Home Hub 5B 5GHz wireless - near zero throughput

[m0sbf]

I have been using a HH5B for many months and it's 5GHz wireless network has never worked properly. The download speed is always near zero on any connected device, even when devices are in the same room as the hub and get a strong signal. Doesn't matter what device I connect, none work on the Internet, although a 5GHz wifi connection is established with the hub. I have had to set all devices to 'forget this network' for the 5GHz hub SSID. I have smart wireless off and have set up different SSID's for 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. This made no difference, so I have had to turn off the 5GHz wireless for now, as there is no point in keeping it on, when it clearly doesn't work. A scan of 5GHz networks locally shows no other networks on the same channel nearby and I have tried changing the channel allocation, to no avail. Firmware info: 3. Firmware version: v0.07.06.01239-BT (Type B) Last updated 12/5/2017 Any help with this would be appreciated. As it is probably a bug, could someone please log it and get BT engineering to fix it! Thanks

[imjolly]

have you tried phoning custmer services and complaining about the 5ghz problem and ask for replacement?

do you still have the 5a which you could try and see it that makes any difference

[m0sbf]

I'll try calling BT customer service next week. Don't want to put the HH5A back in service as that has other issues, when in service. Quick question, the firmware on my HH5B is years old, is that rally the latest available? Thanks

[imjolly]

by years do you mean 3/2017

[Mikegl]

This is a common fault experienced by a large number of users, I don't think a firmware update would make any difference. I ended up doing the same as you and just switched off the 5g, the smart hub works fine btw.

If you get another hub from BT could you please post the outcome as I am interested to hear if this fixes the fault, most people report a new hub makes no difference.

[m0sbf]

Mike, thanks for the information and backing up my suspicions.

I had read about this problem from other HH5 users too. It is infuriating that serious bugs like this go unfixed. 5GHz operation is needed in built up areas like mine due to the over-use of the 2.4GHz spectrum. ironically, 5GHz should give the best throughput with a strong signal. This hub plain doesn't work on 5GHz.

Begs the question whether BT check any of their software prior to release. As I put in my last post, this bug has been in this firmware release from 05/2017. No subsequent firmware releases have been made, or if they have my hub hasn't received them.

Would a Forum admin please log this 5GHz HH5 bug and endeavour to get it fixed? Please confirm that one of you has done this, by replying to this post.

Also, thanks for letting me know about the Smart Hub working OK on 5GHz. I had a Smart Hub last year, but sent it back as the BT Access Control didn't work and it was even more bug-ridden than the HH5. How is yours working, have they fixed the bugs now? Is the line connection stable?

[imjolly]

@m0sbf

a stable line condition is more to do with the actual line itself than to do with the hub or router you use  

a stable line conenction using hub will be ok whereas a poor/unstable line will have problems with hub or any other router  for example my connection with hh6 is stable and no problems but that means nothing as far as your connection is concerned

[m0sbf]

@imjolly thanks. Agree with your comments.

My line banding issue means I have a maximum capped speed of 44MB and a 9.9dB download S/N. I think that's up a bit from the original 40MB band with the HH5A when I first installed that.

Over a couple of years, I have tried several routers HH5A, HH6 and HH5B and all of them resync the WAN connection usually once every 7 days, which does imply some line disturbance is present at times. It would be nice to have a more stable connection as the max data rate on my line is 54MB, but I never get close to it. I read the DLM info on Plusnet this morning, which was interesting.

One other contributing factor on the new development where I live is shortwave noise. There's a lot of it here. Sky Q's powerline usage is one of the culprits for this. There may also be implulse noise on the line causing issues, although the quiet line test reveals nothing. Quick question: does BT support G.INP and (if so) which Hubs support it?

It would be interesting to see if interleaving is switched on on my line. The Plusnet article implied that where lines are banded interleaving is turned on.

Returning to what my original post was about, for the 5GHz Wifi problem resolution, I could re-try a HH6, I suppose. Could I ask how stable the firmware is now? The one I had a year ago was pretty bad - hence it got sent back. I would hope that most of those issues should have been ironed out now as the product's been around a while.

[imjolly]

if you are in abanded profile then you will have interleaving applied

G.INP is first to do with type of cabinet your are on - it is active Huawei but not on ECI

there have been some posts with problems with latest hh6 B522 firmware yet others say it is ok

[Mikegl]

I don't use any of the "advanced" features of the HH6, but for general day to day use it appears to be quite stable.

2 things I have noticed though are that it sync's about 10% slower than the HH5 and it doesn't allow you to assign static IP's.

It's easy enough to work around the static IP bug if you really need to.

I'm at my max sync rate for my package so the slower sync rate isn't an issue for me, but probably would be for you.

I posted my 2 cents worth on this thread the other week, exactly the same fault

https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Infinity-Fibre-broadband/low-internet-speed-on-5g-compared-to-2-4g-wi...

I wouldn't hold your breath on getting a fix for this fault, they don't even acknowlege it!

For a long time I thought that this was a simple bug that would be addressed by an update, but it's been around for years without a fix. I now think that this might be a hardware fault and they are baulking at admitting it thus avoiding having to recall a shed load of routers.