2.4GHZ and 5GHZ Bands BT Smart Hub 2

[Darryll]

Glad to see I am not the only one thinking of going back to the original smart hub. The outlay was just not worth the expense or hassle. BT have really messed up this time methinks.......

[fengureek]

Like many others I am not impressed with Smart Hub 2. I have been unable to achieve anywhere near the fast transfer speeds between network devices I enjoyed on the previous Smart Hub.  Again, like many others, I cannot understand why the option to run separate 2.4GHZ and 5GHZ Bands has been removed.  I am glad I have not yet returned my previous Smart Hub and think I will recommission it. Poor show BT.

[Darryll]

Yes, I have now reinstalled the original smart hub, I am more than pleased all the woes have gone, like various equipment not connecting at the right speed (2.4 or 5 ghz), to say nothing of improved coverage. As for the supposed update to the Mesh disc, that left mine totally inoperable. Pity it is more than  14 days since arrival otherwise it would all go back. I suppose it am stuck with a dead horse.

[firswood]

Got Ultra Fast 2 - 160mb/sec to the hub.. GREAT

130-140mb/sec to the PC via LAN cable - GREAT

20-50mb via wifi - NOT GREAT

phoned BT, and they sent a new SMART HUB 2 out - agreed speeds via wifi were poor.. suggested i split bands - i explained that i could not on SH2

NEW SH2 arrived - same result. Poor speeds on Wifi

as you cannot split bands - I turned off 2.5ghz..

result - 110mb/sec on wifi.. but some devices can't see the wifi..

suprised at BT for this omission to band seperation - as my wifi speeds are pretty much no different to my previous SMART HUB on superfast fibre 2 - so the point of upgrading was what exactly??

hopefully a firmware upgrade to SH2 will be due soon so we can seperate the bands and benfit from faster wifi - which was the point of upgrading in the first place..

[wenklaw]

Oh dear, i hadnt seen this before i decided to upgrade and get one of these with a disc. 

My Samsung tablet and a Samsung phone do not like the grouped SSID 5/2.4 thing, they drop reconnect but no internet, the only way is to  restart the devices as even toggling airplane mode doesnt resolve it.

I cant turn off 2.4 as I have many home devices that use 2.4 only.

I cant turn off 5ghz as i stream 4k from a Plex server, 2.4 just doesnt cut the mustard.

XBOX ones adding to someones issue above are notoriously bad at connecting to 5ghz if 2.4 and 5ghz are banded in the same SSID. 

ummmmmmmmmmm, nice one BT!!!!

[Darryll]

I hope you are right as I do have doubts as the SH1 is manufactured by a different company to the SH2. That I feel where the main problem lies. Most probably as normal, the SH2 is cheaper to make due to less functionality.

[firswood]

A solution of sorts.

I am using the replacement SH2 as a slave wireless extender. Got it connected to the main SH2 via LAN..

Hub1 - has the two 2.4/5GHz
Hub2 - 2.4GHz turned off - has new channel SSID.. and this works.
When I connect to the new channel for 5GHz I get 80-100MB/sec

There is a bit of housekeeping by changing settings on the second hub.. change IP address etc.

[Darryll]

Unfortunately the smart hub 2 has a tendency to this. The only solution I found for an aging laptop was to change the network card. I know it is drastic, but it did solve the problem. I did revert back to the original smart hub and yes all the problems I had disappeared straight away. Personally I feel the problem is due to the fact the smart hubs are made by two different companies, unfortunately the smart hub 2 leaves a lot to be desired. Not worth the time and money spent in my opion is just wasted as the equipment is unable to cope with the needs of today.

[Macca1]

Thanks for your information. I have a light timer on family e-cloud which worked well on my previous router but now that I have upgraded to BT Smart Hub 2  -it won't work.  The device says it is only compatible with 2.4GHZ. Presumably if there is now no way of splitting the two GHZs -the device is trying to log onto the 5GHZ.

Have you any ideas as to how I can get around this issue?

[licquorice]

If the device has only 2.4Ghz how can it 'see' a 5Ghz signal to try and log in to it. You can always turn off the 5Ghz wifi in any case although you can't give the 2 frequencies different SSIDs