FTTP problems, some websites not loading, email can't connect

[DavidCheshire]

Full Fibre 100 FTTP connected last Moday, working fine all week; 150Mbps down, 31 up very steady no disconnections. On Sunday I noticed that my Windows 10 desktop PC Chrome browser could not connect to BBC or speedtest.net websites but was able to connect to Google and Gmail. It was connecting perfectly to all websites up until then. 

Today the problem persists. I have restarted my desktop and switched the BT Smarthub off and on. When I opened my laptop it initially had exactly the same problem, able to connect to Google and Gmail but not to BBC or speedtest.net. Then after a while it seemed to sorted itself out, but now sometimes it can connect, sometimes it can't. My wife just tried another laptop and it has the same problem, can't connect to BBC or her personal email. It was working OK on Saturday 22 May, as were my PC and laptop, but now unusable.

My phone and a tablet can connect to all the websites that my desktop cannot. 

I unplugged the ethernet cable from my desktop and USB tethered it to a phone connected to the Smarthub by WiFi and could then connect to all the websites that I could not previously.  When I changed back to an ethernet connection the problem seemed to have gone away and I could get onto the speedtest.net website, but when I tried to run a test to confirm everything was working I got an error and "A socket error occurred during the download test." and it reverted to where it was; able to connect to Google and Gmail but not to BBC or speedtest.net. 

I have tried switching all the Windows firewalls off but that makes no difference. 

To summarise: tablet and phone connected to Smarthub by WiFi can access all websites no problem. When desktop is connected to Smarthub by ethernet cable it can connect to some websites without any problem but others it cannot. When desktop is connected via WiFi and USB tethering it can connect to all websites without problem. Two laptops have the same problems as the desktop intermittently, sometimes they can connect, sometimes not.

I would suspect that there was a hardware problem with my desktop NIC apart from two things (1) when connected by ethernet cable there are some websites that it can connect to without any problem, and (2) Two laptops have the same problems as the desktop intermittently.

[pippincp]

Have you turned off Smart setup as that causes problems.

1. Open a new web browser on a device connected to your Hub and type 192.168.1.254 in the address bar. ...
2. Click Smart Setup.
3. Enter the admin password. ...
4. Click the "On/off" button to turn Smart Setup on or off.

[DavidCheshire]

Thanks, I have done that; so far no change.

Actually it looks like it might be a DNS server problem; I have just changed the DNS settings for one machine to  ‘Use the following DNS server addresses’ option with addresses 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8 and that seems to have solved the problem. 

Do you know if there is a problem with the BT DNS server?

[pippincp]

Possibly, I never use ISP's DNS though. Never use their routers either.

[DavidCheshire]

Changing the DNS settings didn't solve the problem. I totally agree with you about routers. I spent nearly an hour on the phone with BT last night. The adviser took me through a full factory reset of the hub and the ONT with no improvement. A senior adviser suggested it might be a fault with the hub since it occurred overnight on Saturday, which apparently is when firmware is upgraded, which will take 48 hours to investigate. In the meantime I have no usable FTTP. I am 7 days into the 14 day cancellation period and I am nearly ready to cancel the contract and go back to TalkTalk.

The router I was using with TalkTalk FTTC (a Billion Bipac) doesn't work when plugged into the FTTP ONT for some reason so I am going to buy a new one as a back up anyway. What router would you recommend?