Could this be a bug with firmware 4.7.5.1.83.8.263 or Windows 10 or just a coincidence?

[#1]

Just 'doing my bit' for the 'community'

(tis frustrating though - just go back to the first 20-40 tickets, it wasn't plain sailing then and it certainly isn't now!!)

This stuff could lead to a man 'going mad' by checking the router and the SNR and the connection and the speed and the drops and the wifi issues, oh, hang on, wait a minute....

[#2]

I'm starting to think the 263 update could also be affecting devices via ethernet too.

I have no updates running and as an example the community home page is currently taking 40+ seconds to load, from a clean browser. I thought it was a one off, but other sites are doing the same.

However Googles search (just the site, no searching) loads quickly.

But running Speccy whilst loading the community home page and link speed is very erratic, like the ethernet speed goes to 0 and then up and down and 0. I wouldn't have thought it would be erratic? - Advice on this anyone?

Running TBB speedtester (download part) gives similar results, but the connection (link) speed tends to be around 3.7Mbps down to around 100Kbps or even dipping to 0. TBB upload gives a link speed of around 214Kbps, again dipping to 0.

As TBB does the download part, the link speed reduction seen on Speccy corresponds with the TBB needle dipping too.

I could be wrong, but would have thought the link speed would be constant during the TBB test or indeed loading the forums. Hmm, not sure what to make of this. If it helps, this laptop has been connected and in use for 13hrs and 14 mins.

[#3]

any update on this issue

happened a couple of times this week

i've now disabled the 5ghz channel...

[#4]

Hi @bluewhale 

I'm not sure, as it's your first post and this thread (and forgive me as I've not checked any other of your posts), is your Plusnet Hub One running the latest software, log in http://192.168.1.254 and go to the bottom of any page

If it's the latest, it will end on 263 and will have the date to the side. By all means post both of these up. Also, was the issue as soon as the firmware updated, or was it after about 3 days?

Some of my fellow customers have reported issues, though now for some of those it actually looks like it's not the same.

If you are indeed running on 263 and even with 5GHz turned off, but all of your wifi devices have issues connecting, that were not present on the previous version (259), then it does sound like you too could be having the same issue as I had.

[#5]

yes i'm on 263, sorry realised was on the other ( duplicate ) thread https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Could-this-be-a-bug-with-firmware-4-7-5-1-83-8-263-or-Window...

[#6]

@bluewhale I've asked one of our kind and dedicated mods to move our replies from the other subject on to here. I shall reply after they've hopefully been moved

[#7]

Moderators Note

Posts split and merged from a different thread into this one. 

[#8]

Hi @bluewhale, I'm sorry that you're having some WiFi issues, thanks for confirming your firmware version.

Could you provide the following information so we can pass this info to our Products Team:

1. Exactly how does the problem masquerade itself, what are the symptoms?

2. When did the problem start?

3. What firmware version is the router running and when was it last updated?

4. What devices are on the local network and how are they connected, eg. wired or wireless?

5. How is the network configured i.e. any Powerline adapters, additional switches, attached storage or or wi-fi access points in use?

6. What devices does the problem affect and what software/firmware versions are they running (if known). 

7. Are the 2.4GHz/5GHz radios separated or merged (they're merged by default). If separated, which radio is affected (or is it both)?

8. Has ta factory reset been tried? (if not, please try this)

9. Are you willing to downgrade firmware if we need to in order to help diagnose the issue? Bear in mind this will wipe all of the settings back to factory defaults, and we may need to upgrade/downgrade a second time to further prove the situation.

[#9]

@LaurenB 

1. android phones connected on the 2.4ghz lose internet, also seem to have problem switching to 2.4ghz from 5ghz on laptops, wps doesn't work and often internet layer not connected, however once connected works fine.

2. about a month ago

3 Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.263 Last updated 19/02/19

4. mixture of pc's wired/unwired, youview, tv, andoid devices, one wifi repeater

5 one repeater, 1 switch, router connected via old bt modem

6.re connection drop, android devices ( oreo ), laptop win10, all on the 2.4 ghz channel

7.the 2.4/5 on seperate ssid's

8. no factory reset, not willing to as will cause me loads of hassle

9. and no then to the downgrade if it involves a wipe, why can't a patch ( downgrade ) be pushed out that won;t do this?

