Alternative to BT Homehub5.

Watching this thread with interest:    I have HH5 & its rock solid, 70-71Mb/s & zero drop outs,  so I'm not changing anything.   The only mild irritant I have is the 70Mb/s speed drops to below 30Mb/s every week or so,   BT sometimes see it & run a restart to change the server IP address,  or I spot it & do the same.

I had a Homehub 5 for a few years and was plagued by wireless drop-outs, which looking at the logs seemed linked to the hardware manufacturer bot poling it for updates. BT were unable to help so eventually I gave in, reverted to my old BT modem and added an ASUS RT-AC68U over a year or so ago, and I've been nothing but delighted. Wireless coverage has improved through the house and it is rock solid.

It is pricey, and you do need a modem though.

Mike, Interesting that your BT HH5 is stable. If I can can find a way of making the Wi-Fi stable then I'd stick with the HH5. I also did wonder about buying the new BT Smarthub (HH6) and trying that. I think its only £50 cor current BF Infinity customers.

I stopped using my HH5 as it kept dropping the connection. I already had a Billion 8800NL which is much more reliable. However the house uses wired ethernet primarily so I cant speak for wifi as its disabled. I do have an Apple Airport timecapsule mainly for its time machine backups, but the wifi is performance is excellent with this. I would use it as a router with the Openreach modem, but I also have BT tv and this doesn't seem to be compatible with iptv. I did try it and it worked well as a router, but it wouldn't allow the iptv and I couldn't be bothered to find out why not.

The Billion can be setup to work with iptv so I use this. If you do have BT tv its something to bear in mind as not all routers seem to be compatible. I have read good things about the Linksys EA6900 but you might want to check on the BT forums if you do use BT tv to see if it will work. On a side note I used to own a pair of Monitor Audio R352 and they were excellent and are still providing sterling service for a friend.

Yetizone posted:

Mike, Interesting that your BT HH5 is stable. If I can can find a way of making the Wi-Fi stable then I'd stick with the HH5. I also did wonder about buying the new BT Smarthub (HH6) and trying that. I think its only £50 cor current BF Infinity customers.

What HH5 'type' is it ???  I did leave a minor part of my story out - I first had a type-B & it failed soon after I installed it.  BT replaced it with a type-A,  thats the one I have now.    I've separated 2.4 & 5G & get wireless all over the house & places in the garden were iPad/Phones are used,  5G is as good as 2.4 in that respect.   It might be worth calling BT & see if you can blag a HH6.

GARY - that sounds very familiar. The cable net connection is rock solid and I have nothing but praise for the BT Infinity speed. The SSID separation helped, but its Wi-Fi stability over range that I need. My 'Qute is some 15m from the Mac Mini, with two solid walls in-between.

TAYLOR - I’m not a BT TV customer, so compatibility is not an issue. Agree, the MA R352’s are excellent and still stand up well today. I had a pair for a while but had to sell them due to space restriction.

MIKE, Ah, I had no idea there are different HH5 types. Is there a way of easily confirming which variant I have? Home hub6 - Not a bad call, I may hassle BT in the morning to see if I can get a HH6 sent out. Might be a good starting point for the ongoing problem solving!

For ref, I’ve tried a BT Broadband Extender Flex 600 Powerline Kit which creates its own separate Wi-Fi network in the office where the ‘Qute is located, but I’m still getting UPnP drop outs over Wi-Fi when controlling playback via the Naim app.

As a P.S. I found, as most do, that the Help Desk in India was mostly hopeless (though eventually they did send me a new HH5 that was as bad as the first). Towards the end of my patience I finally got in touch with Customer Services in the UK through Twitter (they still follow me to this day so that they could conduct things in private) and they were very much more pro-active and I'd suggest that.

In the end they couldn't offer a solution but did give me a cash bung when I gave in and went to the ASUS.

Yetizone posted:

MIKE, Ah, I had no idea there are different HH5 types. Is there a way of easily confirming which variant I have? Home hub6 - Not a bad call, I may hassle BT in the morning to see if I can get a HH6 sent out. Might be a good starting point for the ongoing problem solving!

