topic Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ? in My Router

Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

bugbear — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 10:31:39 GMT

I finally resolved my BT Smart Hub 6 Issue

(from this thread: https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/BT-Smart-Hub-6/m-p/1777866#M22632)

by buying a BT Smart Hub 5. (actually I ordered a 5 from eBay, a 4 arrived, and then I got a 5. Details).

The Hub 5 resolved the frequent reboot issue of the Hub 6 and has been in steady reliable use since then.

I have now been financially coerced by PlusNet into buying a fibre connection, which came with a free-for-the-cost-of-postage Plusnet Two router. (For the duration of the 18months deal fibre is £9 PER MONTH cheaper than ADSL)

I note that the Plusnet Two router will not split the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands, which the Smart Hub 5 did. Band splitting is "cool" but not really important to me.

Questions:

* Will my trusty BT Smart Hub 5 work with the Plusnet Fibre connection?
* Is there any reason NOT to use the (much more modern) Plusnet Two?

BugBear

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

bmc — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 14:24:58 GMT

@bugbear

Can't help with your specific question but I don't believe there is a BT Smart Hub 5

BT has the HH5 - which is what the PlusNet HubOne is based on (minor differences I believe).

BT then had the HH6 - which is also referred to as the Smart Hub 1

Next up is the BT Smart Hub 2 - this is the PlusNet HubTwo (once again with minor differences).

The BT Smart Hub 3 is rumoured to be one the way.

Matters are further complicated by BT having Business & Comsumer versions.

Brian

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

Baldrick1 — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 14:39:34 GMT

@bugbear

I have no idea why your Smarthub 6 would not work but that is by the way. Hardware wise the BT Home Hub 5A is the same as a Plusnet Hub One, apart from tweeks to the firmware. Similarly the new Plusnet Hub Two is, under the bonnet, a BT Smarthub 2. You are quite right, you cannot split the bands on the newer hubs but they do have similar and superior wireless performance.

All these hubs work on both ADSL and Fibre services so the choice is yours.

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

bugbear — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 14:41:23 GMT

It appeared (from my research) that in some quite rare circumstances, the BT 6 just reboots, fairly often, and no-one, including BT know why.

This is by the by, as you point out.

Thank you for your overview, which appears concise, but complete. I'll install the the new Plusnet Hub Two, and see how I go on.

BugBear

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

dejjones — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 17:11:31 GMT

@bugbear

I used a BT HH6 from March 2021 to Jan 2022, with no problems other than the occasional resetting.

I'm pretty sure it was not power related in my case, and came to the conclusion it was something happening on the OR network, because it usually occurred between 1 am & 3 am. every 2 or 3 days,

I never got a positive answer to the cause, from anyone.

Early this month I changed to the Plusnet Hub 2 and so far it has stayed connected for 23 days.

Thought this might be useful info.

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

bugbear — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 17:14:58 GMT

I was a little worried that my Hub Two dropped the connection a couple of times today, but a sudden hunch made me do a speed test.

My upload rate is now 9.2 Mbps, (it used to be about 1) so it looks like I'm now on fibre! Hooray!

My download speed on ADSL used to be around 19 Mbps. It's now ... 14. So that's disappointing.

BugBear

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

jab1 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 17:22:10 GMT

@bugbear Strange - can you post the 'Advanced Diagnostics' report from here: BTW Performance Tester ?

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

bugbear — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 18:36:40 GMT

The Advanced test didn't run; the speed test ran OK. Should I use an ethernet cable instead of wi-fi for the speed test?

BugBear (results attached)

Summary of Performance Test

Timestamp

Tuesday 1 February 2022 | 18:32:10

Ping

57 Ms

Download

14.75 Mbps

Upload

11.08 Mbps

Summary Advanced Test

The system is currently busy. Please try again shortly, however if this problem persists, raise the issue with your service provider.

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

bugbear — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 18:43:15 GMT

Dug up a short ethernet cable, moved the laptop next to the router:

Looking better!

I may have a wi-fi issue to solve.

BugBear

[CLOSE][RESET]

Summary of Performance Test

Timestamp

Tuesday 1 February 2022 | 18:39:58

Ping

136 Ms

Download

34.69 Mbps

Upload

10.74 Mbps

Advance Test

Download Test

Download speed achieved during the test was 34.69 Mbps

For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 20 - 38.71 Mbps

IP Profile for your line is 38.71 Mbps

34.69 Mbps

38.71 Mbps

Upload Test

Upload speed achieved during the test was 10.74 Mbps

IP Profile for your line is 10 Mbps

10.74 Mbps

10 Mpbs

Summary Advanced Test

We were unable to identify any performance problem with your service at this time.

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

jab1 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 18:48:12 GMT

That speed test shows there is something wrong somewhere - if you are on a 40/10 connection (without seeing your Hub Help Desk) I would expect something >25Mb/s for download - although the ping is quite high - another 'fault' indicator. ALL speed tests should be run over ethernet if possible.

EDIT:

From your 2nd test - much better, but I don't like the ping figures.

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

bugbear — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 18:52:36 GMT

Hah. A speed test downloaded/installed/run on my Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K showed 37Mb download speed over wifi.

It looks like my isolated speed "problem" is the wifi on my lap top.

Perhaps I should mention it's from 2008 !!!

BugBear

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

bugbear — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 19:13:56 GMT

A quick look at an on-line review of my lap top says it has

an 802.11a/g Wi-Fi adapter and 10/100 Ethernet

BugBear

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

jab1 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 19:24:00 GMT

Which Laptop is it, and what OS is it running? Is it possible to update the Wi-Fi adapter?

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

bugbear — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 21:00:47 GMT

Dell Vostro 1700, upgraded to 250 Gb SSD, 4Gb RAM (all it can take), microphone card is broken.

O/S is [L]Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS

I've had it from new, and it's my only real computer. I'll probably replace it in a year or two. Current browsers are starting to really tax it.

BugBear

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

jab1 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 21:00:50 GMT

Right, so it is running very old internal kit which it is impossible to upgrade, and probably Windows XP/7? If I were you, and could afford it, I'd be buying a new/second-hand more modern machine.

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

HPsauce — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 09:19:32 GMT

It's just possible that your Vostro 1700 will actually take 8GB ram, but probably not worth trying.

There are some chipsets of that era that are documented as having a 4GB limit but actually will take 8GB, a friend of mine has a very similar Dell delivered with Windows 7 that he has upgraded successfully, it's even running Windows 11 now!

That said, it's almost certainly not going to be cost-effective, that model (I think) takes DDR2 ram and you'd need a pair of 4GB sticks that are as rare as rocking-horse poo and extremely expensive if you can find them.

Re: Plusnet Hub Two vs BT Smart Hub 5 ?

bugbear — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 09:32:17 GMT

Thank for the tip. I was given this (old) lap top by my company when I retired; they bought a "fleet" of about 10 in 2008. I know that the IT support guy max'd their RAM later to defer buying new laptops at one point, so I presume he researched and that 4Gb was indeed the limit. He's "quite obsessive".

BugBear