Netgear GS724Tv4 and BT Wholehome ( 3 Disc ) Original White Disc

[chrisfoster1971]

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone has managed to resolve this annoying problem I've encountered since installing a Netgear GS724Tv4 switch.
A little background...
BT Whole-home firmware v1.02.12build02

Netgear GS724Tv4 Firmware 6.3.1.36

Having had the whole home mesh setup for a few years now we upgraded over the weekend to enable more devices capable of using an ethernet connection to do so, by installing CAT6 throughout the home, at the same time we swapped an aging Netgear GS108 unmanaged switch with the GS724v4. The idea being was to remove the ever-expanding number of Powerline adaptors (hence CAT6) and their limited success when adding more devices etc.
Since performing the upgrade within the BT Whole-home App or WebUI only a single disc can be seen.

I've seen others on other forums complain of similar issues but they seemed to be a while ago and different firmware etc, but nothing conclusive as to if they ever resolve what appears to be the same issue.

So does anyone have advice, further troubleshooting steps I can investigate before I resort back to dumb unmanaged switches?
I've tried enabling and disabling IGMP snooping/STP etc but nothing appears to work.

Any suggestions gratefully received. Thank you

[chrisfoster1971]

Just to clarify. 

I've over the weekend run rj45 throughout the house and connected my three dishes (original whole home) however it now appears to be preferring to connect downstream dishes via 5ghZ despite them all connected via cat6 cables. Yet whilst i was using power line adapters all dishes connected via ethernet.. Only thing that's changed is the switch in use. Which is managed but currently in its factory state so should be open like an unmanaged. 

[lnajr02]

Call the helpdesk and just check that the switch being used will work.  It has to be simple unmanaged

[chrisfoster1971]

The switch isn't an unmanaged type however is currently setup as default before any management as such gets added, so shouldn't be a problem I would have thought..

I do see that there are plenty of others with similar issues though, what a huge issue this is. Its not documented anywhere that an unmanaged switch has to be used, but it does appear to be the case. Surely BT should have this somewhere so people can locate it and avoid the wholehome product range if this is correct

[TimCurtis]

@chrisfoster1971 

I don't think you can really expect that BT should take the trouble to test out their equipment with whatever else might be on the market.

This issue with a managed switch might be the IP Address range that it uses being incompatible with the router, whereas an unmanaged one has no IP Address and so would be compatible.

I'd look at the instructions for the new switch specifically regarding it's default IP Address as Netgear seem to favour 192.168.0.nn , whereas BT are using the 192.168.1.nn range probably meaning that the switch cannot see the Hub.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@chrisfoster1971 

See https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Devices/3-Disc-Whole-Home-Wired-problem-with-managed-Netgear-GS724Tv4...

[chrisfoster1971]

I'm not using bt router anyway. But i am using the echolife modem but with a ddwrt router so I can do useful things. The ip range is the same on router and switch and currently in default mode so nothing clever on the switch at all. 

[fourmonks]

I never managed to get my GS724Tv4 working with Whole Home unless all of the APs where on the same port which defeated the object of the switch. I resorted to buying a 24 port unmanaged switch which works fine. I saw the Netgear 6.3.1.36 firmware release and hoped it might cure the problem as I was running 6.3.1.19 back when I had the problem, but as I see you are running .36 and the problem is still there, the managed switch will remain a dusty paperweight...

[chrisfoster1971]

Hi fourmonks, thanks for the reply.

I've like you have given up but didn't want to have another switch so removed the whole home system from our home now.

I've managed to get hold of some Ruckus R500 APs and reflashed them with the Ruckus Unleashed firmware that allows any or a single AP to act as the controller ( much like the whole-home solution ) however they work! 
I've currently got the same number of APs ( 3 ) covering the home including our detached garage ( which doesn't have structured cabling connection at present ) so have enabled meshing and it simply connects using the existing SSID to the other two APs. 
The interface is far superior and offers many more features and obviously works with managed switches ( it enforces guest wifi segregation to a separate VLAN )

I was considering the Unifi ( Ubiquiti ) solution also but they are fetching ridiculous money at the moment.