More Hybrid Connect Questions

[GuyBB]

Surprisingly the Order seemed to spontaneously self close after another day.

However it didn't help - the Hybrid Connect Device still refused to work displaying three red flashing bars.

I forced a failover by disconnecting the incoming broadband from the SmartHub 2. Then the HC alternated between displaying three red flashing bars and two blue flashing bars - each for about 30 seconds at a time and repeating ad infitum.

Eventually I restored the broadband link to the SmartHub2 and it took back the connection. An event was logged in the Resilience Events Log showing the failover with zero bytes transferred.

BT are now going to send a third Hybrid Connect Device and a new SmartHub 2. I doubt changing the SH2 will make any difference but one never can be sure. Perhaps I will get lucky with the third HC and not need to swap the SH2.

I was told that some customers have no issues with the HC - it just works first time. But a significant number have serious problems and have to be sent several HCs before one works. This seems to have been a problem for a long time now but BT apparently can't fix it.

[GuyBB]

As I had feared, the Third Hybrid Connect Device displayed exactly the same fault symptoms as the first two whether paired with the original SmartHub2 or the new one.

It seems that first line support have a script they follow with Hybrid Connect issues. But after trying reseating the SIM and factory resetting, it seems the default is to simply order a new HC. And this process can repeat many times over.

I was perhaps fortunate in that I finally managed to get my issue referred to second line support and someone there immediately knew exactly what the problem was. It seems that there are certain characteristics associated with a Service when it is first set up, and my Service was missing a vital characteristic needed for Hybrid Connect to ever work.

So the support person had had to close my Service and immediately reorder a new one - Broadband with Complete Wifi and Digital Home Phone (Halo3+) - ensuring that this missing characteristic was no longer missing. Then it was just a case of ordering a replacement Hybrid Connect Device (number 4). I was assured that this one would "just work".

And so it proved - HC 4 paired and showed a steady blue light with two steady blue bars. To test it I removed the incoming broadband line from the SH2 and then the two blue bars on the HC turned steady white and I was connected to the internet via 4G. The HC also switched back automatically to the SH2 when the landline broadband was restored (after a delay).

I asked if the HC would work with either the original or the new SH2 and the answer was yes - simply re-pair them. The authorisation is at the account level.

I also asked why BT state that you should not connect the SH2 and HC via Ethernet via HomePlugs and was told that lots of people do this perfectly successfully in practice. I've set up a pair of Homeplugs with a dedicated Network Management Key separate from the NMK used by my main Homeplug Network. I needed to do that to avoid "short circuiting" the WAN and LAN sides of my Draytek router but anyway I think it is a good idea to have a dedicated Homeplug network for the SH2-HC ethernet link. Of course there will still be potential bandwidth contention at the electrical level but my initial experiment shows no difference between using a totally physical connection with a long cable and using homeplugs - other than that there is no risk of tripping over the cable with the homeplug method! I'll have to monitor this long term to be sure it is reliable. The distance involved between SH2 and HC rules out using WiFi but anyway I always prefer a wired solution whenever possible. I need the HC to be near a north facing window to get a good two bar 4G signal (better than -100 dBm) and my SH2 and Draytek Routers are in a cupboard in an internal hall with much poorer 4G signal strength available.

Hopefully BT are going to improve their first line HC support "crib sheet" but the moral of this tale is if you find yourself in a similar situation insist on getting the issue referred back to more specialised support earlier rather than later.

[GuyBB]

I've now carried out some more testing with the Hybrid Connect handling the broadband connection.

With a direct ethernet cable link between HC and SH2 I was seeing 29 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up. This with a -97dBm 4G signal

Using WiFi rather than ethernet I was seeing the same 29 Mbps and 5 Mbps up. The WiFi signal was weak at -79 dBm but still worked at full speed.

However using Ethernet transported via a pair of homeplugs I found the speeds to be very variable. At best the download speed was only about two thirds of that obtained using a direct cable or WiFi connection, and at worst a lot slower still. However the connection was always usable.

I was using decent quality Homeplugs. Initially a pair of Solwise AV500s. I then swapped these for a pair of Solwise AV1200s (which employ MIMO using all three mains wires and are faster - up to about 300 Mbps). The results were the same with both pairs.

So I conclude that there does seem to be good reason why BT warn against using Home Plugs just on performance grounds. However they did work reliably for several hours so if direct cabling or WiFi are simply not possible options, they should provide a solution of sorts.

Following this interesting exercise I am now resuming my policy of "Never, Ever, Change your BT package!"