This topic

How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

milleniumaire — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 14:34:50 GMT

My current home network includes a BT Smart Hub plugged directly into the Master BT socket and setup as a "modem only" (note: this isn't an actual mode on the Hub, which is a shame, but is a status where wifi and DHCP routing are turned off leaving only the internet modem capabilities being used).

Plugged into the Smart Hub via ethernet cable is one of my three TP-Link Deco M9 units (the main unit), which provide an excellent home wifi with sufficient coverage around our home. The main Deco unit attached to the BT Hub plugs into an ethernet wall socket that feeds the rest of the house via a switch and 1 gigabit wired network. The other two TP-Link Deco M9 units are plugged into this wired network essentially providing additional access points for my home mesh network using a wired backhaul.

This has worked perfectly for nearly 3 years, since I purchased the Deco system.

However... a couple of weeks ago the main Deco unit reported there was no internet access. After lots of messing about I finally got the system back up and working, but it was necessary to reboot the BT Smart Hub, even though it was showing a blue light indicating it had an internet connection.

Since then, this issue has occurred randomly on another 3 occasions. Each time, simply rebooting the Deco units does NOT resolve the issue and it is necessary to reboot the BT Smart Hub, then the Deco units, in turn, to get everything up and working again.

Last Friday (4 days ago) I called BT support and they ran some checks and identified a fault at the exchange and arranged for a Openreach engineer to visit me. On Saturday he called stating there were no issues at the exchange and nothing had been reported and he was here to only check my internet connection, which he did and found no issues. So, a little confusing that BT support should tell me they had found a fault and the engineer told me there were no faults!

At least I now know the issue isn't with the BT/Openreach network, but this still doesn't get to the bottom of the cause of the issue.

As I suspect it is the BT Smart Hub, since it always needs to be rebooted when the issue occurs, I contacted BT support today and asked if it was possible for them to send out a BT Smart Hub 2. I have received an email informing me that Digital Voice is coming soon and I'm aware that my current Hub does NOT have a phone socket, so I will require BT to supply a BT Smart Hub 2. It makes perfect sense to me that they should send me one now, in advance, given my current BT Smart Hub is potentially having random internet connection issues.

BT support refused to send one out.

So, is there any way I can persuade BT to send me a BT Smart Hub 2? I live in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, which is one of the areas that will soon be receiving Digital Voice. Why won't BT use common sense and help me out by sending me a Smart Hub 2 now rather than in a few months time?

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

imjolly — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 14:50:50 GMT

have you actually tried a factory reset of the hub as against just a reboot. at present you don't know if the hub is the problem or the rest of your setup causing hub to have a problem. if you can identify the hub is the problem then you can phone CS 03301234150 and request hub replacement

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

milleniumaire — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 15:00:31 GMT

You are correct, at this stage I don't know if it is the Hub or my Deco units. For me, the easiest way to determine this is to replace the Hub and as BT will be asking (forcing) me to replace it soon when they rollout Digital Voice, I see no reason why it shouldn't be replaced a little earlier - one less thing to do at a later date and I will then be ready for Digital Voice.

If the issue goes away with the new Hub 2 I will then know it was the Hub causing the issue. If not, then I will pursue TP-Link Support, who are also currently blaming the Hub for the issue!

What exactly will performing a factory reset on the Smart Hub achieve that a reboot won't (apart from me having to re-configure the hub)?

Thanks.

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 16:10:31 GMT

For the few pounds it would cost it would be easier & quicker to pick up another SH from Facebook Marketplace. Or even an older HH5 seeing as you're only using the modem.

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

milleniumaire — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 16:47:50 GMT

I know what you are saying, but by the time I've collected it, the petrol will have cost more than the hub itself.

Why should I buy one when BT will soon be sending me one? I just want them to send it a little sooner than they may have planned. Surely, this will actually be helping them and they should want more customers actively engaging in their Digital Voice rollout?

Their refusal to send one simply reflects on how BT is still a large, inflexible company, with offshore support staff that follow a script and don't think for themselves.

Another option, which I'm currently investigating, is to move to another broadband provider as they will send me a router free of charge.

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

imjolly — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 17:21:18 GMT

As you are still in contract with BT that could be a costly decision

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

garybs29 — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 17:22:12 GMT

Or could it simply be they're not seeing any fault so have no reason to send a new hub which costs £200?

Also I love the swipe about offshore support given all centres are UK & Ireland based!

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

milleniumaire — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 17:44:11 GMT

@imjolly yes, being in a contract until next February is a bummer, especially given the recent huge mid contract increase that BT forced on us. I would have to take that into consideration.

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

milleniumaire — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 18:03:26 GMT

@garybs29 if it's so expensive, do you think BT will therefore think twice about sending out the Smart Hub 2 when they force me onto Digital Voice?

I'm not seeing Digital Voice working very well with my current Smart Hub!

Based the fact they were offshore on their very poor English grammar. Maybe I was unlucky and simply got an Irish person with English as their second language. I stand corrected.

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

countrypaul — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 17:58:01 GMT

If when the problem appears you can plug a PC directly into the hub (valid static ip address required on PC) then see if the hub works for that. Disconnect the Deco system and if the fault is still present simply log it as a fault that requires repeated reboots of your router and you suspect the router has gone faulty. Being simply PC to router with nothing else connected would make it hard for BT to argue it was not the router if OR can find no faults.

