Using the BT Smarthub 6 on a Plusnet Account

[#1]

I got this sorted am using Hub 6 in may 2020

[#2]

@robster1002 .. a bit of detail missing there, mate!

[#3]

HI @Baldrick1 
Thanks for the info my BT Business Smart Hub is working on Plusnet.  However can you (or anyone of course) advise - is a Business Hub?   That's what I *thought* I'd bought but the screenshot shows different title and firmware to others on this thread.

Cheers

Dave (new to PlusNet)

[#4]

Its business hub, and firmware had been updated just a week ago so that's why it might be diffrent.

[#5]

@demsley  Welcome to the forum.

Model 084316, which this is, is a residential version of the Smarthub 6.

Edit

Two big give aways is the header and if you go to the Advanced Settings/Broadband page you will find the option for setting your DNS servers

[#6]

Thank you for confirming this.  Back to the eBay vendor I go!

Dave

[#7]

Was there any particular reason you wanted a Business Hub? From reading some of the recent posts, it looks like the BH firmware will no longer allow you to turn off BT WiFi. The only plus of the BH over the HH is that you can set your own DNS, but that can be done on an individual device by setting a static IP, or by running your own DHCP server.

[#8]

@cancunia 

As far as I am aware there has been one claim that you cannot turn off BT Wifi. I have had experience of setting up two previously with no such a problem.

For information I have just bought a brand new FTTP Business Smarthub to assess it's capability. Watch this space for my thoughts on this but to give you.a start.

1. As expected this works fine on a Plusnet FTTC service, you just lose the use of one LAN port.

2. It did not update.the firmware when I first switched it on yesterday.

3. When first switched on BT WiFi was switched off. This automatically switched on overnight. I assume that this is the default setting and does come with a warning that it can take 24 hours to activate should you want it.. All I had to do iwas select it this morning, enter the admin password and when I checked a couple of minutes later it had switched off.

4. To see if I could trigger a firmware update I dropped the DSL connection then switched it off using the on/off switch on the hub. On switching back on and reconnecting it immediately picked up new firmware.

5. BT WiFi remained off. I shall monitor this carefully and report back if there are any changes.

This Morning

Now

[#9]

is anyone else having random reboots of their BT Hub 6?

I've had 6 over the past 7 days, the latest being 10 minutes ago. In the Events Log it just says (everytime it happens)

:WDG Laststatus:: # Current boot was caused by Power Reset

[#10]

Looks to be a fairly common problem with the HH6:

:WDG Laststatus:: # Current boot was caused by Power Reset

[#11]

It's just, this minute, happened again.

[#12]

---

@cancunia wrote:

Looks to be a fairly common problem with the HH6:

:WDG Laststatus:: # Current boot was caused by Power Reset

---

From that link, it looks like a lot of the BT reported faults in that category were several months ago, the only cure seemed to be to revert to using an HH4 rather than the HH6. HH6 seems to be a poor choice for ADSL as the hardware is optimized for VDSL.

[#13]

I note that I can no longer reply to this thread https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Using-a-FTTP-Smarthub-6-on-a-Plusnet-FTTC-Service/m-p/165176... so i will add it here.

I have now played a little more with a Business version of a FTTP Smarthub 6, a model 088317. This behaves exactly the same as the residential FTTP Smarthub 6 as reported in the above link. The firmware is the same for both the Business and Residential models, currently SG4B1B0092BE

Connecting it directly via the DSL link gives you exactly the same facilities as the residential version such as ability to set your own choice of DNS server, control over SIP ALG etc. However, you lose one LAN port.

Connecting it using an unlocked modem (I have a redundant Huawei HG612) plugged into the WAN socket enables all the data available via 'telnetting' the HG 612 to be extracted, I use DSLstats. All the other Business features still work. Now you also need one of the LAN ports to extract data from the modem, leaving just two.

So my conclusions are:

1. These are potentially a good buy as there is potentially less demand for them, providing of course that you don't mind losing a LAN port, two if you are using an unlocked modem for monitoring.

2. They are potentially very useful if you have any connection problems as all you need to do is remove the DSL line, swap the DSL cable to an unlocked modem and connect the modem to the WAN and LAN socket and you can fully monitor the DSL connection without affecting any other settings.

I shall probably use it in the single unit mode and keep the modem in a cupboard in case I have any connection issues.

For those who are interested ,all these changes have not affected my switching off of BT WiFi, it steadfastly remains off. Neither does it have any FON output.

[#14]

The random reboot just happened again so I've decided to change the PSU to a spare one I have to see if that makes any difference.

If that doesn't then I'll change the HH6 over to the spare one I bought a few months back.

[#15]

Something strange has happened today, connection went offline at 1am briefly, but when it came back download speed had dropped from 70mb to 3-5mb. It's been like that all day, I have tried re-booting hub, spoke to Plusnet and they said line tests are reading okay. In hub status it says syncing at 80 down 20 up. Strangely upload speed is unchanged at 18mb

Plusnet suggested a wifi issue, but I have connected via ethernet and same speed issue. At a loss what to try next? Strangely my neighbour said he had similar issue today, he's with Vodafone but still same BT fibre connection from same exchange. 

Anything else I can try with the hub?