I am experiencing sub-optimal speeds, and multiple recurring connection drops, and nothing appears to be able to be done that fixes it. Instead of dropping once, the connection can be up and down and unusable for 2-3-5 hours, in 2-5 minute chunks. There is no internal wiring, just the one socket, phone and hub.
I am coming up to two years on current contract with 'new' SmartHub6. (Also, the hub was replaced about a month ago in BT search for a solution.)
Around one year ago the initial problem (BT engineer wiring) had been fixed, the router log showed a noise margin around 3db/3db and the service was pretty good - fastest connection I ever experienced (55ish.)
Since then there have been a succession of problems - mainly the repeated disconnects - but the speed has also dropped to 35ish.
In the past 8 months I cut down all surrounding trees, then paid Openreach to install a brand new dropline. Engineers have visited and replaced the 400m section of twisted pair from the fibre cabinet to the cabinet at the end of our road. (The remaining 200m section along our road was apparently ok.) When this pair was replaced, the attenuation dropped from 20.1 to 19.8. All connections along with the socket box have been renewed at least once in April 2017, and then some again since. (Whenever I have phoned the helpdesk, the tests that are run show no problems at all - including the 400m that needed replacing)
The first thing I would try given all that has been done so far and what you have already spent I would replace the Smarthub with a third party VDSL modem/router.
You can get the TP Link N300 VDSL Modem/router for just under £40 from Amazon or Argos. If this doesn't help you can always send it back for a refund but if nothing else it will have ruled in or out that the Smarthub is your problem.
Hi @bathsheba I'm really sorry to see you're having problems with your broadband connection. I think we would be best if the mod team take a look at this for you based on the previous fault history of your line. I'll send you a private message in a few moments explaining how to send over your details.
Hi @bathsheba thanks for sending in your details, I called there but missed you. I just wanted to let you know that I am taking over management of the complaint and fault. I've found no faults when I ran diagnostics but I can clearly see the connection is dropping way too much so I've raised this with our suppliers (BT Wholesale) and I'll get back to you tomorrow with an update.
Hi @NeilO
Sorry I missed your calls. Thanks for your help and advice with this. I agree the line appears a lot more stable than before following your changing of the stability setting. It now appears to drop about once per week only, probably overnight.
From our conversations I guess two points remain. The router gives the following:
that minor change in attenuation is normal and probably caused by your weather conditions mine also fluctuates by about 0.2/0.3db but does not affect my connection
How do I turn off BT Wifi openzone?
I am now focussed of the difference between the connection speed (47) and the download speed (38). I just removed all LAN cables apart from a single PC, and switched off the Wi-Fi. Rebooted the hub6, and ran another test. Still 38.
Tried the MyBT speed test, and this also came in at 40. and spoke of an undiagnosed problem.
I notice that the BT Wifi openzone appears to be active, and was looking for some instructions on how to shut this down.
The only instructions i found were in relation to btbusinesshub, and i get an error accessing the url provided. When I look at Status page, the entry that tells me BT Wifi is active does not have a 'Not Active' or any other dropdown available.
you will not get the same download speed as you can see in you conencted speed due to 'overheads' which is shown by the ip profile when you run btspeedtester diagnostic test
run the test and post results http://www.speedtest.btwholesale.com/