Hub Two wireless switched off but still has unnamed 2.4GHz and 5GHz enabled

[#1]

@nigelc - FYI, your hub has been targeted with a firmware update that introduces a toggle to the Advanced Wi-Fi pages that allows you to completely disable the Wi-Fi radios on the Hub Two.

Expect your hub to reboot early hours of the morning over the coming days to apply the update.

Once you have it (version number is 0.08.00.08297), then I'd welcome any feedback you have.

[#2]

@bobpullen I have both WiFi bands disabled on my Hub 2 and would be happy to try the new firmware that disables the hidden SSIDs

[#3]

@jwsg - thanks.

I've pushed the update to you. You'll just need to powercycle your hub when you get a minute to apply it.

[#4]

@jwsg 

In Advanced Settings >Advanced Wireless you will see a new switch

The hidden networks are only turned off with this switch set to YES, switching off 2.4GHz or 5GHz separately does not switch the associated hidden network off.

HTH

[#5]

Yes I have received the update to the router and can see disable wireless to turn off hidden networks thanks

Moderators Note: Duplicate post removed.

[#6]

I didn't, I'll wait a few days then as I am reading there's no way to trigger it from the hub built-in software

[#7]

Thanks @bobpullen I picked up v0.08.00.08297 after restarting the Hub 2. The new setting does seem to stop the hidden SSIDs being transmitted.

One observation though. After switching from a Smart Hub 1 (HH6) to the Plusnet Hub 2 I saw a 1 Mb/s increase in speed - visible in the IP Profile, the router sync speed, and in speed tests. But after restarting with this new firmware the sync speed dropped back - attenuations and margins are the same - I've rebooted once more to verify.

This might just be a coincidence but I thought I'd mention it.

[#8]

@jwsg - thanks for the feedback. I'd be surprised if the sync reduction is anything to do with the firmware given that there are no xDSL-layer changes in it that I'm aware of. One to keep an eye on.

@iw6dgm - you won't have received the update because it isn't being pushed out to everybody just yet. I'm not 100% convinced it's going to help with your use case either, unless you are looking to completely disable *all* Wi-Fi transmission. The new update doesn't provide a mechanism for removing the hidden SSID's whilst leaving the visible ones active.

[#9]

@bobpullen what were these hidden signals even supposed to be used for originally? - we know it's the remnants of the BT device but what was the intended use? - a Openworld engineer being able to park up round the corner and get free internet at lunchtime?

Secondly, why can they not be turned off? - It seems a little daft to only be able to turn them off with wifi being completely turned off. I must say that while i think the H2 is a great device (mainly for the custom DNS setting lol) I'm going to join others and voice my concern about this unwanted wifi.

Not only is it unexplained, it's also further EM radiation being pumped out.

[#10]

@7up 

The BT Smarthub 2 can be used in a mesh configuration with associated satellites. The hidden transmission on the original provides the mesh back haul. This feature is not available on the Plusnet Hub 2 but the transmission never got removed from the original firmware.

Nothing about others using your bandwidth!

[#11]

I'm happy that this change does turn off the radios - there may well be a small reduction in power consumption of a few W too.

The Hub 2 is OK as a modem and DHCP server but the loss of split SSID was too inconvenient so I added a AX1800 access point (not too expensive) and turned off Hub 2 WiFI.

This has WiFi 6 (5GHz) which is lacking in many modem/routers and I've noticed better QoS with 4K streaming not being so affected by downloads happening at that same time.

[#12]

I'm new to PlusNet as of last Saturday, I'm an ex John Lewis Broadband customer. As you'll all know John Lewis used PlusNet to provide their broadband but they're pulling out of the market very soon so I had to switch.

I too noticed this strange 'Hidden Network' today and I'm not happy about it either. I use a Tenda Mesh Wi-Fi system so I don't need the hub's own Wi-Fi. In fact one of the first things I did was turn off the Hub 2 Wi-Fi using the disable all Wi-Fi switch but the Hidden Network still persists. Odd that, as my new hub seems to have the brand new firmware version 0.08.00.08297 so reading this thread I would have expected it to disappear when I turned off 'all Wi-Fi.'

I still have my old John Lewis Zyxel router which I've set up using the PlusNet third party router settings. It works well. I'm seriously considering using that instead. My only worry is if I have a fault in the future the customer service people are likely to blame it on the 'non PlusNet' router rather than take the problem seriously.

[#13]

Hi @Smack welcome to the forum

Do the Tenda Mesh units support PPPoE connections? If yes then I would switching the Hub Two into bridge mode (modem only), I would use this method for the broadband connection, this will also turn off wireless. 

With regards to the "Disable all" switch, a wireless sniffer may need to be refreshed or restarted to see the hidden networks go.

The Disable ALL switch does work

Dan.

[#14]

It does disappear with this switch - but before using the disable all option I had already turned off both bands individually in Hub settings. You can confirm whether a hidden SSID you're seeing with a WiFi app on a phone likely comes from the Hub by it having the same channel and signal strength as the normal Hub 2 SSIDs, plus some apps give an estimate of distance too. 

[#15]

Thanks for your replies.

Interesting.

I can definitely still see 'hidden network', but only my (Windows 10) laptop seems to be picking it up despite a re-start. My mobile apple devices cant seem to find it. Very odd. 

The Tenda Mesh system does indeed support PPPoE so that's also an option.

I am quite keen to go back to the Zyxel anyway, as I'm colour blind and the colour coded indicator light of the Hub2 is a bit of a challenge for me. I can see the blue ok, but the red, orange and green all look pretty much identical to me!