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BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

Anonymous
Not applicable

BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

[quote=BT press release]
BT says the new router, being rolled out from May 10, 2013, gives customers the best connection because of its smart dual band wireless technology. It combines Smart Wireless and concurrent dual band wireless (dual stream 802.1n MIMO technology simultaneously at 2.4GHz and 5GHz), which helps avoid interference to give the most dependable connection . It is the first router from a major ISP in the UK to offer this.
http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=4E2E1EF5-FCBA-4CE4-B769-E48E0F68ACED
39 REPLIES 39
Anotherone
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Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

I wonder if it will be locked down so that you can't check the stats or do any number of other useful things with it  Roll_eyes
Anonymous
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x47c
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Registered: ‎14-08-2009

Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4


Not only will its 'stats be locked down we wil probably find its "locked" to BT broadband only.
Interesting that it's not being designed to handle the modem side of BT infinity so BT clearly expect the separate modem/router concept of FTTC to be around for a bit.
Anotherone
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Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

Although that's probably only whilst it's Openreach FTTC install. When/if it gets to the point of ISP install, that situation is expected to change judging by a few reports I've read. There as already some VDSL/ADSL compatible Modem/Routers on the market!
njay
Grafter
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Registered: ‎05-04-2013

Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

Yeah as I see the Fritzbox 7360 ADSL/VSDL modem/router  is £110.79 at the moment. Acts as a dect base too.

Jaggies
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Registered: ‎29-06-2010

Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

The HH4 is usable on Plusnet Wink
Stats are pathetic, though - no FEC/HEC/CRC/LOS etc reported at all. This is all you get:
ADSL Line Status
Connection Information
Line state: Connected
Connection time: 0 days, 08:49:17
Downstream: 14.9 Mbps
Upstream: 1.115 Mbps
Still got a few things to iron out - like the HH3 it seems to forget to display devices connected which aren't actually active - I've just telnetted in to my D-Link print server, it's got an IP address (obviously) but it doesn't show up in the device list. You can't telnet in to 192.168.1.254 (wasn't really expecting that to work) and I haven't as yet been able to check to see if it responds to pings from the internet. Wireless seems about the same (3' thick walls here), but I don't have any devices with 5GHz wifi on board.
ETA: It's IPv6 ready, according to the Thinkbroadband checker. I've set up a BQM and will see if it responds or gives me all red.
tijara33
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Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

For the average BB user this router will be a huge step forward. The average user doesn't spend hours looking at their router stats etc etc. They don't know how to & they don't care. I am one of those average users!  Roll_eyes
BT are providing a dual band router foc for new  or renewed contracts or for £35.00 to purchase. My bet is that PN will soon follow their example, once they've got rid of the 582ns.
Anotherone
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Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

It's not a case of whether the average user spends hours looking at their router stats etc. etc. - I could, but I don't, eg. sometimes I will run RouterStats for a day or two just to check conditions on my line haven't changed etc.- it's a case of being able to look at the stats when things go wrong to help identify the causes of problems.
[cynic hat on]
I suspect the reason BT Retail want to use locked down Modem(/Router)s is so that there cheap off-shore foreign call centres don't have to cope with technically related queries that they can't understand when people are having problems. They can just give the average person a load of BS and say, sorry it's performing within acceptable limits (having pushed up the Target SNRM or banded the connection)!
If Plusnet ever went down that route, I can see a lot of people leaving.
[cynic hat off]
I can see you losing your bet  Lips_are_sealed
njay
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Registered: ‎05-04-2013

Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

Even casual browsing through the forum not particularly lookng at ADSL problems it comes across that the first port of call for people wanting to help is to ask for the router stats on the ADSL modems. There would be a signficant drop off in resolved ADSL issues through this forum is they were to go which in turn would have people going through the support route and getting no where.
So I agree that it would lead to people leaving.
apjashley1
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Registered: ‎31-07-2012

Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

Presumably BT(R) can see the stats if you call up with a problem?
Anotherone
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

Grin Grin Doesn't mean they are going to tell you or help  Lips_are_sealed
njay
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Registered: ‎05-04-2013

Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

I would agree. Why dish the details out if its going to arm the end user with reasons to sort out what BT would term a "line working withing accepted parameters"
I don't want acceptable. I want the best it can do  Grin
tijara33
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Registered: ‎22-06-2012

Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

Quote
it's a case of being able to look at the stats when things go wrong to help identify the causes of problems.

My point exactly; the average user wouldn't know how to identify the problem or solve it anyway. For 99.9% of users once their service is connected they sit back fat, dumb & happy & it all works OK. From my experience that's partcularly true with the fibre product. Therefore this new BT router will more than satisfy those users. For you really keen & knowledgeable "techies" then it won't suit & you will buy whichever advanced router best serves your needs.
Because of the poor wireless speed I experienced with the PN router I've invested in an Asus RT-N56U because of its excellent dual band capability. Its pages & pages of information on the GUI are about as useful & meaningful to me as t*ts on a bull.  Undecided
Jaggies
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Registered: ‎29-06-2010

Re: BT announce new dual band Home Hub 4

There's definitely no option to ping it and the BQM I set up last night was a wall of red this morning. It doesn't even show the noise margins, just the headline up/down speeds.
I mentioned in my previous post about another problem - I have a computer (the only one I have with Gig-Ethernet) connected to the Gig-E port, however it seems to time out when obtaining its IP address from the DHCP server. Next time I restart that machine I'll try connecting to a different port...