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BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

afiqul
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Registered: ‎08-06-2016

BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

Hi, I'm not sure if I'll get much support as I have the BT HH5A rather than the Official plusnet version.

 

I bought a used Homehub 5A from eBay last week as I thought it's a very cheap way to get access to full wireless AC speeds and make the house look nicer by having a combined modem and router(plus the BT engineer recommended it)

 

However, the range for the router seems to be MUCH worse than the TG582n that I replaced which is a real surprise as BT brand this as one of the best ISP provided routers on the market. Even at close ranges, it can have issues with speeds randomly dropping

It is also very inconsistent - I can be sitting in my living room conducting speed tests at 32mbps then within seconds this would drop to 0.5mbps. This is without any movement at all or any changes.

I have tried everything from changing channels, separating the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels and even connecting up the openreach modem to it in case it was some sort of modem error, but to no avail.

 

 

Do you think the router is faulty or are all HH5 like this?

 

Afi

17 REPLIES 17
Anotherone
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Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

The HH5 should not be like this. You mentioned an Openreach modem, so I assume you are connecting the Modem to the red WAN port on the HH?

Have you turned off the Wireless Smart Setup and chosen a fixed channel and is this connecting on the 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz band?
If the previous has no effect, although it shouldn't be necessary, try giving the 5Ghz band a different SSID eg. add a 5 to the name. See if that makes any difference.
Edit: sorry, I assume that's what you've done when you said "separating the 2.4 & 5Ghz"

 

Mustrum
Community Veteran
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Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

'inSSIDer' or any other Wi-Fi channel monitoring tool can help identify which channels to use.

Its also worth checking to see if you have any other devices that might interfere with your Wi-Fi signals, hands free phones/alarms and so on. 

afiqul
Dabbler
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Registered: ‎08-06-2016

Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

Yeah, I've tried using the openreach modem connected to the red WAN and also tried a direct connection without the openreach to the DSL to use the internal modem- no real difference either way.

 

 

I have disabled smart setup and have tried different fixed channels but no particular channel is better than any other.

I have split the 2 bands with different SSIDs and still have issues . Even a computer placed less than 1m away on the 5ghz band will have intermittent slowing of the Internet which can take a minute or 2 of refreshing to resolve.

 

 

 

Sadly I'm thinking I will have to go back to the old TG582n and openreach setup as the range is so poor, which is a shame as I had high expectations for this Sad

Anotherone
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Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

If you had no issues with the TG582n, it is rather sounding like the HH5A is faulty, what did the description say on ebay? I'd try complaining to the seller and if no luck there, raise a complaint with eBay.

afiqul
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Registered: ‎08-06-2016

Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

I have already checked to find the optimal channel(and even tried the non optimal channel) - I have even tried channels in between the recommended 1,6 and 11 - unfortunately it allmakes no difference.

 

I am doubting WiFi interference from other homes is an issue as there only is one other wifi network within range.

 

I have placed the router in the same position as the old one was previously (and away from any potential interference) so I would expect it to have at least the same performance as it is a technically superior router to the old TG582N.

Anotherone
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Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

It's wireless is supposed to be better than the TG582n, there is a degree of uncertainty about the rest Tongue

afiqul
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Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

Was marketed as perfect working condition and less than 6 months old, and it does look hardly used.

 

I think it probably will be very difficult to argue that the router is faulty as it does work, but has a poor range and drops out inconsistently - issues that the previous user may not have had. Although, I may as well try anyway.

I think I may have to switch back to the old router and potentially take it as a small loss.

Anotherone
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Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

How far away from the router are you roughly, and which band is it connecting to?

afiqul
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Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

Sorry, missed your message.

Router is in the middle of the house near the stairs and I'm downstairs in the living room below. Average size 4 bedroom semi detached house. - hovering between 2 bars and 1 bar on my iOS devices.

connecting to the 2.4ghz band. However the 5ghz from a computer close by even drops out occasionally.

 

 

Im wondering if I risk buying another one in the hope that this was just a one off faulty unit or do I just give up on the whole project 😕

Anotherone
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Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

Try experimenting with its orientation. IIRC the HH5 has 2 antenna for 2.4GHz and 3 antenna for 5Ghz.
The TG582n has 2 antenna for 2.4GHz.

Try rotating the HH hroizontally to start with, say through 90° and see if that happens to make any difference.

I'm going to guess that lying it on its front is likely to be more successful and you might possibly see an improvement, if so you could see if you could find a clever way of sitting it on it's back as the cables coming from the rear sockets are a bit of a problem in that respect.

afiqul
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Registered: ‎08-06-2016

Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

Unfortunately no difference after trying all sorts of positions. Im theory you shouldn't have to angle it in any particular orientation either as it should be omnidirectional antennas.

I'm going to see if a cheap HH5 goes cheap on eBay in the next few days and see if it makes a difference
Anotherone
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Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

Might be worth a try certainly. I'd still try asking the seller if they used the wireless, BUT just a thought -

As it's a BT HH5, if you look at the Helpdesk page, the BT Wifi isn't showing as on is it? Someone on BT (or paid for BT WiFi) might be using some of your bandwidth, but as I understood it, your usage would always take priority, but I'm not sure how that's decided, and if it's by the BT server, then as you are connected to Plusnet, that may mess that up.

Did you do a Factory reset before you used it on your connection?

afiqul
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Registered: ‎08-06-2016

Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

Yes, I did a factory reset as I didn't want people browsing on my bandwidth the BT Wifi with FON

(I did quite a lot of research before buying the router as to all the common issues like this and splitting SSIDs, smart setup etc)
Anotherone
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Re: BT Homehub 5A VERY inconsistent with speed

Well I'm out of ideas as well now, and bearing in mind your research it is looking more like something is faulty unfortunately. I wonder if the seller got rid of it because they thought it was flaky wireless and par for the course. And if it's really only 6 months old then in any case it would be under warranty for them as well Shocked so they could get it replaced!