Hub One losing internet connection on 5Ghz WiFi only

[#1]

if your Netgear extender is connecting to the router but not the internet, this seems to suggests the issue is the extender?

Hi Gandalf

I'm no techie, but I'm not sure that I agree with this analysis: there are times when, if I try to force my laptop to use the 5G connection to my Hub1, the laptop reports that it is connected (presumably to the hub) but with "no internet access".  This is certainly not the laptop's fault as I have a second Hub1 with the old firmare version still running, connected in to the first via an ethernet cable, and the same laptop will connect to this second Hub1 via its 5G connection and successfully connect to the internet.  This seems to me to be categorical proof that it is the new firmware release that is the issue.

As I said, I'm not a techie (retired systems analyst) but I am surprised that the problem is taking Plusnet so long to resolve.  I suffer from a trait once regarded as positive and commendable but apparently now derided and scorned, namely company / brand loyalty.  I've had much more time trouble-free with Plusnet than troubled.  But I confess this issue is driving me to the brink.  I could be consoled and reconciled if only the company came clean and notified all its Hub One users that there is an ongoing issue with the current formare release that is causing problems for people who need or wish to use the 5G connection. That it's being addressed but a resolution is not yet in sight (or maybe it is?!?) This would be up-front and honest, and be treating your customers with the respect we (stupidly?) feel we are entitled to.  But in the absence of any proactive customer-relations effort to placate us, it seems the only options open to us are (i) to create a big stink with the ombudsman, and demand to be kept informed at the very least; (ii) to create an even bigger stink by going to You and Yours on BBC's Radio 4 and denouncing Plusnet's silence on the issue; or (iii) to quietly go elsewhere (and hope they don't have the same issue and are also keeping quiet about it).  None of these is particularly attractive.  The internet should be like the water or electricity supply, and fail rarely and briefly, if at all.  If my water had been running at half pressure since March I'd expect to be told why, at least!

Regards

ttstoo

[#2]

Hi @ttstoo 

We are investigating the issues with the 5GHz frequency affecting a small number of people.

While frustrating it's not a fault with your broadband connection, but simply an issue with a router we provide free of charge. That's not say we're not investigating the issues and want it fixed.

For the time being do you see issues when you connect your laptop to the 2.4GHz frequency instead?

[#3]

Hi Gandalf
Thanks for your speedy reply. I can always connect on 2.4, but the connection is often very slow and inconsistent. Devices will at times take far too long to, for instance, load a Web page such as my Gmail page, but a Speedtest at the same time often (though not invariably) reports good download speeds. Testing now gave me 23.1 & 9.3 via 2.4 connection, but 61.8 & 8.99 via the piggybacked hub1 at 5Ghz.
Wouldn't looking a the log files of a hub tell your techies something? I've been surprised no-one has requested these.
Regards
ttstoo

[#4]

Last week I added a Google Home device which connected on 5 GHz. This seemed to be too much for the Plusnet router which then started to drop the 5 GHz network. So what I've done is to make all 'light' bandwidth devices use the 2.4 GHz network and only connect the 'heavy' bandwidth devices to the 5 GHz network. Too early to say whether this has worked. Funny thing is that I left Sky because they wanted some money to replace my 2.4 GHz only router with one that could support 5 GHz. Their new users got it automatically so I figure it doesn't pay to be loyal and switched to Plusnet. However, I now have a Plusnet router which seems to restrict 5 GHz usage and to be decidedly flaky.

[#5]

Hi all,

Time for another update from me. Thanks to everyone who has recently posted here with similar issues.

The test firmware I have on my router still continues to have problems with the 5 Ghz Wifi failing and losing it's internet connectivity. 2.4 Ghz and Ethernet continue to function even after this has happened.

I have now established that for me this failure occurs when I wake a windows 10 desktop PC from sleep mode. The PC is connected to the router via Ethernet and a network switch. The fact that this messes up 5 Ghz WiFi seems very odd but it has done three times in the last week now.

