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Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

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shermans
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Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

I have recently been upgraded by Plusnet to fibre as my rural locality has just had the infrastructure installed.  The final link from the cabinet is 1.25 km distant is by copper, however.  The contracted speed is 20 mbps but I am only getting 11 mbps.  Prior to the update, I was only getting 4 mbps.

Plusnet sent out an Openreach engineer to try to resolve it, who managed to get 20 mbps using her device plugged directly into the master socket.  However, when I do a speed test plugged directly into the router, I can never get above 11 mbps.  Plusnet have confirmed that all they can get through the router is 11 mbps.  Therefore Plusnet have booked another engineer's visit.

Now, my router is actually a BT Home Hub 5A although I have been supplied with a Plusnet Hub One, which everyone tells me is exactly the same as a BT Home Hub 5A, just re-packaged.  I have several devices hanging off an ethernet network, and therefore I have not changed the BT Home Hub 5A to the Plusnet Hub One, because it means changing all sorts of settings on the router.  The Openreach engineer also advised that there was no point.

 

Plusnet are warning that if a fault is found with my equipment, then I will be charged for the next visit. I do not want to take the risk, and so I intend over the week-end to install the Plusnet Hub One, like a good boy !  With old Sagecom routers, you had to use a special address like Http://......expert-user.html to change parameters.  Is there anything special with the Plusnet Hub One in order to access things like changing the SSID ?

Thanks.

18 REPLIES 18
bmc
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Before you change routers have you tried the "test" socket (with a filter) behind the Master socket face plate. This eliminates all internal wiring from the equation.

 

The guide you got with the Hub One explains how to get into the Hub Manage to change things like the SSID

 

Brian

bill888
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Simply log into Hub One with a web browser at 192.168.1.254.  The admin password in printed on the removable card and on label underneath the hub. (Exactly the same as for BT Home Hub 5)

Navigate to Advanced Settings-> Wireless menu, where you can view/edit the wireless SSID, and passphrase.

 

If you also visit Advanced Settings -> Broadband -> Connection, it should reveal your downstream and upstream line speeds. 

 

Better still go to Troubleshooting -> Helpdesk, it should reveal a lot more information about the DSL line.  If you post what you see in lines 6 to 9 from your Hub One (and BT HH5), it may be helpful.

Do you have telephone extension lines in your property?

Is your master socket fitted with an Openreach faceplate, or are you using microfilters?

ex-Plusnet (ADSL, FTTC) 2008-2023. now BT (FTTP) 2023-
shermans
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Thanks to one and all.  I have successfully accessed the Plusnet Hub One router and made the few changes I needed to in order to replicate what I had connected with the BT HomeHub 5A.  There is little difference, but HERE is the HUB INFORMATION :

6. Data rate: 2001 / 13637
7. Maximum data rate: 4860 / 15816
8. Noise margin: 14.2 / 8.3
9. Line attenuation: 34.7 / 29.7
10. Signal attenuation: 33.9 / 24.0

 

 

So I am getting 13.6 mbps now which is a little better than previously, but still a long way off the 20 mbps for which I am paying.

As I said above, the router is plugged directly into the Openreach Master box which has two sockets - one dedicated to broadband which pre-filters the signal, and one separate telephone socket.  So there is no need for my own filters.  As the router is plugged directly into the Master, which was only changed by Openreach three months ago, there is no opportunity for speed loss between the socket and the computer.

My only complaint with the Plusnet Hub One is that, no matter what I do, I cannot get my computer to "see" the USB port on the router.  With the former BT Home Hub 5, I used a memory stick plugged into the router all the time, and it worked like a dream.  But with the Plusnet Hub One, I can not "see" the USB port or memory stick for love nor money, no matter what I try.  I have done nothing different than before, and I just do not understand it.  I assume there is no new activation process required ?

shermans
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Ignore the router USB problem !  I have solved it.  For some reason, Network Discovery had got turned off on the computer.  I do not know how that happened, but when I turned it back on again, of course it found the router usb without difficulty.  What a waste of two hours, fiddling and googling !  A bit like going to the doctor only to find your symptoms have gone away !

bill888
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Thanks for confirming you have an Openreach 'filtered' faceplate fitted.

At first glance, your downstream noise margin is currently 8.3 dB.

When the Openreach engineer originally tested the line and recorded 20 mbps, the default noise margin would have been 6dB when the line was reset by the engineer during their visit.

