Halo Benefits?

[edbostan]

Since having a central heating boiler installed in our loft I have discovered how lousy BT have been supporting me to solve my problem. I have connectivity problems between the boiler and remote wi-fi thermostat/programmer when it drops contact and goes offline. To get reconnected I have to turn off and turn on the Hub which cures the problem for a week for it to return and go through the process again. Turning to my Halo benefits I contacted BT to solve my problem but they only wanted me to upgrade to Halo+ at extra cost and another 24 month contract which I did not want. I wanted to take advantage of the yearly visit of an engineer to check my system but that has now been stopped.  I wanted my Hub to be checked and confirmed it performed up to spec. All in all I am miffed with BTs response and can't wait to take advantage of competitors packages at half the cost.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@edbostan 

Welcome to this user forum for BT Retail phone and broadband customers.

This is just a customer to customer help forum, everyone here, including myself, are just customers.

The only BT Employees are the forum moderators.

Conventional Wi-Fi is not really a satisfactory way to link critical control systems, as its too unreliable due to interference. Most boiler control links use 433MHz or similar.

If you are managing to keep a stable connection between the home hub and the loft, for a week or so, then you are lucky, especially to an elevated location in the loft, where it will be picking up wireless signals from all directions.

Its a bit much to expect BT, or any other provider, to sort out these sort of issues.

[rbz5416]

As @Keith_Beddoe said, are you sure that your boiler communicates with the thermostat over WiFi? Taking my Hive for example, I have a Hive Hub that connects directly by ethernet & then the thermostat & controller talk to that & each other using their own Zigbee wireless mesh network. Hive also produce a signal booster for range issues, not that I've needed it.

I would suggest going back to your boiler manufacturer/installer for assistance.

As for a BT "engineer" visit, they would have no knowledge of the boiler system & it is outside of BT's remit anyway.

[edbostan]

I have Ideal Halo which is Ideals Hive. The boiler uses Zigbee as you say but to get coverage but why does hub reconnect after turned on and off so does the buffer build up over time and compromise connection. 

[Keith_Beddoe]

Can you connect the controller to the home hub using an Ethernet cable, and eliminate the wireless link?

[Paul608085]

@edbostan 

What channel does your 2.4GHz WiFi network use?

I have had British Gas Hive for many years and initially had connectivity issues between the Hive Hub and other devices, (eg the thermostat). Some info I found online at the time said that Zigbee primarily uses frequencies at the top end of the 2.4GHz band, (this band is licence free and used for many purposes other than internet WiFi).

The recommendation in that article was to avoid channel 11, (and the higher WiFi channels).

Since I fixed my 2.4GHz WiFi network on channel 1, I haven't experienced this problem.

[rbz5416]

@Keith_Beddoe 

Just had a look & the hub/controller does indeed connect by WiFi only for Internet control, but uses Zigbee for the thermostat.

@edbostan 

You say that the issue is the boiler loses comms with the 'stat, If that is indeed the case & the controller remains connected to WiFi, that is a Zigbee issue & nothing to do with the BT router or WiFi. It appears that Ideal also have a Zigbee booster available.

If however the controller is losing connection to the WiFi, then you need to look at providing a better WiFi signal in or near the loft. So either moving the router near the loft or adding a wireless access point.

@Paul608085makes a good point, so maybe download a WiFi analyser to check signal coverage & potential conflicting signals from neighbours.

[edbostan]

Thank you everybody for answers which are all plausible. The wifi is only for Internet control so the programming for heat is still active. Ideal do provide boosters so a call to them tomorrow on their helpline is planned.

[edbostan · Accepted solution]

Update: The problem seems to have sorted itself out. Perhaps the Hub6 has retuned itself to a less congested channel or the removing of insulation from the back of the loft hatch has given me full connectivity.