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Home Hub 5 announced

Ram64man
Newbie
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎08-06-2013

Home Hub 5 announced

hello everyone
just to let you know that BT announced today that they are upgrading the home hub 4 already to a new home hub 5,   externally they appear identical so whats the difference? and what will this mean ?
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/07/uk-isp-bt-unveils-new-home-hub-5-vdsl2-broadband-wirele...
http://recombu.com/digital/news/bt-home-hub-5-wifi-ac-dual-band-hands-on-pictures_M11821.html

1) a built-in VDSL2 connection  for those not sure what it means you no longer need a openreach modem
2) all nic connections updated to GIGAbyte connections instead of 4 on 100mbs under the home hub 4
3) it supports the new  dual-band WiFi AC standard
Officially BT say that they will be rolling this hub out on all new FTTC later this year and because following today's announcement  FTTP connections are about to be  upgraded speeds to up to 300mbs/20mbs Down  (for £50  - ouch!  - yes some lucky folks already got these speeds if they had an FTTP install done since late FEB 2013) ,
firstly with so much criticism of the HomeHub4 the minor spec change is a welcome update,   but whats more interesting is what this announcement really means that BT are about to do.
firstly as stated in the press both Buzzbe and its partners  could post this modem to you in advance like what they do already to new customers, so  in the short term it finally means an end to needing the Huawei or ECI modem which are being retired by the manufacturer and in a way it answer the prays of  many all household who didn't want two boxes on the wall.
but what this announcement also means this service providers are now gearing up (like EE did last week with there announcement of  brightbox 2) for the yet  to be  announced (yet imminent)  self install VDSL2 option.    so just like dsl lines if your phone number is FTTC enabled  you plug in the necessary filters and the modem in on a particular day and the overreach engineer will activate your line to VDSL2+ no openreach  home visit is needed.
expect to see further news on this around mid/end of august
13 REPLIES 13
w23
Pro
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Registered: ‎08-01-2008

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

Be very intersting to know if DSL stats will be visible for FTTC.
Call me 'w23'
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Ram64man
Newbie
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎08-06-2013

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

given that its only a minor hardware change by the vendor (to a broadcom chip or equivalent) I think Buzbee may still keep this locked down,  but I agree this is one thing they should include so users can keep an eye on there usage or quality of there line,
Ram64man
Newbie
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎08-06-2013

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

also I wish to point out that FTTP customers will still need there 2nd box still as this new modem doesn't include direct Fiber connectors, or the ability to plug in an secondary power connector  (mini UPS) that is required for Voice calls on FTTP only lines
MisterW
Superuser
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

One would hope that BT have ensured that it's compatible with the vectoring trials Roll_eyes

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

SuperZoom
Grafter
Posts: 353
Registered: ‎17-05-2013

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

Quote from: Ram64man
all nic connections updated to GIGAbyte connections instead of 4 on 100mbs under the home hub 4

Could lead to new problems...    Wink

Quote from: Ram64man
following today's announcement  FTTP connections are about to be  upgraded speeds to up to 300mbs/20mbs Down  (for £50  - ouch!  - yes some lucky folks already got these speeds if they had an FTTP install done since late FEB 2013) ,


Not on PlusNet they don't. Nobody gets more than 80Mbps. But then it isn't charged at 50 quid a month either!
AndyH
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Registered: ‎27-10-2012

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

Quote from: SuperZoom

Not on PlusNet they don't. Nobody gets more than 80Mbps. But then it isn't charged at 50 quid a month either!

I do
Ram64man
Newbie
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎08-06-2013

