Introducing a UK first - Hybrid Connect

[PARKERTEK]

Actually no, we don’t have FTTP as yet, that’s just for FTTC.

I wish it was FTTP, that’s our next move as soon as it’s available.

we get 44Mbps down

[Packetloss]

I finally got round to replacing my Smart Hub with a DrayTek 166 modem.  So far so good. Not a single disconnection, it is rock solid.  The wired download throughput has gone from a range of 100Mbps to 134Mbps using the Smart Hub to a fairly consistent range between 137Mbps to 149Mbps with the DrayTek. 

My syslog server is collecting the stats, so it will be interesting to see if the DrayTek suffers in the same way as the BT equipment.  I'm already impressed that I am not experiencing the same 4 to 7 disconnections per day. 

The best thing about this is that I'm not out of pocket paying for failover to 4G.

In due course, I will switch back to the Smart Hub to see if the disconnections return immediately.  I have previously tried a range of BT Smart Hubs and found all to be unreliable. 

Even better news is that the annoying buffering issue with my Sky Mini boxes has ceased since the DrayTek modem was installed.  It was always frustrating when my family had gone to sleep and watching live BBC news 24 and other channels kept stuttering, whereby it would stop for a second and then skip back 2 seconds before continuing.   The problems happened all the time for the last year so it was probably an issue with the combination of Sky updates not playing well with the struggling BT equipment. Again, something to keep an eye on to see if it returns. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

[PARKERTEK]

I had disconnection issues but now with the smart hub replaced with another new smart hub it is honestly rock solid. 

with 3 complete Wi-Fi discs there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.

sounds like you might have just had a bad smart hub to start with.

as for your sky issues, again, all these resolved for me after the hub was replaced. We have 3 sky Q mini hubs. 

I have even switched off the 2 Sky Boosters that we have as I don’t need them anymore and our BT line throughput is only 44Mbits ! 

[Packetloss]

BT sent out 3 smart hubs and we performed controlled tests with engineers frequenting my house regularly over the last 2 years.  You can probably understand how frustrating it is when both Openreach and BT have said, "we've gone above and beyond the call of duty and we really cannot detect the root cause of your problems" 

[PARKERTEK]

I feel your pain, we had 4 BT engineers over the course of May and I ended up diagnosing and resolving the problem myself after rigorous testing ….

i hope having that custom router resolves all your problems 

[Packetloss]

Thanks.

Bit by bit I've eliminated each BT component from the two Complete WiFi discs, by using 2x Draytek 1000c Access Point and 1x Draytek 903 Access Points for 5Ghz devices, then I disabled the 2.4Ghz WiFi from the BT smart hub and enabled the 2.4GHz frequency on my Draytek APs.

My smart lighting, smart fridge and Ring Doorbell apps responded far more quickly and disconnection/latency issues disappeared.

The only functions the Smart Hub served were the PPPoe modem, DNS, and DHCP and still I had 4 to 7 disconnections each day. 

The Draytek 166 modem, Vigor 2927 Router and APs have given me a far more reliable configuration.  I've been on Teams video chats all day today, and I've not needed to failover onto my 4G service. 

I have a Vigor 2960 and a 3910 router in my back pocket too, but I've used the older 2920, 2925 and 2926 routers to support small offices with higher encrypted throughput demands without problems over the years, so I have every confidence in the 2927.

I might waste a few hours of my time this weekend to see if the problems return when I switch back over to the Smart Hub and Complete WiFi solution. 

[david39ni]

I think the claims of Unbreakable WIFI is probably a bit far fetched just cause adding a 4g Modem to the package. I don't see how that makes wifi unbreakable maybe more stable, but unbreakable from hackers is very miss leading to the public.

[NeilO]

Hi @david39ni that's not what is meant by unbreakable, it means that if your fixed-line broadband goes down for any reason the 4g router will automatically take over and continue to provide you with a wifi connection. 

Thanks 
Neil

[Yamas]

Hi Neil, All,

A few comments re: the Hybrid connect (am on g.fast FTTC 100Mbps 'guaranteed' since about late May I think, upgrade has not gone smoothly). 

1. The last Openreach engineer trying to debug my issues actually advised me 'that Hybrid 4g hasn't been tested properly with g.fast and I would recommend you turn it off until the DSL line drops'. Have taken with pinch of salt and left it connected, but he was insinuating it could contribute to DSL failover to 4g, I assume because g.fast is VERY fragile (I can wiggle/accidentally knock the rj11 in the g.fast faceplate and it disconnects the DSL). 

2. I have The Hybrid Connect connected via Cat6 direct to SmartHub2 (3m away max), but I note regular attempts at reconnect showing 5-6 'connected at 0Mpbs' about 10 secs apart until it realises it can connect at 1Gbps. I have no idea if that's the SH2 or the Hybrid device, but I suspect the latter. It's unclear to me exactly what it's doing as no logs show any assigned internal IP (either separate private range or broadcast) - does it 'replace' the built in modem to the SH2 whilst in operation?

3. It may 'fail over to 4g' relatively quickly, but I have noticed a number of times it takes an age to find/assign its DNS servers (ping IP, fine, ping DNS FQDN... can take long enough to drop me off video / audio conferences completely). Other times it assigns DNS primary/secondary immediately. Is this a 4g issue (again no logs to tell) 

In short, on paper it's great, on most occasions it works, but I can't claim I am confident enough in it yet to be a true failover solution (I realise it's not a business solution). 
I'm not expecting nor soliciting any support here btw, just sharing my experience over the past 2-3 months, and feedback from OpenReach's engineer, but I'd love to understand some of it's idiosyncrasies if anyone knows. 

Cheers,

James

[PS123]

And here’s a review on TubeYou.

https://youtu.be/asp8d3_k9UE