BT HH5 Type A or B
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BT HH5 Type A or B
25-08-2015 12:07 PM
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I have had Plusnet Fibre for about 18 months. Very happy with the speed/service (connect at about 73Mb). The only thing that I dont like is the supplied equipment, I have the BT Openrereach (ECI ?) Modem and Speedtouch Router.
The Wireless range and speed seem to be adequate at best. I'm hoping that an AC Router will provide better range/performance. Especially given that its dual band.
I have the option to buy a BT HomeHub 5, either type A or type B, for cheap as chips. The added bonus is that its a one box solution. However I am unsure on which to go for Type A or B ?
It would seem both have issues:
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=140268.0
Seems that Type A is more susceptible to the G.INP issue, but BT are rolling out a fix anyway.
However Type B has issues with port forwarding and DMZ conflicts. Does anyone know if this is an update on this. I'm leaning towards Type B because its a Broadcom chipset. Is there a chance that 3rd party may support this router in the future ? DD WRT, Tomato etc. I would appreciate any advice
https://community.bt.com/t5/Other-Broadband-Discussions/BT-HH5b-DMZ-amp-Port-Forwarding-problem/td-p...
Re: BT HH5 Type A or B
25-08-2015 2:24 PM
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Anyway, I bought one off ebay to give it a try. I have been running it for a few weeks now and have the following comments...
1) Wifi coverage is good (good for me at least, and much better than the TG582n it replaced). It also has the 5 GHz network if you have congestion in the 2.4 GHz band.
2) I have tried with and without the OpenReach modem. Sync speed was a little lower on the HH5 as compared to my HG612 OpenReach modem. I am currently running it with the OpenReach modem (via the HH5 WAN port) because I can get great line stats from the unlocked HG612.
3) A couple of my wi-fi devices lost connection after a while (I suspect something to do with DHCP), but I changed them to static IP addresses and that seems to have solved the issue (though time will tell).
4) My HH5 is not running the latest firmware so I am waiting for an update that may resolve the DHCP issue. From what I have read, the HH5 should update the firmware even on the Plusnet network, so I will wait and see.
I have the HH5A and I am on a Huawei cabinet (which may account for the slight drop in sync speed when using the HH5 modem). If I had the choice of either unit, I would probably take the 5B just because I am on a Huawei cabinet, and a lot of people seem to like the Broadcom chipsets.
I know there were some issues at the start of the year that BT fixed with a firmware upgrade (that I don't yet have).
The configurability of the HH5 isn't as good as some of the other routers out there (e.g. you can't have it respond to WAN pings, and there is no remote access to the router). Port forwarding seems to work ok though.
Overall, I am going to stick with it for now. I like the improved wi-fi performance, and it is sitting there working fine for the most part.
If you currently have the Hub Zero PN router, I would give the HH5 a try, especially if you can get it at a good price. If you want lots of configuration options, pay more for a higher end router.
One last thing, if you do get it, disable smart setup, and also separate the 2.4GHz and 5GHz SSIDs as if you don't, it causes a lot of issues.
Best of luck.
Re: BT HH5 Type A or B
25-08-2015 2:28 PM
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Enabling the DMZ disables port forwarding. If you can manage without the Monitor then the 5 is a better model.
DM
Re: BT HH5 Type A or B
25-08-2015 2:47 PM
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And just one question on that - with DMZ, it states one device can be put in the DMZ. Can that device be the HH5 itself to allow it to respond to WAN pings?
Thanks
Re: BT HH5 Type A or B
25-08-2015 4:19 PM
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It would seem that for every user with a decent experience with a router, there are others that have had terrible experiences. If you look on the BT forums, quite a few say they wouldn't touch it with a bargepole !
But the following features Gigabyte ports, AC Wireless, Dual band, integrated modem for very little money from ebay, initially seems a no brainer. To get the equivalent features on a named router, you're looking £150 +
Such a mixed bag of user experiences, makes you think twice. But I'm hoping I will get 'lucky' - just after better wifi performance and as solid a connection. Worse case, I could continue to use the Openreach modem.
jafreer - Was your wifi much better ? To be honest , I'm more concerned about range and less lag. I am hoping it will be, going from a single band N to dual band AC
Re: BT HH5 Type A or B
25-08-2015 4:35 PM
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For the record, my HH5A has firmware 4.7.5.1.83.8.173.1.6 which I know is outdated. Since there is no way to force a firmware update, I just have to wait.
I paid £25 for the HH5A. There may be cheaper deals out there, but it just happened to be the winning bid I made on Ebay.
As of right now, I am happy with the purchase. Still early days though and I will keep monitoring its performance.
Re: BT HH5 Type A or B
25-08-2015 5:29 PM
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I think I'll give it a go
Seeing that Type B is a Broadcom chipset, I wonder if theres any chance of alternative firmware, like Tomato,
Re: BT HH5 Type A or B
26-08-2015 10:40 AM
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The DMZ must contain a device that can respond to ICMP requests (Pings) which the Router can't.
The BT software will throw all requests that are not dealt with by port forwarding to the device into the DMZ, this worked well with the HH5A, I used an old Wolly box in the DMZ others use a Raspberry device or similar. Unfortunately using the HH5B version if the DMZ is enabled then all port forwarding is disabled.
Having moved on I haven't looked at the latest firmware but find it hard to believe there isn't a fix.
DM
Re: BT HH5 Type A or B
26-08-2015 1:18 PM
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So far it has been more reliable than the Type A (in my case)
However it seems to run at a hotter temperature
NE
Re: BT HH5 Type A or B
27-08-2015 11:37 AM
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Does anyone who has a HH5 know how long it sat on the PN network before a firmware update appeared?
Re: BT HH5 Type A or B
28-08-2015 1:22 PM
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Regards
NE
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