at the same property I’ve never needed boosters.

I phoned again as the results of the self test on their website continually showing poor connection.

They then agreed to send a new hub.

All seemed ok for a bit but now signal is dropping again and I am getting the “poor connection” message when I do the self test. So the new hub hasn’t solved the problem

I’m not in contract so could switch but if this is some sort of infrastructure problem that won’t help.

Anyone experienced the same and have any advice?

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

gg30340 — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 21:41:10 GMT

It might be this that is causing the problem.

If you have any wireless devices that use "random MAC addresses" go into their settings and turn it off.

See link. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/security/secb9cb3140c/web

When its turned on it uses up all the MAC addresses on the hub and due to poor software on the hub it does not clear them and as a result devices can get dropped.

If you don't have any Apple devices it is worth checking your other devices as other devices also use this.

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

DHC123 — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 22:03:22 GMT

Thanks.

I’ve read the link you provided but can’t find anything in settings on my Apple devices that I can switch off relating to randomised MAC addresses.

I’ve had the devices quite a long time and this is a sudden, new problem with the broadband

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

gg30340 — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 22:09:11 GMT

If you do an Internet search of how to turn off randomised MAC addresses for you device you will find plenty information how to do that.

It may have been turned on with a recent update. It may not be what is causing the problem but it will do no harm to try it before trying other fixes.

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

licquorice — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 22:14:16 GMT

Does your hub change colour during the drops or does it remain blue?

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

DHC123 — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 22:19:10 GMT

Remains blue. When BT test it their end they say speed are fine etc

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

DHC123 — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 22:19:47 GMT

Ok thanks. Will have a look online

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

DHC123 — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 08:17:29 GMT

I tried the wi fi thing re randomised MAC addresses. That made no difference. I’ve booked another call with BT this morning.

This is the result I get from the fault finder on the new hub. Same as on previous hub

“we’ve found a problem

you might have some connection stability issues

your hub could be in sync with the exchange or cabinet but not connecting to the gateway. If there’s no PPP session it’s likely to be a problem with out network”.

anyone know what a PPP session is?

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

licquorice — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 08:50:46 GMT

Point to point protocol, it is the underlying network protocol.

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

JohnD416 — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 19:01:06 GMT

@DHC123 @licquorice I have the same issue. Since 28 October, I have had my Full Fibre FTTP 300 service drop out randomly and without notice or a message. Service just slows and then stops with a "No Internet access" mesage associated with my Smart Hub 2 connection on my PC. I just had this again, the 6th occurrence including the 28 October incident. The Hub and WiFi discs lights remain Blue.

Each time I use the 61998 BT Diagnostics Bot that does a REFRESH to restore the connection. Other than the hub restart, the Hub and WiFi discs light Blue. This is annoying as the timing can be afternoon or evening.

There are no household events - power outages, router movement, flooding, etc - that might impact the the target receiving units.

The 61998 BT Diagnostics Bot suggests that it might be "the equipment in your home (your hub and WiFi)" or "the line from the network to your home appears to be performing well."

Tonight's 61998 BT Diagnostics Bot "the line from the network to your home appears to be performing well" diagnosis and the BT Guide enagagement engagement highlight a "Your Hub could be in sync with the exchange or cabinet, but not connecting to the gateway. If there is no PPP session, it's likely to be a problem with our network" diagnosis. An outage from 17:14 to 17:48. Hub Technical log shows lots of PPP logs during recovery with a final entry at 17:40 :57, so there is a PPP session.

17:40:57

14 Dec. PPP: IPCP up

As our connection has come back and as this is the 6th occurrence in 48 days, I think the Power Cycle recommendation is an unnecessary and additional waste of my time and a distraction from the real problem,

There was an OpenReach van at my neighbours on Friday. Is the FTTP unit on the BT telephone pole shared or unique to each installation? Could my connection have been disturbed during an installation?

The BT Guide report of the problem could be more specific and helpful.

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

licquorice — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 19:19:55 GMT

If the problem is at the PPP layer, it is not due to anything caused by Openreach at the physical layer

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

DHC123 — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 20:09:48 GMT

Interesting as that is the message I have received too via the fault finder on re the previous hub and the current one.

There has been an internet company locally laying new cables and we’ve had mail shots through the door about a new service. I do wonder whether they have somehow disturbed something. Could just be coincidence of course.

