Hub One - 5GHz WiFi issue

[#1]

Good morning.

Frustratingly my router has started playing up again over the last 72 hours with the same old problem. I am on v289.1.1 which was pushed to me on 30th June. My Hub One had been relatively stable until this week. Are there any new fixes that can be pushed to me, or is my hub near the end of its mortal life?

[#2]

@bobpullen 

Morning Bob

With the Wi-Fi networks split I have disabled 'auto reconnect' on my mobile phone for the 2.4GHz network, but left it enabled for 5GHz.

Mobile was working fine around midnight last night, then put it down with it left switched on as I do every night.  When I picked up the phone this morning, NO Wi-Fi (5GHz) connection, so the phone was using data connection as it's supposed to do if no Wi-Fi available!!!! NB: the phone is configured so as to do a power off/on in the early hours of the morning which it duly did.

Took several minutes this morning before the mobile was able to find the 5GHz network - I was in kitchen some 20 feet from Hub One - with the mobile data network disabled.

This does seem to imply that there is still a fundamental underlying issue with the 5GHz network implementation on the Hub One and I have to admit I'm approaching the stage where I am seriously looking to replace it [Hub One] with another device.

[#3]

I have to confess that after a while of seeming to work smoothly following the .1.3 update, the wifi started doing the long pause or drop connection thing again. At the time I didn't have the capacity to do any clever experiments, so I simply disabled the 5GHz and it got a lot more stable. It still does the pause thing after the router has been running a week or two, I just reboot the rooter. IF there are specific experiments to try, please do ask me to do them, I'll try to do them if I can.

[#4]

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@viffergb wrote:

@bobpullen 

Mobile was working fine around midnight last night, then put it down with it left switched on as I do every night.  When I picked up the phone this morning, NO Wi-Fi (5GHz) connection, so the phone was using data connection as it's supposed to do if no Wi-Fi available!!!! NB: the phone is configured so as to do a power off/on in the early hours of the morning which it duly did.

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This may have been a bit of a 'red herring' as I configured the mobile NOT to do it's usual power off/on maintenance task in the early hours of this morning (11/12), and when I picked up the phone after waking, the 5GHz connection was working.  Maybe user interaction is required after the task is run in order to establish a connection, but I'm not convinced.

I'll do the same again tonight just to make sure it can be repeated.

[#5]

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@CecilSneer wrote:
Frustratingly my router has started playing up again over the last 72 hours with the same old problem. I am on v289.1.1 which was pushed to me on 30th June. My Hub One had been relatively stable until this week. Are there any new fixes that can be pushed to me, or is my hub near the end of its mortal life?

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Looks to me like it's the underlying Internet connection that was playing up/dropping, rather than the router.

Your hub automatically downloaded the latest firmware earlier today. You can either wait for an overnight reboot, or restart your hub now to accelerate things.

@viffergb - after a long period of inactivity, I would expect many recent smartphones to 'go into sleep' and drop the Wi-Fi/polling frequency. What you're describing may not necessarily be related. Does your access point operate on 2.4GHz, rather than 5GHz?

@ColinBee - saw the disconnection on the 8th, but nothing in the three weeks prior to that

@neiltownsend - I'm not sure I've read a more detailed explation of this 'pause' you're experiencing anywhere. Perhaps you can elaborate? A good starting point would be to separate the names of your 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networks so you have better visibility of where the problem lies. Note that 5GHz is not going to reach very far/nor through obstructions, and if a device is 'hanging onto' a weak 5GHz signal it can exhibit symptoms that sound like what you may be experiencing.

[#6]

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@bobpullen wrote:

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@viffergb - after a long period of inactivity, I would expect many recent smartphones to 'go into sleep' and drop the Wi-Fi/polling frequency. What you're describing may not necessarily be related. Does your access point operate on 2.4GHz, rather than 5GHz?

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Yes agreed, that does make a lot of sense.  I believe the phone is acting according to how I have it configured, which is to try and maintain a Wi-Fi connection at all times wherever possible.  I did configure it so as NOT to auto restart in the early hours of the morning for a couple of consecutive nights, and the 5GHz connection was maintained. NB: I have the phone set to run an optimisation task and then auto restart...bit like a 'CTL-ALT-DEL' 😉.

Yes, the access point does run on 2.4GHz and not 5GHz, so the phone is configured not to use it.  The Lenovo tablet is currently the only device using it due to its [the tablet] very poor Wi-Fi range and where it is geographically located in the bungalow in relation to the Hub One.

