'Smart' Hub 2 ... won't connect to TP Link Extender since connecting to Sky Q

[slowsean]

Hi folks,

We have eventually had BT Fibre installed and we have a Smart Hub 2 ... in general the Smart Hub 2 appears to be very poor regards range, its very flakey 5ft away in the next room (albeit through a thick wall... but our old basic TP ink router had no problem. I assume this is intentional to get you to pay extra monthly for discs ?) and its very poor with Sky Q in the next room over wifi despite speed tests being OK in there (Sky movies slow to download, Netfix is blurry for 20 mins / Disney + barely works etc).

Current issue driving me mad is as follows...

After being installed I connected an outdoor TP Link extender / access point (used for garden office connection) to the router, (swapping the LAN cable straight over from the old TP Link router we had) ... and it worked without any changes needing to be made... result.

However ... after connecting the Sky Q box in the next room via Cat 6 cable (which fixed the Sky Q issues) the TP Link Extender stopped working ... it's on and can be found but says there is no internet connection.

So I disconnected the Sky Q box and powered off / on and the TP Link was working again.

Next day I tried again with both Sky Q and TP Link connected and the TP Link again could not connect to internet.

Now... I can not get the TP Link to connect at all even with the Sky Q disconnected.

I have not changed any settings on anything and I have tried all combos of powering on / off / connecting / disconnecting.

Very frustrating after having many years of never ending hassle and not working / dial up slow internet with BT some years ago (we are at the end of a line in the countryside) ... We've had an OK but expensive mini dish set up for years but I thought all would be OK now we have fibre so changed back to BT... 3 weeks in and its been down once requiring an engineer visit and now this hassle.

Any help will be much appreciated.

[imjolly]

did you turn off smart setup in SH2

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/what-is-smart-setup-on-the-bt-hub--how-can-i-turn-it-on-and-off-

[slowsean]

thanks for the reply ... not tried that yet but am on the phone atm and was going to ask about that as I see it is commonly suggested.

In the hub admin now whilst on hold trying to get my old phone number back (long story of not being told we can't get  fibre for over a year even though it was installed to the property) and the TP link appears to be connected after a lot of messing about all day with the Sky Q disconnected.

Interesting that BT say they only guarantee the service / speed to the house yet they also provide the router that appears to have such poor range compared to other, basic routers in the same location ... and if you use a different router that might have better range then they can't provide any service as it would then be 3rd party.

So having spoken with BT we have now disabled the 'smart' set up on the 'smart' hub ... I'm told this is help with the range. Still appears poor but we'll see how it pans out.

Regards Sky Q being wired to the hub disabling the TP Link Extender when it is connected ... they can't help with that as both are 3rd party devices of course.... however they have suggested changing the 'wireless mode' on the SH2 to 'mode 2' which I am told is something they recommend for the Sky Q wireless connection. So hopefully that will improve to make Sky Q useable over wifi so I do not need to hard wire it and cause the issue with the extender.

I think I will try a (standalone) BT disc to extend the Smart Hub 2 range in the house through the wall to the kitchen (that my old router managed fine)

Good to be back with old BT after years of hassle free connection 🙂

[imjolly]

I have a SH2 and SKYQ 2TB box with 3 minis all connected by wifi and don't have any problems

you cannot split the 2.4/5ghz networks like other hubs but you could try a wifi analyser on your phone.  this will show neighbouring networks and channels in use so you can select the least congested channel for your setup

[slowsean]

Thanks... will try that but we have no neighbours for a mile so unlikely that other networks are an issue.

I think it is simply that the SH2 has poor wifi range through old cottage walls... which is fair enough to an extent but surprising it is so poor in direct comparison to the TP Link TR-WR940N we have been using for years (a pretty basic 2.4ghz router that appears to be available for £25 or so).

[slowsean]

and the TP Link has disconnected again after a few hours... nothing else touched or changed.

though coincidentally (?) at some point between closing my laptop which had the SH2 admin open on it and everything green / connected OK ... and walking to my garden office to find the TP Link extender disconnected.