High ping and frequent packet loss since receiving Smart Hub 2

[loanhead]

Im a VDSL FTTC customer, been with BT for 10+ years, generally been problem free.

A few weeks ago I received the Smart Hub 2 as part of the Digital Voice switchover. I replaced the HomeHub6 we had, and shipped it back to BT for recycling. We have yet to plug the phone line in for DV. All I have done is so far is turn off UPnP, set up Port Forwarding for Call of Duty, and disable all Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi is handled by a pair of TP-Link Omada AP's powered by a gigabit switch in the loft).

All frequently used household devices are hard wired with CAT6, including all consoles, PC's, TV's, Laptops etc.

The Smart Hub 2 experience has been pretty miserable. There is constant insanely high pings, and frequent 100% packet loss. This will even occur through the night when everyone is asleep. My other half and myself both WFH and have noticed it affecting teams meetings, streaming VOD services will sometimes buffer and bomb out, and in gaming my son and I are regularly experiencing pings from 250-1000ms+ making online gaming unplayable. When these high ping sessions happen, I have checked its not just the device Im using by moving onto another system  and trying a different game (i,.e going from playing Apex on PC straight over to COD on Xbox) but the results the same with pings insanely high 250-1000ms+. Speedtests done on mobile and PC confirm this. If my kid is on Fortnite at the other end of the house he will usually run through at the same time its happening. Some have lasted in excess of 30 minutes.

The SH2 will frequently disconnect, I don't think its stayed solid for more than a few days and these disconnections happen at any time, sometimes more a couple next to one another which in the middle of a busy work day is a nightmare. The HomeHub6 would stay connected for weeks at a time and when it did disconnect it was usually around 1am.  The HomeHub6 was rock solid, faultless to be honest, and I never experienced any issues like this with it.

I initially thought the disconnections were due to DLM and the line would improve and settle but it doesn't seem to be the case. I've reset the SH2 but no difference, at the switch, and using the bt test and reset on the website after going through the router. Sync speed is a few Mbps lower than normal but not enough to worry about. I've also tried resetting the switch in the loft but again, no improvement. I've attached a couple pictures of ping plotter graphs from over the weekend, pinging to google and BBC, these aren't even close to the worst, weekday evenings last week were particularly awful.

Graphs are from PC, connected using CAT6. I tried setting up a thinkbroadband quality monitor but it doesn't appear to record anything, just shows packet loss when i turn the pc off.

Im hoping someone can offer advice, but at the moment we cant continue on with how it currently is.

[loanhead]

To add to the above, I had a call with a BT Guide just now.

• The guide told me I had too many devices connected to a single port - 28 total... (The port being the Ethernet port which goes to the gigabit switch in the loft). They advised it was too many devices for the SH2 and that I should remove some and connect directly to the SH2. It’s a 24 port switch, the reason it shows more is the devices the 2x AP’s show there too.

• I was continually advised to (downgrade by) not use my own TP-Link AP’s and instead I should use the Smart Hub 2 WiFi and Mesh discs or “WiFi boosters”. Which makes no sense as the affected key devices are all hard wired by CAT6 anyway.

• The guaranteed speed figure was repeatedly quoted, even though I kept stressing that speed was fine. It was ping, packet loss and disconnections were the issue.

• There were no faults on the line detected, which wasn’t a surprise to me, because it’s almost guaranteed to be the SH2 which is the issue somehow. Issues only started when we switched over from the HH6 to SH2. BT are not willing to replace the SH2. The phone suddenly went silent at that point and the call ended unexpectedly.

• The operator would frequently claim they couldn’t hear me because I was breaking up. I was getting huge packet loss/high ping/high jitter throughout the call. 

I think we’ve been left with no option but to find another supplier.

[gg30340]

If you don't intend using the Digital Voice phone service just get a decent VDSL modem/router and do away with the Smarthub 2 altogether.

[loanhead]

We do need to use DV or a VOIP service, it’s not been installed yet because a feature wall needs drilled to accommodate the mains.

Ideally id like to avoid spending my own money on more hardware when I already pay an ISP for a service.

[gg30340]

You could go with a VOIP service which in the future would allow you to change broadband supplier when ever you want without having to consider Digital Voice.

Likewise with buying your own VDSL modem/router, which are not necessarily all that expensive, allows you to get a device that totally suits your needs and is not a locked down one size fits all item and again can be used with other ISPs. 

Either way it is your choice, just giving you food for thought.