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

milleniumaire — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 18:20:16 GMT

@countrypaul I agree, and this is something I did the first time I lost the internet connection a couple of weeks ago as it was the first time in nearly 3 years that the internet connection was lost and all 3 deco units were showing a red solid light (it should be green).

Because it was the first issue I'd had using my current configuration, and simply rebooting the equipment (Deco's and BT Hub) didn't work, I connected a laptop directly to the BT Hub, which requires me to set a static IP address using the correct subnet range, so not as simply as plugging in an ethernet cable, but not an issue for me. The laptop did connect to the Internet without issue. After that test, rebooting everything seemed to get it all working again. Not sure why the earlier reboots didn't have the desired affect.

I've since read that the best way to "fix" the issue is to turn off the main deco unit while rebooting the BT hub, then when it has it's internet connection, re-power the main deco unit. That has worked first time with the last 3 disconnections, but it does require me to reboot the BT hub, not just the main deco.

I also have to reboot the other two decos as they seem to lose information about being wired and so start to communicate with the main deco via wifi. It may be if I left them long enough, they would sort themselves out, but while I'm rebooting, I prefer to get them working properly as my main desktop is connected through one of the downstairs deco units, so when this is wifi, the connection isn't as good.

I definitely haven't ruled out the possibility these issues are being caused by the deco units and have a list of things to try if/when the internet connection is next lost again, although I'm now upto 4 days without an issue!

If it does happen again, I plan to connect my laptop direclty to the BT hub without first rebooting it. The problem is, if the BT hub is "briefly" losing the internet connection, which then affects the deco units and they start reporting it, by the time I get to the BT hub, it may be back on line!

When the BT engineer visited at the weekend to test the internet at the master BT socket he disconnected the BT Hub. I was expecting to have to reboot the deco units when it was re-connected, but to my surprise everything continue to work perfectly when the hub was plugged back into the BT socket! It seems to me, this is how a "temporary" interruption to the internet should be handled by the equipment, suggesting the disconnects I'm getting are caused by hardware; either the BT hub or the main deco unit that is connected to the BT hub.

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

imjolly — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 18:21:02 GMT

@milleniumaire

If you just have the SH1/HH6 then that will not work with digital voice. Do you have the WiFi split with 2.4/5GHz with different SSID as that cannot be done with SH2

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

Crimliar — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 18:30:04 GMT

Turning the WiFi and DHCP off is not the same as a modem/bridge mode. Setting your Main Deco unit within the router DMZ (assuming one can be set up) might help, but at the minute the router is still acting as a router and performing Network Address Translation (NAT). And you may or may not be "double NATting).

Honestly, the simplest solution would be to set the Deco units up in AP/Mesh mode and let the router act as a router with just its WiFi turned off. Just getting another modem/router may well not fix the issue as it could just as easily be caused by a client as by the router!

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

milleniumaire — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 18:33:11 GMT

@imjolly

I know my Smart Hub will not work with Digital Voice because it doesn't have a phone connection in the back. This is why I've been saying BT will DEFINITELY be sending me a Smart Hub 2 at some point in the next few months when they want to force me to use Digital Voice. So, why not send it to me now? Cost isn't an issue as it will be the same cost if they send it this week or in 2 months time!

I don't use wifi or DHCP on the BT Hub. These are switched off so it is really only being used as a modem. The main Deco unit does DHCP and all Deco units provide both 2.4 and 5GHz wifi, however the SSID for both is always different as the Deco adds a suffix for the 2.4 band.

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

milleniumaire — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 18:58:49 GMT

@Crimliar

Yes, I understand the BT Smart Hub can't be setup as a bridge/modem only, so turning off wifi and DHCP is the best I could do. I did this based on info I found years ago, even prior to the Deco units, when I was using a Netgear router, which had more functionality than the BT hub, so even back then I only used the hub as a modem.

I vaguely remember being concerned about NAT, but in practice it doesn't appear to have caused an issue and the speeds I'm getting are more than acceptable for all our needs.

I see the Smart Hub 2 does have a bridge mode.

The reason these recent problems are such an issue is because my setup has been rock solid and trouble free since I installed the 3 deco units in August 2020. Compared to the previous routers I had, that had to be rebooted regularly, my current setup has worked flawlessly, until now, which makes the recent issues more prominent, especially as they have occurred 4 times in 2 weeks. I'm used to simply ignoring all the network hardware I have installed as it just works.

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

licquorice — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 19:02:45 GMT

It is certainly not being used as a modem. It is still routing and natting even with DHCP turned off. A modem has no knowledge of the IP layer, the hub is still acting on the IP layer.

Why not simply get a true modem such as an Huawei HG 612

Edit: The Smart Hub 2 does not have a bridge mode.

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

Crimliar — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 19:00:55 GMT

See how to identify and resolve double nat problems for a decent explanation.

*Allways check that you trust external links before clicking on them!

Re: How to get a Smart Hub 2 from BT

milleniumaire — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 19:04:25 GMT

@licquorice

"Why not simply get a true modem such as an Huawei HG 612".

I did look at purchasing a true modem when I first started using the BT Home Hub, but as my setup was working flawlessly, I decided not to waste my money!

I'm hoping I may be able to switch to fibre if it is ever made available in my area. The Openreach engineer pointed out that our telegraph poles were already wired for fibre, so he was surprised it wasn't yet available!