BT HH5 Type A or B

[#1]

Hi,
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...

[#2]

I was in a similar situation as you in that the supplied PN router (TG582n in my case) had poor wireless coverage. I didn't want to spend much money and saw the HH5 had AC wireless, good wi-fi coverage, gigabit ethernet ports, separate WAN port, and an integrated VDSL modem. That is a lot of specification. On the flip side, there seemed to be 2 distinct groups of HH5 users. Those that had no issues with it, and those that did (suppose that is true of any router).
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.

[#3]

Unless there's been a recent firmware upgrade the problem with the 5 is setting up the TBB Monitor. This has to be enabled in the DMZ.
Enabling the DMZ disables port forwarding. If you can manage without the Monitor then the 5 is a better model.
DM

[#4]

Thanks for the info Champnet. I just assumed you couldn't use the TBB monitor at all, never thought of trying it with the DMZ.
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

[#5]

Thanks jafreer & Others.
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

[#6]

Yes, the wifi was a huge improvement. Bear in mind I was comparing it to a TG582n which is known for not having the best wifi coverage, but for me, a big improvement. I see quite a lot of people saying the HH5 wifi coverage is good. Their issues seem to relate to things other than the wifi coverage. Pings didn't seem affected and baseline ping is about the same wired or wireless (and same as it was on old router).
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.

[#7]

I've also have the TG582n, so should be a big improvement.
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,

[#8]

Jafreer, As the router creates the DMZ it's unlikely it can be part of it.
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

[#9]

I am using the BT Hub 5 Type B.
So far it has been more reliable than the Type A (in my case)
However it seems to run at a hotter temperature 
NE 

[#10]

Thanks for all replies, very useful indeed. And thanks for clarifying that you need a separate device that responds to pings.
Does anyone who has a HH5 know how long it sat on the PN network before a firmware update appeared?

[#11]

My hub last updated on 3/12/2014 and that was on a Plusnet connection.
Regards
NE