It looks like you may have a line that suffers from noise or intermittent interference, and DLM subsequently raised the noise margin.  Increasing the default noise margin causes a corresponding reduction in line speed, so 16 mbps is about right for 8-9dB noise margin.  Identifying the source of the noise/interference is likely to be almost impossible.

 

What are the VDSL range A and B figures reported for your telephone number?

https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/

Out of curiosity, what ADSL broadband speeds did you have prior to upgrading for fibre?

Does your phone line come into the property via a telephone pole?

 

 

ex-Plusnet (ADSL, FTTC) 2008-2023. now BT (FTTP) 2023-
shermans
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Thanks for this info.  I Understand from Plusnet that 16 mbps is what Ofcom require as a minimum for my contract, which would be in line with your comments.  But of course I am only getting about 11-12 bps.  I was getting about 4 mbps before I upgraded to fibre.

Anyway, here are the VDSL data  :

Featured Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Downstream Handback Threshold(Mbps)

WBC FTTC Availability Date

WBC SOGEA Availability Date

WBC FTTC 18x2 Provide Availability

WBC FTTC 18x2 Sim Availability

Left in Jumper

  High Low High Low        
VDSL Range A (Clean) 28.3 19.3 3.7 1.9 16.5 Available -- -- Yes --
VDSL Range B (Impacted) 18.1 8.8 3.2 1 6.4 Available -- -- Yes --
shermans
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

I forgot to answer your question about the line coming into the house.  Yes, it is copper from a pole.  We are very rural, at the end of a cul-de-sac outside the village.  The cabinet is about 1.25 km at the bottom of our road, but Openreach has just dug a long channel running from the cabinet in a field parallel to our road and laid something (presumably fibre) in it.  I do not know where it ends up, though.  However, it was after that that we were suddenly informed fibre was available and that we could upgrade.  So whether we are still connected to the original cabinet or to a new one, I do not know.

bill888
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Some info about the definition of the 'Downstream Handback threshold' and where you stand from a contract point of view.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/01/bt-wholesale-broadband-checker-adds-downstream-handbac...

 

 If you know where your phone cabinet is located, the FTTC cabinet shouldn't be too far away, often just a few metres apart.  Your line is still physically wired to the 'original' PCP cabinet.  But if the FTTC cab is say 150m from the PCP cab, then the VDSL broadband distance will example be 1.25km + 150m = 1.4km.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ex-Plusnet (ADSL, FTTC) 2008-2023. now BT (FTTP) 2023-
shermans
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

That makes interesting reading, but I will have to suffer it because there is no alternative service and I need the broadband which at this speed is still faster than it was before.

AS for where my cabinet is located..... Originally, the service was provided directly from the village exchange, about a mile and a bit across the fields.  Then about a year ago, they started digging up the main road at the bottom of our lane - that is the 1.25 km to which I referred - and installed a green cabinet at the junction.  My understanding is that fibre fed the green cabinet but it appeared to come down the road from the East overhead - I do not know whether fibre can come be strung up on poles  overhead ?  From there it all went underground to the exchange in the village, about three quarters of a mile away to the West, from where it was distributed to the houses in the village.  I got the impression that the copper feed to us still comes across the fields from the exchange in the village, but I may have got that wrong, and it is possible that it comes from the junction with the main road near the cabinet. Certainly, the new trench dug in the adjacent field to the East running parallel to our lane must carry fibre from the green cabinet but where it goes, I do not know.  I also do not know whether our copper comes from the green cabinet at the junction or from the exchange, and next time I go out, I will take more interest.  It is all a bit of a mystery.

bmc
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Generally speaking a FTTC cabinet is always paired with an original phone cabinet. The phone service is provided as normal but the internet connect is run by fibre to the new cabinet and then "jumped" to the phone line in the old cabinet. The fibre cable can come from anywhere - it does not need to go to the Exchange.

 

I say generally because there is an exception. OpenReach developed what is known as a "onesie" - basically both a phone and a FTTC cabinet combined. Various reasons for this including no space to put a separate cabinet, conservation areas where they minimise the impact and where they have bundles of Exchange Only lines where they need both phone and FTTC to replace the EX lines.

 

It may be you got a "onesie" installed and your phone line was re-provisioned from the Exchange to this new cabinet.

 

Brian

shermans
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Well, we are in a conservation area, the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the green cabinet is outside the village envelope already, so it is possible they could not get permission for two cabinets.  I assume by "original phone cabinet" you mean what I refer to as the "Exchange" in the village - it is an actual building and was the original village exchange, but Openreach use it everyday and park their vans there overnight.  I do not know what is inside these days.