[#10]

I begged and pleaded:

Advice on this anyone?

It's a shame nobody came back to me on this. Anyway, I can, with a great deal of confidence, state that when I was using the PNH1 on firmware 259, using ONLY 2.4GHz, 99% of my WiFi devices did not suffer with wifi dropout etc. There was however WiFi Registration Fail showing on this 259 firmware, which also carried over to 263.

When 263 came along, after roughly 3 days ALL of my devices started to have great difficulties in connecting, or staying connected, or stating connected, no internet.

I was then sent another new router (PNH!), which upon receiving was running 259 - issues, as if by magic, went away.

Roll on a few days, it's all documented on here somewhere, and yet again after 3days of 263 installing ALL the issues returned.

I have nothing to gain from making this up.

Due to the above and connection drops (router dropping to www), I obtained a BT Smart Hub 6. I've since been running this and it's almost like being on 259, though much much better.

I do still think some of my fellow customers are also seeing the same issues I faced, whereas Plusnet do not think there's a problem.

I can and will not do anymore about this, as I feel I'm wasting your time and mine - sorry all.

I will, where possible, try and help others whom think they have the same issue. But I tried every trick I knew, including 2x factory resets at the request of BoBP and Anoush, but I could not stop the issues I had when running firmware 263.

In summary, I think there might be a caching issue, I'm pretty sure 259 (on 2.4GHz) was stable for me, that 263 did 'something' that interrupted my WiFi devices, which also seemed to then affect Ethernet devices. If all my gear here worked fine (99% of the time) and the only thing that physically changed was the version (to 263), then what else could it have been?

This is almost like that facebook topic, yes I read every single post, and the conclusion seemed to be our fault (as in customers) as when their devices were updated, supposedly the issues went away.

So maybe it's because some of our devices cannot, for reasons beyond our control, update the OS to newer versions?

Maybe there isn't anything wrong with 263?

Maybe I've peed in the wind for too long on this?

Maybe it's a sheer fluke that 259 (2.4GHz) was fine, yet 263 was not?

But something isn't right, somewhere..... I know that much!!

[#11]

1. any update on this issue
2. happened a couple of times this week
3. i've now disabled the 5ghz channel...

1. No, but @bobpullen has made a list of questions for us to fill in, maybe someone can post it. I have already elsewhere.
2. Yes I know how you feel, though this could be how busy our house is, as ours happened more than that. It was after every device was out of range of the router (for various reasons) and it was mostly when they got back in range. I could sit 2 metres from my router and replicate this over and over and over and over and over again.
3. So did I.

I had my router pretty well much changed in most aspects of what we can change. WiFi split, different SSID's, different wireless passkeys, admin password changed, some devices static, some DHCP, the changes and list goes on.

But to add, my original router, having been in use for years, would NOT allow me to connect to it over 5GHz. Bob has seen those results. This is one of the reasons why I think a caching issue is there too. No device change, but a change of router and the 5GHz issue 'went away'. Same software, same brand of router. It did come back on 263 - both 2.4GHz and 5GHz were an issue.

edit. I read the posts in order and in this case have replied in that order. I see Bob's 'quiz' has been already attached. My bad.

[#12]

@bluewhale I'm very surprised PN aren't giving up a good tip, so guess I'll do that then

you wrote:

no factory reset, not willing to as will cause me loads of hassle

You can backup your routers settings, save it to say your desktop, carry out the reset, then restore your routers settings. But even though I tried 2x FR's, this didn't solve this for me.

Regarding:

1.  I always turn off WPS, so you're slightly different
2. Mine happened almost 3 days after the firmware was running on two different Hub Ones
3. .
4. Same, bar my wifi repeater is actually a BTHH5 - this did NOT show the same symptoms.
5. PLA's from primary router (was PNH1) to secondary router (BTHH5)
6. ditto (but my 'test' android was running android 5.0.2 IIRC)
7. ditto, but read on my other reply as I also change SSID's and pass keys.
8. Read about backup/restore. Your call, but it did nothing for me and understand your reasons for not wanting to;)
9. No point for me atm, running a perfectly good BTSH6. May put PNH1 back on, more so to get a spare repeater!!

