Hub One losing internet connection on 5Ghz WiFi only
Thanks for getting back to us @Russkinguk
I've discussed this with a colleague @MatthewWheeler and we can attribute out two of the drops in the early hours of the morning to likely be due to supplier maintenance.
The remaining 3 drops while frustrating they're spread over 14 days which can be caused by various reasons.
Due to the very low number of drops we'd struggle to get our suppliers/an engineer to investigate further. It can be normal for broadband to drop out occasionally due to the way the infrastructure works.
If the drops get more frequent, I believe Openreach's threshold for an intermittent connection is 3 drops in 24 hours or 6 drops in 72 hours, I'd recommend reporting a fault to us at http://faults.plus.net so we can arrange an engineer.
Sadly the Plusnet Hub One is a facelifted BT Homehub 5A which was one of the worst combined Modem/Routers supplied by BT. The original modem built into the HH5A had problems with G.INP (see below) which meant that some customers received worse speeds than would be obtainable with a better modem.
Whether Plusnet revised the modem versus the BT HH5 is unclear.
However BT's newer Smart Hub (technically Home Hub 6) uses a better integrated modem (Broadcom Modem or "BCM") with more Antennas for each WiFi band which results in PONTENTIALLY better WiFi performance.
When you consider that you can pick up a 2nd hand BT Smart Hub for very little on the second hand market and that this is directly compatible with the Plusnet service if you are not particularly tech minded but want better performance its hard not to be a real consideration.
If you are technically minded, have your own high end router solutions for your WiFi requirements then you can use a BT Business Hub 6 and configure it into Bridged Mode to use only the integrated modem and disable all the WiFi elements. This is NOT possible on a standard BT Smart Hub due to firmware restriction.
It is technically possible to use the Plusnet Hub One as a modem only, but all you will be doing in this case is turning off the wireless functionality rather than completely disabling it.
|
BT Smart |
Plusnet |
BT Home |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
| Complete Wi-Fi | No | No | No |
| Number of antennas | 7 | 5 | 5 |
| Wi-fi bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz) |
Dual Next generation AC wi-fi |
Dual AC wi-fi |
Dual AC wi-fi |
| 2.4GHz wi-fi band | 3x3 11b/g/n/ac | 2x2 11b/g/n | 2x2 11b/g/n |
| 5GHz wi-fi band | 4x4 11a/n/ac | 3x3 11a/n/ac | 3x3 11a/n/ac |
| Built-in 4G filters | Yes | No | No |
| Connections | 4 x giga ethernet | 4 x giga ethernet | 4 x ethernet |
| USB ports | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| On/off light control | Yes | No | No |
| Removable password card | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Smart Wireless | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BT Smart Scan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dect | No | No | No |
WiFi, Ghz, Channels, Antennas and bandwidth, what is the truth?
The reality is that manufacturers skew the truth with UNCLEAR advertising.
I will disregard Wireless a/b and g as theses have been out of production for many years. Hoever due to the backwards compatability of the latest standards rest assured if you have any devices that use a, b or g they will continue to work.
Wireless N
Operates on the 2.4Ghz frequency.
Each Antenna can transmit or receive a THEORETICAL MAXIMUM of 150Mbps
Wireless AC
Operates on the 5.0Ghz frequency.
Each Antenna can transmit or receive a THEORETICAL MAXIMUM of 433Mbps
| 2.4Ghz | 5.0Ghz | BT | Plusnet | TPLINK | ||||
| Antenna | Wireless N | Wireless AC | Smart Hub | Hub One | Archer C2700 | |||
| 1 x 1 | 150Mbps | 433Mbps | MAX THEORETICAL THROUGHPUT | |||||
| 2 x 2 | 300Mbps | 866Mbps | 2.4Ghz | 2 x 2 | - | 300Mbps | - | |
| 3 x3 | 450Mbps | 1299Mbps | 2.4Ghz | 3 x 3 | 450Mbps | - | - | |
| 4 x 4 | 600Mbps | 1732Mbps | 2.4Ghz | 4 x 4 | - | - | 600Mbps | |
| 5Ghz | 3 x 3 | - | 1299Mbps | - | ||||
| 5Ghz | 4 x 4 | 1732Mbps | - | 1732Mbps | ||||
| 600+1733 = 2533 | ||||||||
| Advertised As | - | - | 2533Mbps | |||||
2.4Ghz
2.4Ghz will generally give better coverage as it will penetrate through walls (especially solid/brick) but as it is so good at penetrating you will often find that your neighbours 2.4Ghz signals can cause interference.
2.4Ghz also has two blocks of information bandwith that can be used, 20 or 40mhz.
Usually you can set either 20Mhz, 40Mhz or 20/40Mhz (sometimes called Auto)
20Mhz is really a supportive measure for your older devices (the earliest n and older g,b,a devices) otherwise you should be set to 40Mhz or 20/40 (Auto).