The 'type' is printed on the label on the base of the hub.   Or go to your BT Hub web page & its in small print along the bottom of the opening screen, scroll down to see it.   Not sure about any variables in wireless performance,  but they are different mnftr's & different software.   

I totally agree about BT's phone support - about six months ago had broadband failure for some 24 hours (was in the middle of a major work project). To be fair to BT, this has been the only outage in some four years. The BT call centre were rather poor and and overall customer service a major headache from first contact right through the whole issue. Great tip about twitter - I'd never have thought of that!

MIKE - many thanks. I'll check now..... My HH5 is a Type A, as yours.

Whatever router/hub I'm given by any ISP, I immediately turn off the WiFi, but never change anything else. So it continues to act as DHCP server, and any issues with my broadband connection cannot be blamed on use of an unsupported device by my ISP.

My entire wired and wireless network then work off my own hardware, the only device connected to the ISP router being an Airport Extreme. This has worked well for me for the last ten years with several ISPs, and whatever piece of junk they choose to supply me with is pretty unimportant. 

We've just gone to Smarthub as part of our Infinity upgrade. I have converted the old HH3 to a repeater and put it in the upstairs bedroom. If you have any old hubs laying about and you can wire them into another part of the house, they make good signal boosters. Sorry if that's of no use in your circumstances.

Harry posted:

We've just gone to Smarthub as part of our Infinity upgrade. I have converted the old HH3 to a repeater and put it in the upstairs bedroom. If you have any old hubs laying about and you can wire them into another part of the house, they make good signal boosters. Sorry if that's of no use in your circumstances.

Harry, I have a spare HH5 and never thought of using it to boost the signal.  Great idea. Is there a great improvement and how toyou go about doing it?

I second ChrisSU's approach - Apple Airports are rock solid in my extensive network.

Tony. I have pasted the info below from Keith Beddoe’s archive.  It turns up now and then in forums and as long as Richard does not mind, I'm pasting it here with credit  to Keith.

I used it to turn my HH3b into a repeater this week for the upstairs. I also have a donkey’s years old HH in the lounge of the tall and wobbly variety which I converted to a WiFi booster years ago. A nice source of inexpensive repeaters. The lounge one has not missed a beat and solved all my weak signal problems on that side of the house.

I am told this works also on HH4 and HH5. I don’t know for sure if it does. Keith is reliable so I doubt it will be a waste of time trying. I have a HH5 which I accidentally acquired on my travels, so one day I expect this will be pressed into booster duty.

Snip -------
HH3b (secondary)
Factory reset the HH3b by pressing and holding the reset button for about 15 seconds - NOT the restart
Make sure the wireless on the Laptop/PC is OFF
Connect the laptop/PC by Ethernet cable (NOT to the other hub). Open a browser. Ignore the not connected page.
Log in to the hub manager 192.168.1.254 or bthomehub.home
You'll be prompted to change the default admin password
Click Settings, then Advanced Settings, then Continue to Advanced Settings
Click Home Network, then IP Addresses. Change the IP Address to one not in use.
eg. 192.168.1.245 (NOT the default .254:smileywink or one of your choice (192.168.1.**), click apply (ignore any warnings)
As the page reloads SWITCH THE HUB OFF, LEAVE THE BROWSER OPEN
Once the hub has rebooted, clear the address in the URL and type 192.168.1.245 or the one you chose
Click Settings, type in your new admin password, then Advanced Settings, then Continue to Advanced Settings
Click Home Network, then IP Addresses, under DHCP Server, Enable select No and click apply
(ignore the warning)
Click Wireless
(optional) Change the Wireless network/SSID to one of your choice ie. MyHubSlave
Channel selection - select a different channel to the one selected on the primary hub - the next least congested channel. If you used channel 1, try 6 or 11.
(if device supports this) Wireless security - select WPA2
(the wireless key will be removed)
Wireless Key - use the same key used on the primary
TURN OFF WPS, click apply
(ignore the waring)
Click Port Forwarding, then Firewall and select Disabled, click apply
(ignore the warning)
Click UPnP and select off, click apply
Unplug the Laptop/PC, close the browser
Connect the HH3b to the HH3a using an Ethernet cable or powerline adapters (PLA's), switch the hub3b off and on again and you're done.
You have now extended the wireless range of your home network and increased the amount of Ethernet ports:
Should you find that you don't get a connection, reboot the secondary to re-establish the hand shake to the primary hub.
Unplugging the HH3b will not affect your broadband connection.