So if I understand you correctly, my line comes from the East past the green cabinet outside the village to the exchange about a mile away in the village where it meets the fibre which has gone underground from the same green cabinet to the same exchange.  My telephone line must then double back East to the green cabinet, where it is connected to the fibre, from there up a pole and with copper carries the signal along the poles to the houses around me about 1.25 km away.

All I do know is that the Openreach engineers always go first to the exchange in the village to do things and then back to the green cabinet.  It all seems a bit circuitous.

shermans
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Back to my router PLusnet Hub One USB problem again.  Having spent literally hours on this, the darned USB port keeps disappearing, and Windows Network tells me it cannot be found, even though I successfully mapped it to Z:, which was what I used with the former BT HoneHub 5A without any problems at all.  But the way things are it is too unreliable to use, which makes life very difficult.  It matters not which computer I use, desktop, laptop etc. all on the same Home Group.

Unless there is any technical network explanation, I am beginning to conclude that there is a fault with the router itself.

bmc
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

The Exchange is exactly what you think it is.

 

An Exchange Only phone line is one where the line is connected directly to the Exchange rather than through a cabinet. For technical reasons FTTC cannot be provided to EO lines hence the need for a new cabinet.

 

If this is what happened in your location then the phone line should come from the Exchange to the new cabinet and then onto your house.

 

Brian

shermans
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Re: Plusnet Hub One access to change parameters

Update on Openreach visit re. fibre speed.

 

Good result !  But long story.  About a year ago, I lost the broadband service altogether.  Openreach visited and eventually traced the fault to a fault at the exchange.  However, the engineer advised that the Master Socket which splits the broadband away from the telephone needed changing because it was old and giving a dodgy connection.  He went to the van to get one but there was nothing there.  So he promised to come and fit one next time he was in the locality.  Roll the clock on a year, and still nothing.  But by this time, the system was playing up all the time due to the loose broadband socket on the Master Socket.

So I raised a ticket and eventually another Openreach engineer visited to change the Master Socket.  After he left, I discovered that while the broadband worked, we now had no telephone at all in one of the rooms (we have a lot of phones).  So I jumped in the car and chased after him.  He returned and spent the rest of the afternoon fiddling with the wires in the Master Socket.  He had not taken note of which wire was connected to which terminal and was by now terribly confused, as there is more than one telephone circuit.  By the end of the day, we had no telephone of any sort and he left saying he would be back next day.  Frankly, he did not seem to have a clue about what he was doing.

Next day, he came back and spent all morning fiddling again but eventually manged to cobble things back together again.

A few weeks later, we upgraded to fibre and were surprised to find our speed was less than the promised speed. So I raised another ticket and another Openreach engineer turned up - very helpful but not very experienced.  She did a DLM re-set and eventually recorded a speed of 20 mbps by plugging her equipment directly into the socket behind the Master Socket.  I was ecstatic.  Off she went, and then I decided to do my own speed test expecting to see 20 mbps.  But sadly I only got 12 mbps.  I went back to Plusnet who confirmed that they could only get 12 mbps through the router remotely.  So they arranged another visit but feared that as we are very rural, there may be unavoidable signal loss in the external infastructure about which they could do nothing, in which case I would have the option to cancel.

The new Openreach engineer arrived this morning, this time someone who knew exactly what he was doing.  He took the Master Switch off and immediately discovered the problem.  The engineer who fitted the new Master Socket, taking two days to do it, had connected one of the telephone circuits to the broadband terminal, thereby reducing the signal strength by 50% !  As soon as he disconnected that circuit, bingo, we were able to see 23 mbps !  But then came the problem of trying to unscramble all the other wires.  He was here for about three hours and was cross that his colleague had not taken a note of all the connections before he replaced the Master Switch - in fact the female engineer said she always took a photograph of the wiring before she ever disconnected anything, especially in old properties like mine, because old wiring can look like spaghetti junction !

Eventually, he got the phones all working again, but reluctantly had to cut out the orange cable which provides the power to the ringer on old fashioned phones, of which I have several, because he just could not work out what had been done by the engineer who upgraded the Master Switch.  I can live with that, but it will mean buying a few new cheapo two-wire phones, probably long overdue.

However, I am disappointed about one of my phones.  It is an old, classic GPO rotary dial (Marconi ?) which still works and used to ring. prior to this episode.  But while it still works, now it no longer rings.  I loved the old ring, and I wondered whether fitting a thermistor might restore it, or would the phone's internal wiring still require the third orange wire ?