[#7]

@bobpullen thank you for the reply, 

Previously (before PlusNet), I was on Sky and using their router ran 2.4 and 5 with the same network ID and password pretty stably for 18+ months, so I know that it can work in the context. The devices in question are within 5m of the hub.

After the upgrade to .1.3, I ran 2.4GHz and 5GHz in parallel and it was stable for a short while, and gradually began to develop the same kind of “droppy” connections, the internet connection was fine (tested on a wired machine) but devices would seem to “lose” their connection in terms of data flow even though they’d were still connected. Sometimes it would come back, sometimes not. It got a lot better when I switched back to 2.4 only, but even that seems to benefit from a reboot every couple fo weeks, but that’s more anecdotal.

So, I have reenabled 5GHz (but with a distinct name) and set just one device (my phone) to use it. If it seems stable for a few days I will move the Amazon fire stick to it and see what happens, a somewhat stiffer test than my phone!

Let us see what happens.

[#8]

Thanks for the detail @neiltownsend - Few additional things I can check when it's going through a 'bad' period.

[#9 · Accepted solution]

There have been times when I thought this day would never come...

Firmware 4.7.5.1.83.8.289.1.3, which resolves the original issue this thread was raised for has now been successfully deployed to >99% of Hub Ones in the field. For this reason, I'm going to suggest we mark the thread as resolved.

I really do appreciate the patience of everybody that has contributed to the discussion, especially those who went above and beyond to help provide useful diagnosis of the issue, without which - it would have taken even longer to get to the bottom of things!

It's definitely been one of the trickier/more evasive issues I've ever had the 'pleasure' of being involved in, and whilst I know progress has seemed slow at times, it has been a tireless effort behind the scenes!

Some things to consider ...

• If a device is plugged in and is running older firmware, then it should update to the latest within 2-3 days of being connected. It will be at least a month or two before devices start shipping with the latest firmware on them.
  
  
• Having said the above, any old devices knocking around in the back of cupboards etc. that are running firmware earlier than 4.7.5.1.83.8.259.1.1 will no longer be able to communicate with the management platform. Probably best to send these back to us. If it's the only device we've ever provided you with, and you need a replacement for whatever reason, then please get in touch with support.
  
  
• If your firmware is 259.1.1 or higher and your device still isn't upgrading, then it's possible there's another reason it isn't 'talking' to the management platform. You can try a factory reset in these circumstances, although it's probably better to start a new forum thread and have one of the team look into it and advise best steps as this won't always work.

I'm mindful that there are a handful of you that are still experincing some issues. Not wanting to close the door on you guys, if you wish to continue discussion/diagnosis, then please feel free to start a new forum thread for your problem and I shall do my best to help.

As much as I would like to offer a goodwill gesture to everybody that has helped troubleshoot this issue over the months, that's sadly not within my gift. What I do have though, is a stack of ten Hub Two's (our newest modem/router) burning a hole in my desk. I don't think there's a particulalry diplomatic way for me to approach this, so I'm just going to send them to the first ten of you that reply to this thread requesting one. Please note, that I do expect you to have contributed to the discussion at some point in the past, so no chancers please

Once we've those ten replies, I'll be asking the mods to lock/unpin this thread.

Thanks, apologies again to those of you that were inconvenienced by this issue, and I wish everyone a pleasant Christmas/New Year.

[#10]

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@bobpullen wrote:

As much as I would like to offer a goodwill gesture to everybody that has helped troubleshoot this issue over the months, that's sadly not within my gift. What I do have though, is a stack of ten Hub Two's (our newest modem/router) burning a hole in my desk. I don't think there's a particulalry diplomatic way for me to approach this, so I'm just going to send them to the first ten of you that reply to this thread requesting one. Please note, that I do expect you to have contributed to the discussion at some point in the past, so no chancers please

Yes, please! 😁

... and, I should have said, thanks for all your help. I can appreciate how tricky this must've been to diagnose and resolve, and you've put up with a lot of undeserved flack for just trying to be helpful.

[#11]

Wow Bob seems such a long time ago since you started on this issue. Many thanks for you effort and persistence. Have a great Christmas .

until the next bug…….

[#12]

I would appreciate a Hub 2!

Thanks for your work on this issue.

Rich

[#13]

Yes please if there are any left

Thank you

[#14]

Yes please, I would love a Hub 2

[#15]

Was just saying thanks - no router needed here thanks