HH3a (secondary)
Factory reset the HH3a by pressing and holding the reset button for about 15 seconds - NOT the restart
Make sure the wireless on the Laptop/PC is OFF, then connect the laptop/PC by Ethernet cable (NOT to the other hub). Open a browser. Ignore the not connected page.
Log in to the hub manager 192.168.1.254 or bthomehub.home
You'll be prompted to change the default admin password
Click Settings, then Advanced Settings, then Continue to Advanced Settings
Click Home Network, then IP Addresses. Change the IP Address to one not in use.
eg. 192.168.1.245 (NOT the default .254) or one of your choice (192.168.1.**), click apply (ignore any warnings)
Close your browser this time, open it again and type in the chosen IP Address (.245 or .**)
Click Settings, type in your new admin password, then Advanced Settings, then Continue to Advanced Settings
Click Home Network, then IP Addresses, under DHCP Server, Enable select No and click apply
(ignore the warning)
Click Wireless
(optional) Change the Wireless network/SSID to one of your choice ie. MyHubSlave
Channel selection - select a different channel to the one selected on the primary hub - the next least congested channel. If you used channel 1, try 6 or 11.
(if device supports this) Wireless security - select WPA2 (the wireless key will be removed)
Wireless Key - use the same key used on the primary
TURN OFF WPS, click apply
(ignore the warning)
Click Port Forwarding, then Firewall and select Disabled, click apply
(ignore the warning)
Click UPnP and select off, click apply
Unplug the Laptop/PC, close the browser
Connect the HH3a (secondary) to the primary HH3a using an Ethernet cable or powerline adapters (PLA's), switch the secondary hub3a off and on again.
Should you find that you don't get a connection, reboot the secondary to re-establish the hand shake to the primary hub.

Harry posted:

Tony. I have pasted the info below from Keith Beddoe’s archive.  It turns up now and then in forums and as long as Richard does not mind, I'm pasting it here with credit  to Keith.

I used it to turn my HH3b into a repeater this week for the upstairs. I also have a donkey’s years old HH in the lounge of the tall and wobbly variety which I converted to a WiFi booster years ago. A nice source of inexpensive repeaters. The lounge one has not missed a beat and solved all my weak signal problems on that side of the house.

I am told this works also on HH4 and HH5. I don’t know for sure if it does. Keith is reliable so I doubt it will be a waste of time trying.

Snip -------
HH3b (secondary)
Factory reset the HH3b by pressing and holding the reset button for about 15 seconds - NOT the restart
Make sure the wireless on the Laptop/PC is OFF
Connect the laptop/PC by Ethernet cable (NOT to the other hub). Open a browser. Ignore the not connected page.
Log in to the hub manager 192.168.1.254 or bthomehub.home
You'll be prompted to change the default admin password
Click Settings, then Advanced Settings, then Continue to Advanced Settings
Click Home Network, then IP Addresses. Change the IP Address to one not in use.
eg. 192.168.1.245 (NOT the default .254:smileywink or one of your choice (192.168.1.**), click apply (ignore any warnings)
As the page reloads SWITCH THE HUB OFF, LEAVE THE BROWSER OPEN
Once the hub has rebooted, clear the address in the URL and type 192.168.1.245 or the one you chose
Click Settings, type in your new admin password, then Advanced Settings, then Continue to Advanced Settings
Click Home Network, then IP Addresses, under DHCP Server, Enable select No and click apply
(ignore the warning)
Click Wireless
(optional) Change the Wireless network/SSID to one of your choice ie. MyHubSlave
Channel selection - select a different channel to the one selected on the primary hub - the next least congested channel. If you used channel 1, try 6 or 11.
(if device supports this) Wireless security - select WPA2
(the wireless key will be removed)
Wireless Key - use the same key used on the primary
TURN OFF WPS, click apply
(ignore the waring)
Click Port Forwarding, then Firewall and select Disabled, click apply
(ignore the warning)
Click UPnP and select off, click apply
Unplug the Laptop/PC, close the browser
Connect the HH3b to the HH3a using an Ethernet cable or powerline adapters (PLA's), switch the hub3b off and on again and you're done.
You have now extended the wireless range of your home network and increased the amount of Ethernet ports:
Should you find that you don't get a connection, reboot the secondary to re-establish the hand shake to the primary hub.
Unplugging the HH3b will not affect your broadband connection.