The WiFi doesn't fail every time I wake the PC but it only occurs when I do wake it. It happens within seconds of the PC being up & usable. It appears to be more likely to happen if the PC hasn't been used for a couple of days. The PC always works fine after waking up and always keeps the same IP address regardless of whether it has caused an issue.

It would be interesting to know if anybody else sees the same or similar now I have an idea of what may be causing it.

I have reported all of this to Bob Pullen via PM as the failures happened but yet again have been left waiting for a reply, I haven't even had an acknowledgement of receipt of my information.

It is really disappointing that effectively Plusnet asked me to help them with this but still don't seem that interested in my feedback. I now seem to have made more progress than them on this.

I will be able to escalate my formal complaint to the Ombudsman next week as eight weeks have elapsed since I raised it and I still don't feel that Plusnet are handling my complaint in an acceptable manner and are not making any progress on it. They certainly still haven't reported any progress whatsoever. I only raised the complaint because no progress had been made in 5 weeks already so that now takes my total on this to 13 weeks.

It really isn't fair for Plusnet to say that it is a problem with a free router and to suggest we buy another. If you were to buy the same router as a replacement from Plusnet they would charge you a significant sum for it and it would still have the same dodgy firmware. My 'free' router worked perfectly well until they gave me a 'free' firmware upgrade which totally messed it up.

If I do get any updates from Plusnet I will report back here.

In the meantime it would be good to know if the pattern I am seeing matches what others see but I do have the test firmware now so it may not be exactly the same.

[#6]

I use a Windows 10 desktop PC and I don't have the same problem. Mind you my PC is not wired, it uses the 5 GHz wifi. I'm guessing the firmware needs to allocate more resources (memory) for a 5 GHz connection than a 2.4 GHz? Maybe it's just running out of resources with bigger numbers of 5 GHz connections? How many devices do you have on the 5 GHz? Maybe when your PC wakes up the extra 5 GHz connection is the last straw? Can you move any of low bandwidth devices over to 2.4 GHz? Of course I could be talking rubbish.

[#7]

Hi @fairb 

I've only got 3 devices on 5 Ghz WiFi. A smart TV, an Echo Dot and an Android Phone.

Usually none of those are actually in active use (but are connected) when the 5 Ghz WiFi fails.

They all appear to stay connected until you try to use them at which point they report 'no internet'.

[#8]

Hi @ttstoo 

Thanks for the clarification. As far as I'm aware we should be able to see the logs from this side. Could you try going through the wireless channels of the 5GHz frequency testing on each one letting us know how it goes?

Hi @fairb welcome to Plusnet and I'm sorry to see you're experiencing with the 5GHz in our router. When you've got some time could you answer the below questions for us?

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

2. When did the problem start?

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

4. What devices do you have on your network and how are they connected, eg. wired or wireless?

5. How is your 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). This will help us try and replicate the issue in a lab environment.

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. Have you tried factory resetting? (if not, please try this)

9. Would you be 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 that it's the firmware that's the cause of the issue.

Hi @NigeBoy 

I have now established that for me this failure occurs when I wake a windows 10 desktop PC from sleep mode. The PC is connected to the router via Ethernet and a network switch. The fact that this messes up 5 Ghz WiFi seems very odd but it has done three times in the last week now.

Can you try disconnecting your PC and switch letting us know if other devices still have issues with the 5GHz frequency? 

[#9]

Hi Gandalf,

This is not my first time on the forum. My router firmware was upgraded (Plusnet Hub One | Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.263 | Last updated 15/02/19) a while ago because the router was frequently dropping out. About a week ago I added a Google Home device to my network which is when the 5 GHz started dropping out. Coincidence? 2.4 GHz and wire stayed up.12 devices on 2.4 GHz mostly Android, 3 devices on 5 GHz, IPad, Windows 10 PC & Chromecast (which all drop connections) and 3 devices on wired powerline (NAS, thermostat and Humax). Separated out 5 and 2.4 because of previous issues.