I discovered today that my “landline” also doesn’t work. I hardly use it but picked it up to use whilst I was waiting for Bt to call me back on my mobile. I was just getting an engaged tone . Numerous attempts to re-pair it to the hub didn’t work.

I must now have spent at least 5 hours on the phone to BT since this problem started They have now agreed to send an engineer but today’s problem was that their system was not letting them book engineer visits Someone was supposed to have finally done it and he said I would receive a text in half an hour to confirm. Which I haven’t received so I’m not convinced the visit has been booked

Will wait and see what this week brings!

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

DHC123 — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 20:14:58 GMT

I’ve also been through the power cycle process numerous times with them and it makes no difference. Today the operator told me he’d fixed the issue and told me to log on to a website. I tried BT but couldn’t get to the page as the connection dropped again just after being told it was all fixed and fine!

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

JohnD416 — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 21:02:25 GMT

What is the best way to report the problem? Write the CEO?

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

DHC123 — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 21:33:01 GMT

@JohnD416

The problem I seem to have is worse than yours if that’s any comfort as my connection drops multiple times a day. I would say at least 6 if not more.

I really don’t know how to complain in a way that would yield any results. I’ve been told that complaining would be pointless as a manager would tell me I need boosters (which I haven’t received never previously needed in 10 years in the house). However I have received an email with a complaint reference number so maybe something is happening…

I too paid for FTTP and now wondering why I bothered. My neighbour who doesn’t have it says his internet is fine.

I’ve actually defended BT in the past and said I know it’s not the cheapest on the market but the support is there when needed I’m having to revise my opinion after this painful experience.

I think as you say taking people through the same protocol numerous times when it demonstrably does not solve the problem is very poor .

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

imjolly — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 22:49:30 GMT

@DHC123 @JohnD416

Try contacting customer resolution using email in link and that will get you to executive level complaints so take up your complaint

https://www.bt.com/content/dam/bt/help/complaints/Complaints_Code_of_Practice.pdf

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

JohnD416 — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 23:33:59 GMT

Thank you @imjolly ! Executive Complaints put things right. The trick is finding the route to them. Thank you for the link!

Regards, John

PS. The BT Diagnostic Bot is a useful - AND Speedy - facility to get your service back.

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

DHC123 — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 03:50:33 GMT

@imjolly

Thank you for providing the link to the complaints process.

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

universalrainbow1 — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 23:39:43 GMT

I have this exact issue from this exact date. Its ongoing / getting worse and have had engineers etc out but nothing improved. Did you find a resolution?

Re: New issue - poor connection on smart hub2

DHC123 — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 09:18:24 GMT

@universalrainbow1

It was a long saga. An open reach engineer came out on 23/12. At one point things got worse as he was on the phone to someone in their support team in India who actually did something to the hub that meant we had no internet at all. He went and sat in his van on his mobile for ages. Someone else in India had to rebuild the hub so we then had internet again. Engineer said wiring in box outside “was a bit of a mess”. Whatever he did has resulted in increased speeds and touch wood since his visit the dropping out has stopped. However I haven’t run the diagnostic tool since as given I don’t have the problem at the moment I don’t want to stress myself any more if it still says the connection is poor

I now think that the problem wasn’t caused by the other company laying cables. That was probably just coincidence

However I don’t really know what was the exact cause which is a bit frustrating as it seemed to start for no apparent reason

For me what it has shown is this “disaggregated” service where the ISP and Open reach are separate companies doesn’t work for the customer as no-one “owns” the problem end-to-end. At one point I was showing the engineer the result of the Smart Assistant and he was a bit dismissive and said we don’t look at that. Which I get from a technical point of view in terms of what their area of responsibility is, but there’s a definite wall between who owns the problem inside the property and who owns the problem outside the property and it is left to the customer to fight every step of the way to get the right level and type of help.

I had to start making notes of every call and the time each call took. If I had done that since the start I think it wouldn’t have been short of 10 hours on the phone to BT maybe more. Some of that time was me being forced to repeat the same protocol with each new person I spoke to rebooting the hub which I’d done numerous times and made no difference. A new hub made no difference (although I do think it was worth trying to see if a new hub would sort the problem as I imagine sometimes it may do).

so in summary although I can’t pinpoint exactly why, since the open reach engineer visit it seems to have been more or less stable. I am no longer seeing “internet restored” messages on my phone which showed it had dropped, and the same from my CCTV.

I would look at the complaints link posted above and raise a formal complaint as that did seem to get things moving for me.

I hope you manage to get it resolved as it is annoying and stressful.