HH3a (secondary)
Factory reset the HH3a by pressing and holding the reset button for about 15 seconds - NOT the restart
Make sure the wireless on the Laptop/PC is OFF, then connect the laptop/PC by Ethernet cable (NOT to the other hub). Open a browser. Ignore the not connected page.
Log in to the hub manager 192.168.1.254 or bthomehub.home
You'll be prompted to change the default admin password
Click Settings, then Advanced Settings, then Continue to Advanced Settings
Click Home Network, then IP Addresses. Change the IP Address to one not in use.
eg. 192.168.1.245 (NOT the default .254) or one of your choice (192.168.1.**), click apply (ignore any warnings)
Close your browser this time, open it again and type in the chosen IP Address (.245 or .**)
Click Settings, type in your new admin password, then Advanced Settings, then Continue to Advanced Settings
Click Home Network, then IP Addresses, under DHCP Server, Enable select No and click apply
(ignore the warning)
Click Wireless
(optional) Change the Wireless network/SSID to one of your choice ie. MyHubSlave
Channel selection - select a different channel to the one selected on the primary hub - the next least congested channel. If you used channel 1, try 6 or 11.
(if device supports this) Wireless security - select WPA2 (the wireless key will be removed)
Wireless Key - use the same key used on the primary
TURN OFF WPS, click apply
(ignore the warning)
Click Port Forwarding, then Firewall and select Disabled, click apply
(ignore the warning)
Click UPnP and select off, click apply
Unplug the Laptop/PC, close the browser
Connect the HH3a (secondary) to the primary HH3a using an Ethernet cable or powerline adapters (PLA's), switch the secondary hub3a off and on again.
Should you find that you don't get a connection, reboot the secondary to re-establish the hand shake to the primary hub.

Thanks Harry. That's great. I'll have a go tomorrow daytime. 

Much appreciated.

HARRY, That's a brilliant idea - thanks for posting the tip! 

Now leaning towards trying the New Smarthub and then possibly using the HH5 as Harry suggests.

It hasn't failed me yet but I have not slaved a HH5. Hopefully Tony will report back with good news.

Will do, Harry.

Currently on a live BT web chat - Ahhhhhh..!

In english?

Allegedly !

I'm not sure how your wireless is configured, but Apple devices have problems with dual band 802.11an.

I had problems with this until I found an Apple bulletin onthe subject (unfortunately I cannot  find it again) which gave recommended settings for WAP so that iPhones, iPads, etc could reliably connect.

I use the same SSID for both frequency bands - maybe you could try disabling 802.11an if you're using it?

Note also that iOS10 currently also has problems when the SSID is hidden.

JUANITO, I have already separated the 2.4GHz & 5GHz Whi-Fi SSID's as recommended for Apple products, so that has improved speed noticeably. Its just the Wi-fi range and UPnP drop outs to the Mac Mini (server to the music) and property wide poor Wi-Fi coverage that are the issues to resolve. Especially as I ideally want to expand my Naim streaming system to other Naim boxes, and have no intention of doing so until everything is rock solid.

I wasn't aware that iOS10 specifically had issues with hidden SSID's. OK, I'll do bit more googling, so thanks for the heads up.

Done! Had to go through the instructions a couple of times as dumber here restarted the HH5 instead of resetting it.

Working perfect well along the Infinity HH6 which is already a very capable router.

Great shout Harry and thanks once again. 

Thanks Tony, and thanks for being the HH5 guinea pig. That's going to come in handy.