As I said above, I've reassigned some of my devices to use 2.4 GHz and it's now been up for 4 days. Thanks for the offer but I would like to see how things go for a while without changing anything. I did do a factory reset but that didn't help. As I said, the router seems to be a bit flaky. Perhaps a BT hub would be the way to go?

[#10]

@Gandalf 

I'm trying to help Plusnet sort this. I agreed to put up with the dodgy firmware for a bit longer in order to help Bob identify the issue. He did offer to roll me back to my last known good firmware the last time he contacted me over two weeks ago when we realised the test firmware hadn't solved the issue.

A lot of people have this problem & I am pointing out what seems to cause it for me.

Clearly if I just stopped using the internet I could disconnect everything and I wouldn't have any problems at all with my Plusnet router. I could keep paying you then I would have faultless service for the same price I am paying now for a poor service!

I don't just use the PC to break your fragile router firmware, I use it because I need to. It's why I pay for broadband. Do you really expect me to not use the PC for weeks on end just to prove that your firmware is faulty?

Even after 13 weeks you still seem to be missing the point completely. I am telling you what causes the problem for me in the hope you can recreate it and fix it.

All of this worked fine on the old firmware. You changed something not me or the many other people complaining on here. None of us have seen any evidence of you making any progress at all on this in almost four months. The main point of my earlier post was to try to update other affected community users in the absence of any update from Plusnet staff and also to enquire if anybody thought that their 5 Ghz was failing under the same circumstances as mine.

Hopefully Bob will get in touch and we can make some progress. I have asked him multiple times if he is able to see my router logs but he has never given me an answer. My hope was that by narrowing this down to a given device and IP address on my router it would help him.

I strongly suspect that unplugging my PC would stop the WiFi dying but that doesn't fix the problem. Bob has always been adamant that rolling back to a previous firmware is not a fix either so I am going to stick to my guns in the same way. If Bob wants to coordinate something with me that is fine but I'm not disconnecting my PC and waiting for it to fail as another delaying tactic whilst Plusnet do nothing about fixing the problem. There are other things I can try but disconnecting my desktop PC is not an option. Maybe checking now if the problem exists on the old firmware is a better way and would certainly cause less inconvenience to me, the paying customer.

We were having a very similar discussion about 3 weeks ago and again it has got me nowhere. At least now enough time has elapsed for me to be able to escalate my complaint.

[#11]

Hi @fairb 

Thanks for the detail, I'm trying to compile them into the questionnaire to pass onto our products team but I'm struggling to answer all of the questions using the information you've provided. Could you fill it out for us please?

[#12]

Just to add to this conversation, this morning my 5ghz is dead completely. It used to be that I could connect, the connection would eventually die, and then I'd disconnect and connect again.

This morning though I can't connect to 5ghz WiFi at all, across multiple devices.

I've not reset the router yet, I suspect this will fix the problem, but this is the first time this has happened for me.

[#13]

I believe I answered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9. I'm sorry, but I'm not going around every device to give you its firmware/software version. Either the router supports industry standard protocols, wifi, TCP/IP, DNS, etc, or it doesn't. Some of the devices are portable and owned by family and friends. I think what I have supplied you with is what could be reasonably expected of a Plusnet customer to provide. I can assure you that all the devices connected to my network are widely available and used commercial devices.

[#14]

Ive spent this morning reading a lot of the messages in this thread and I think I’ve got the same issue.

I get random drop outs of internet connection on phones/ tablets and the smart TV. The Samsung smart TV won’t reconnect without a power down. All are connected to the 5ghz. Zero problems with 2.4ghz connected devices like my smart thermostat, Xbox and some other smart TVs.

I originally suspected the google mesh, but recently I disconnected that, and the problems continued.

I’m lucky, I’ll just go and buy a replacement for the one hub and charge it to my company. Most people cannot do that and the attitude from Plusnet around this problem stinks.

[#15]

Plusnet suggested my devices were faulty. None on the 2.4GHz are affected - ever and those connected via a cable - PC, Hive hub etc aren't affected either. Anything the can connect to 5.GHz can connect only after a hub restart but even then it drops the 5GHz band very quickly.