Broadband connection

[Giggsy0910]

Hi there, I hope someone can help me.

I have a MacBook and for some reason it says I am connected but I'm not! An engineer came out today and said it was because my laptop was trying to use 5ghz but it couldn't so he changed something so it was only 2.4ghz; he stayed 10 minutes and in that time it worked and as soon as he left it stopped working!

The only thing that actually works is my mini hub - the modem is all ok but there is obviously a problem somewhere and sorry I'm not very techie either! How can the mini hub work but the fibre broadband doesn't???

I have just moved to Cambridgeshire from the West Midlands - I didn't have fibre there and I never had any problems but I was promised fibre was brilliant but just not working for me.

hope someone can help

thank you

[gg30340]

The "engineer" would appear to have no clue what he was talking about or what he was doing.

It would seem that you have a problem with the wireless connection from the BT hub and not a problem with your broadband which is what "feeds" your BT hub. If it was a broadband problem it would still not have worked when the "engineer" did what he did.

I suspect the "engineer" has just turned off the 5Ghz signal, which if your laptop has a 5Ghz wireless card it should be able to use that signal and if it does not have a 5Ghz card it would not even see the signal therefore it would not be a problem to it and the laptop would just connect to the 2.4Ghz signal. What is clear is that the "engineer" did not do anything to establish what the issue was and just took an easy way out.

I would suggest that you start again. 

If you are using a Windows laptop "forget" the wireless connection to the hub. You can do this by clicking on wireless icon in the bottom right hand corner then where you see your Smarthubs SSid (name) right click on it and select the option "forget".

Then carry out a factory reset of the BT Smarthub by pressing a pin into the recess button on the rear for about 20 seconds.

Once the Smarthub resets scan for the wireless connection again and where you see your Smarthub's name click on it and enter your wireless password that is on the label on the Smarthub.

You should now be connected. Your laptop will decide which of the two frequencies to use depending on various factors.

You should now be able to use your laptop on the Internet. If not further diagnosis will be needed so post back with how you get on.

[Giggsy0910]

Hi there

thanks for your suggestion which I did try but it didn't work. I then rang Apple who asked if I used a VPN which I do for work and they said this could be the cause of the problem; it's actually working now but for how long I don't know; it's just really temperamental! Will keep you posted but if there is anyone else on here who has to use VPNs for work and is having similar issues please let me know. I have contacted our Digital Services Department to ask them about it as well. It's just infuriating when you're trying to work and the signal keeps dropping - bring back pen and paper!!!

[Les-Gibson]

Could you add a bit more detail to "I have a MacBook and for some reason it says I am connected but I'm not" please.

It might be a red herring but I'm wondering if you are connected but you are connected on 5GHz channel 36  and have Sky Q, if so try changing the hub to another channel

[Giggsy0910]

hi again

I've just done a diagnostics and it says that it's the DNS settings and I need to get in touch with service provider; it then says I can use OpenDNS or GoogleDNS but when I try to do it, I can't type anything in!!

its stopped again now so I'm back on the minihub!