Channel Settings
There are 14 channels in use on 2.4Ghz starting at 1 and ending at 13.
It works by moving your frequency up or down just a little so that it is still within 2.4Ghz but could be as low 2.412Ghz on Channel 1 or as high as 2.472 on Channel 13
If your 2.4Ghz WiFi connection is being affected by someone elses signal (or simply interference) then changing the setting can help.
For 20 Mhz broadcasting with 2.4 Ghz
The best channel band to use are 1, 6, 11
For 40 Mhz broadcasting with 2.4 Ghz
The best channel band to use are 3, 11
Most 2.4Ghz Wireless N routers will come pre-configured to Channels 1/6/11 or Auto (which allows it to move)
This is a pretty good guide on Channel Settings
5.0Ghz
5.0Ghz has less penetration, meaning that it is considerable less likely to be encountered within your property.
5.0Ghz also has blocks of information bandwidth that can be used 20,40, 60, 80 or 160mhz (on the very latest routers)
| Channel Width | Valid Channel Numbers |
| 20 MHz | 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 144, 149, 153, 161, 165, 169 |
| 40 MHz | 38, 46, 54, 62, 102, 110, 118, 126, 134, 142, 151, 159 |
| 80 MHz | 42, 58, 106, 122, 138, 155 |
| 160 MHz | 50, 114 |
THEORETICAL
Why do you keep using that word?
Theoretical basically means that in the perfect test conditions that is what can be obtained. In the real world no-one ever gets close to theoretical speeds.
A 2.4Ghz Wireless N, 3 x 3 Antenna rated for 450Mbps would provide approx. 240Mbps (megabits per second) or to use the same terms as the ISP, approximately 30MBps (megabytes per second).
A 5.0Ghz Wireless AC, 3 x 3 Antenna rated for 1299Mbps would provide approx. 720Mbps (megabits per second) or to use the same terms as the ISP, approxiomately 162.5MBps (megabytes per second)
Other Factors
Regardless of whether your Router is 2.4Ghz, 5.0Ghz, Wireless N, Wireless AC, 2 x 2, 3 x 3 or more the final limitation youi will encounter is the restriction of the type and number of antenna in the "product" you are using.
Typically you will find that the following products have the requisite number of antenna.
- Smartphones: 1 or 2 antenna
- USB Adaptors: 1 or 2 antennas
- Tablets: 2 to 4 antennas
- Laptops: 2 to 3 antennas (occasionally 4 on high end)
- Desktops: 2 to 4 antennas
- Smart TV's: 2 or more antennas
So you you might have a 5Ghz Wireless AC, 4 x 4 Antenna Router but your smartphone only has 1 x 1 AC Antenna and will therefore be limited to a "theoretical" 433Mbps, a real world 240Mbps (megabits per second) or 54MBps (megabytes per second).
Or your older laptop only has 2 x 2 Wireless N, and will therefore be limited to a "theoretical" 300Mbps, a real world 160Mbps (megabits per second) or 20MBps (megabytes per second).
Incidentally this is why ISP's request you to physically connect your hardware into the BT Master Socket when carrying out a Speed Test. The physical network socket on your pc/laptop/device is certain to be rated at either 100MBps or 1000MBps (1GBps).
WiFi Gets new names from 2019 onwards
- Wireless N becomes
-
WiFi 4
-
- Wireless AC becomes
-
WiFi 5
-
- Wireless AX becomes
-
WiFi 6
-
Which modems aren't G.INP compatible or unable to perform upstream retransmission?
Broadly speaking most of the modern VDSL modem/ routers are fully G.INP compatible and capable of both downstream and upstream Retransmission. We maintain a list of these modems on the forums.
The main exceptions are BT HomeHub Type 5A (aka Plusnet Hub One), Openreach ECI modem and Draytech Vigor 2850 series.
What was the problem and how did Openreach fix it?
Certain equipment is not compatible with g.inp on the upstream. Those modems which can't do upstream G.INP were given a default profile that applied a high level of interleaving and Error Correction.
It was this high level of interleaving which caused the large increase in latency and Error Correction reduced the amount of available sync speed.
The fix applied by Openreach (dubbed 'G.INP Mk2' solution) was to enable a less harsh default profile for the upstream which doesn't have interleaving applied for those modems which aren't fully G.INP compatible.
Upstream retransmission is still there for lines which experience noise and are using a compatible modem, but lines without compatible equipment aren't as heavily speed penalised like with v1.
Hello Guys,
I am sincerely sorry to hear you are experiencing theses issues, I can assure you our products team are investigating this and looking for a resolution. We don't have a time frame on this I am afraid, however a temporary workaround can be offered by completely disabling the 5ghz radio via the wi-fi settings pages of the router interface. This will not impact the range too significantly and allow to still use your connection wirelessly.
I am sorry for any inconvenience caused.