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

MisterW  -  regarding vdsl2 vectoring support.
a bit of details for you regarding  vdsl2+ vectorings,  at the moment its a bit early to say as I haven't seen the spec details to say if its compatible but I expect it will be (if it useds the same combo chipset as EE's brightbox2),  after going to a vectoring example conference earlier this year on behalf of a company I worked for  at the time)  BT are and will be still using a  huawei device with a custom V3 firmware and the known trials are being used for a number of reasons,  these reasons include:
1) currently unable to to FTTC because of severe electrical noise because of heavy industry, (high output electrical , radar microwaves, high use of aluminum in ring or OLD infrastructure )  affecting end user speeds.
2) currently very slow speeds because of overhead connections away from Dslam  (tests  > 2500m distance) where speeds are expected to be only approx 5mbs under current FTTC)
3) test examples of mission critical businesses that have up till now had to use multi line  DSL line bonding
4) testing DSLAMs that are multi-use boxes e,g,  lease line connections Centry21, ADSL+, SDSL,  FTTC Lev 1 & 2 (from what I have seen no trial involves a dslam that has end user on FTTP)
5) VERY LIMITED trials of above option 2 speeds, eg. 100mbs (in the lap environment we saw speeds of >120, yet real world testing taking in line quality expect to see 105mbs - overhead)  for true speeds increases however vectoring have to be combined with G.fast connections and at the moment there are only a couple of out the lab trials in the uk  so don't expect any G-fast announcements this year, as current DSLAMs and hubs are not compatible.
6) use in local Government remote CCTV  connections & it was also mentioned one business customer planned to use it in high volume remote ATMS where up till now have been reliant on the wireless 800mhz access)
also one of the trial DSLAMS unknown to BT customers has been using Vertoring since march following it being unceremonious disconnected (dslam vs truck)  but this cabinet has been used to see how the technology copes with other modems etc that are not Vertoring compatible against the trials that were and if it improves the speeds when on or off.  from what I've seen so far because of the number of devices in use with old modems were talking just a few mbs increases on <600m not record breaking speeds,  this aim of this trails is more of a way of getting quoted option 2 speeds.  i believe more information can be found if you Google Frontier communications E348
Iain03
Grafter
Posts: 31
Registered: ‎02-04-2008

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

Not on PlusNet they don't. Nobody gets more than 80Mbps. But then it isn't charged at 50 quid a month either!
I do to
KevinA
Rising Star
Posts: 159
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎07-02-2013

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

Quote from: Iain03
I do to

Wow over 90Mb/s hashtag Envious!!  Cheesy
x47c
Grafter
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Registered: ‎14-08-2009

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

BT Sine standard 498 issue 4.3
Last modification January 2013
Page  21
Clause 3.2.2
"R.VDSL2.12  The Modem shall support 17HMz Vectoring as defined in G.993.5"
I have no idea when that clause was inserted in the Sine as I don't have previous editions and the revisions status notes doe not record it.
(The last mod' included a PHY layer re-transmission clause)
So all modems from all suppliers must comply with the Sine to be authorized to be connected to the BT network.
That leaves older ones from previous years non compliant that may upset vectoring (Solution - replace them)
also of course those lines still on ADSL2 in the cable bundle which not a lot can be done about as they are outside the control of the FTTC cabinet vectoring.
SuperZoom
Grafter
Posts: 353
Registered: ‎17-05-2013

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

Quote from: KevinAndrews
Wow over 90Mb/s hashtag Envious!!  Cheesy

Yeah... me too! Envious, that is. Definitely no need for GigE ports to support FTTP speeds over here (although we have both the FTTP and the GigE ports we thought we would need!)
Despite a 3ms ping, I'm only reaching 68.57Mbps today, based on downloading the TBB 1GB file on port 80.
Admittedly a substantial improvement over ADSL, but FTTP isn't all it's cracked up to be if there's congestion or some other kind of limitation at the exchange or beyond, whatever your router (and that result was actually a double-check direct from the ONT using a gigabit ethernet card, just to be absolutely sure there was nothing in the way.)
So PlusNet have some work to do in conjunction with Openreach before they can themselves confidently start shipping high performance routers to everyone instead of the Technicolor. Once you remove "Oh, it must be your line" and "Oh, it must be your router" from the troubleshooting possibilities, things start to get sticky.
Looks like the PlusNet network does deliver high throughput in some places, though... Are those figures consistent?
Finguz
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Registered: ‎21-02-2013

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

Quote from: w23
Be very intersting to know if DSL stats will be visible for FTTC.

I'm patiently waiting for someone to offer an ECI based/compatible VDSL2 modem for sensible money for my 'stats' fix  Cool
MysteryFCM
Grafter
Posts: 528
Registered: ‎30-08-2007

Re: Home Hub 5 announced

Quote from: KevinAndrews
Quote from: Iain03
I do to

Wow over 90Mb/s hashtag Envious!!  Cheesy

Me too. Got 2 lines here (one PlusNet, the other BT, both Business lines), PlusNet line is running at 72Mb (was 78Mb when it was first installed on the 8th), the BT line at 78Mb.