BT Read This - Its not your SmartHub its your Firmware

[ianonline999]

Rather than tag on a thread I thought I would make this stand out

BT have sent me out 3 smart hubs in as many weeks saying its a faulty hub causing random wireless devices not connecting.
All the usual troubleshooting done seperate the bands, rename them, factory reset etc etc
I can confirm and save you money instead of posting out smarthubs like confetti its the firmware!

On all three occasions and indeed on the latest hub I received as of yesterday the following confirms

All hubs were delivered with Firmware as below

Firmware version:
SG4B100021EC
Firmware updated:
12-May-2016

All devices connected fine on this firmware, no issues at all until on the following evening when you throw a firmware update down the line to the following

Firmware version:
SG4B10002244

All 3 hubs received this firmware and all 3 hubs failed on connecting random devices.

I really cant be bothered to call in again, but am one of the fortunate few to have a reserve decent non bt hub

Stop wasting your money and review the problem with your firmware, surely its not that difficult ?

Anyway im not going to send the third smart hub back as I believe physically nothing is wrong with it, but would apreciate an update perhaps on this thread when you release a new firmware so I can try it

[jazzguy]

For what it's worth, I've had 2 Smart Hubs. The first performed poorly - very poor sync speed (that was with firmware EC). The second has been much better (firmwares from EC to 2244). From my experience, the HH6 has hardware problems. Firmware changes have made no discernible difference here.

[Hazy1980]

Exact same issue, 3 smart hubs bricked after firmware update, that worked fine when arrived.

[varkanoid]

Yeah I think your conclusion is not quite there. Mine is on the 21EC firmware which was done June 2016 and my HH6 simply refuses to update to 2244 it just wont get this firmware for some reason and mine suffers from the green light wont switch on issue periodically and also when it does work all the mobile devices connect then fail continuously until I switch the router off/on. (hence why sometimes I get the green light wont boot issue).

It could still be a firmware issue as my HH6 worked fine when I got it for a few months but since the 21EC firmware its rubbish. It could be the firmware is causing the hardware to go faulty its not unknown that software (eg drivers) can damage hardware, eh Nvidia !!

[ianmc_uk]

Exact same problems here. BT have stopped responding to me completely, yet leave me tied to this contract.

Aware of workarounds and third party routers available, but don't want this expense when no other ISP router since the first days of ADSL routers have had this problem.

[impster]

Same issue here. Works fine until the point that it upgrades to the end of 2016 firmware. Then it's useless. Not even heavy enough to be used as a doorstop.

Would be good if BT were able to provide us with an update of measures being taken to resolve the ongoing and widespread issues with HH6.

[Timb-123]

The only reason I'm replying to this thread is to say "me too" ..... I'm now on my 3rd HH6.  Like the threads above, all hubs worked 100% on arrival and I was certainly seeing the increased performance in wi-fi (as advertised) .... however, with all three hubs an automatic update took place and they're ALL useless.

Either not getting past the flashing orange light or in the most recent one, just looping (green, flashing orange, solid orange, blue (!!) .... then green etc, etc).

I'm one of the luck ones who still have my HH5.

Please BT, sort this problem out - I need a solution please. Sending out replacement hubs is not the solution.

[MorgaineD]

Can't the mods help on this issue, by raising it with developers?

It's quite clearly wrong (for everyone concerned) that BT should be sending out correctly functioning HH6's and then proceed to destroy them on the next update.  It benefits nobody, and it's probably not even legal because the T&C's give BT the agreed right to improve CPEs, not to knowingly destroy them --- that's implicit.  The original poster makes a valid point about property and ownership.  Destruction is not part of the agreement.

Raising this issue with developers is relevant because they could overcome this problem by adding a manual reflashing option, provide hub firmwares on a website, and give hubs an "Allow automatic firmware updates" check button so that users could prevent further destruction if they wish.

None of this is rocket science, in fact it's the norm on virtually all communications equipment these days.

[prinknash]

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@MorgaineD wrote:

Can't the mods help on this issue, by raising it with developers?

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I'm not sure it works like that, Morgaine. As I understand it, the mods read few posts here; and those they see tend to be ones brought to their attention by senior members (e.g. people with 'Distinguished Sage' status) where there are individual difficulties (like line faults) which can be looked into, rather than generic issues like the reliability of the Smart Hub.

p

[MorgaineD]

This particular thread isn't about the general issue of HH6 reliability though. It's quite specific to the destruction of hubs that are working nicely upon receipt, but which are then effectively destroyed on the next BT update.

That is a point which deserves feeding back to developers. I'm quite certain that even BT management would agree, because this is costing the company money, as well as opening BT to legal risk in those cases where the CPE in question is legally owned by the user.