[#13]

wps off ? as in Wi-Fi Protected Setup?

re when problems started it may have been happening more as it only affected the kids and they may not have realised/or said anything for a wile

to be honest i wish plusnet would move on from this router, i'd jump at teh chance at using the later bt router as i've been forced to use the old bt modem with the plusnet router as the plusnet router drops the connection once a day on my line, a known bug, which afaik has not been fixed yet

maybe now that bt have a newer router the slightly older bt router will start appearing on freecycle..

[ and i also object to having to burn more power just to work round this issue of connection drops on the plsunet router ]

[#14]

Yes, since the days of the BT Home Hub 2, when back then security concerns were raised, I have always turned off WPS within the routers settings. This also stops (unwanted) guests from hitting the WPS button and joining my network, they have to ask to join

I then, for example, search for my SSID, ask to connect, type in my non default wireless passkey and then connect. The same for all of my wifi enabled devices.

No idea if this was carried on through the routers, but some did have issues with certain devices connecting via WPS. Yes it takes longer (typing in my unique 'key') but I know I've set it how I prefer to do it.

In our case, it was the missus whom first had an issue, which at the time I wrongly blamed her, then I too had it (with multiple devices) - see page 1 regarding a seldom used laptop. This then became any wifi connected device, including new devices that I tried during my testing. Every single device had an issue on 263, but not on 259. This was the only reason for me posting so much lately. Although I have 5GHz devices I always made sure they were only on 2.4GHz, more so as the 5GHz wifi range is totally rubbish. I'm lucky that there's not many other routers in range of my house, so it can't be competing wifi.

Yes some devices had 'hiccups' on 259, but why the heck would all of them start to 'act up' when 263 was installed, it just doesn't add up and it can only be something on 265, can't it? Nothing, apart from the software update (I keep saying firmware, but they do word it software) changed here. So did fixing the known issues with 259 cause these when 263 came along, what else can it be?

to be honest i wish plusnet would move on from this router

In my honest opinion, this is all because BT own them. BT will have vast stocks of these routers and some 'mug' has got to use them until such time the very last one has been sent, possibly thrown around the room by it's new keeper, then set on fire before Plusnet move on - by that time, it'll probably be a BT Smart Hub 6, though possibly called the Plusnet Smart Hub Two.

Whilst I'm at it, you'll probably find it's BT stalling Plusnet from selling Super Fast Fibre, Plusnet would be in direct competition with it's owner. Oh, and IPv6. Then there's FTTP, a budget ISP competing with the 'big boys'. I'm sorry, but I think it's the truth. Ban me from here for all I care.

i'd jump at teh chance at using the later bt router as i've been forced to use the old bt modem with the plusnet router

Buy/beg/borrow/steal (don't actually steal) a BT Hub 6. These work on the Plusnet network. You can pick up a brand new one for less than £20 on ebay. Baldrick1 has written a how to connect I believe. You want a FTTC one, not a FTTP one. I have the residential version of the H6, but the business one also works (hence reference to Baldrick1). You can tweak the DNS settings on the business one.

I always used to use the ISP provided router, ALWAYS. It's since 263 that pushed me to the H6. Having said that, I'm having connection issues and also trying the H6 to see if this can cope with the old cable serving my home.

[#15]

Hi @bluewhale & @DS,

Thank you for providing this information, I have brought this thread to our products team attention internally. However, @bluewhale could you factory reset the router as this may correct the issue. I appreciate that it hasn't for others but it is a fundamental step in diagnosing and correcting issues. Once the service has reconnected, you can then configure the equipment to how it was configured before or await a potential firmware rollback before re-configuring.

I assure you both that we are investigating the issue but from the examples we have received so far it's difficult to replicate the problem. The potential firmware issues you are experiencing may not be affecting every user, as I'm sure you understand that there is a lot of users on this version without any issues. @DS, if you are to reconnect the Hub One please provide us all of the information @LaurenB has requested.

Thanks again.