No firmware updates?

[#1]

Hello i have a plusnet hub two and i haven't received a firmware update since 22nd may 2022 i'm currently running v0.06.00.12134-PN i've been having some issues with my wifi and i'm wondering if maybe a newer firmware might be able to resolve the issue?

[#2]

That looks like old f/w. Maybe @bobpullen can check if your Hub is still on the platform? AFAIK, current firmware is v10.

[#3]

@supernoodles 

As @jab1  states, that is old firmware and needs updating. However this is very unlikely to be the cause of your wireless problem.

If you give us more details of your problem then maybe we can help with more specific advice.

[#4]

It seems to be an issue with the 5Ghz band basically when i have fornite open on my PS5 i can see the ping in the top left and as soon as a device that is also on the 5Ghz band loads something even just flicking through say tiktok video's or loading something on youtube kids there's a massive ping spike that doesn't happen on the 2.4Ghz band.

I have confirmed it's a 5Ghz issue by disabling the 5Ghz to force all devices onto the 2.4Ghz and the issue is not present at all.

Unfortunatly i can't just force devices to use the 2.4Ghz as you can't split the bands.

I had a similar issue on my old plusnet hub one and it turned out to be faulty Wifi which was fixed by a firmware update.

[#5]

@Baldrick1 Any thoughts - my mind says the band in use shouldn't cause ping spikes as they aren't related, bit ICBW?

[#6]

Just to add right now all devices in my flat are forced to 2.4 because the 5 is disabled so that's 15 devices and ping on Fortnite is a solid 20/30.

For comparison with 5ghz enabled and my PS5 on that band the only other devices are both of my kids Amazon fire tablets my phone and my partner's phone and again as soon as someone loads something ping spikes to 300/400 sometimes even as high as 1000

I have also tried all the different channels that the 5ghz band can do

[#7]

some further updates i've been doing testing most of the evening and i can get the ping to spike when doing a speedtest on another device during the upload test which i expect it is supposed to do.

One thing i have noticed is on the 2.4Ghz my speed is fairly bad instead of the 80/20 i get on 5Ghz most devices are getting 50-60 down and 5-10 up and my chromecast is just flat out refusing to work correctly with speeds as low as 30 down so i'm not sure if the wifi as a whole is just faulty.

Still very puzzled as to why tiktok causes ping spikes when my partner opens it but nothing happens when i open it on my device lol

[#8]

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@jab1 wrote:

... my mind says the band in use shouldn't cause ping spikes as they aren't related

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That would be true if the Hub 2 had upload QoS !  -  but being a useless pile of junk it doesn't.

Ping spikes most often occur when a whole load of upload packets arrive at the router's modem outgoing buffer, at a rate that is faster than the broadband upload bandwidth, so it takes a while for all the packets to take their turn to be sent, and delaying/blocking outgoing packets from other sources - hence causing a ping spike.

When you have a router that implements QoS, the upload path can be managed by sharing and prioritising packets to minimise delaying/blocking, but also managing packet flow by having LAN side handshaking to better manage the rate that various packet sources send their data.

Why might there be a difference between using 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands ?

Often 2.4Ghz WiFi has a default bandwidth of 20MHz,  whereas 5GHz WiFi usually has a default bandwidth of 80MHz.

Therefore because 5GHz has a much greater bandwidth, so it is possible for 5GHz devices to send much more data in a burst, to arrive at the outgoing modem's buffer - hence causing greater pings than from 2.4GHz sources.

My guess is that @supernoodles 's partner's device has a better network implementation, possibly doing multithreaded packet transmission to make the best use of the bandwidth (which is fine on a router with QoS, but will cause pings on 'toy' routers - especially if the broadband upload speed is significantly lower than the WiFi bandwidth)

It would be interesting to see if @supernoodles 's partners device gives a WORSE bufferbloat score than @supernoodles 's device - even though the partner's device probably achieves better overall performance

[#9]

My partners phone is a Samsung A71 mine is a Poco F1 so yeah there is a pretty big difference there in terms of age just frustrating that her device seems to be the only one causing most of the issues

Left image is my Poco F1 right image is my partners A71

Poco F1Samsung A71

[#10]

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@supernoodles wrote:

I had a similar issue on my old plusnet hub one and it turned out to be faulty Wifi which was fixed by a firmware update.

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Is there any reason you couldn't go back to the Hub 1 ?  (if that was fixed)

[#11]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@supernoodles wrote:

I had a similar issue on my old plusnet hub one and it turned out to be faulty Wifi which was fixed by a firmware update.

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Is there any reason you couldn't go back to the Hub 1 ?  (if that was fixed)

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I think i still have my Hub 1 in my storage cupboard i actually thought about this earlier i plan to try and dig it out tomorrow and see if its an issue on that one too.

I'm considering either just buying a double powerline adapter (currently have a single on for my pc) either that or a new router that is more reliable

[#12]

Those bufferboat results are interesting.

There is almost no difference between the phones,

your broadband is working well,

and the large latency on the upload shows that you need a QoS capable router to eliminate the ping spikes

For comparison, here's mine (with QoS) -

[#13]

its sad if this is all because of no QoS because this router has been great for me in terms of wifi range i can use it super far outside my flat compared to my old hub 1 😕

[#14]

It shouldn't be too hard to reconfigure the Hub 2 to become an extension wireless access point, using an ethernet cable from the Hub 1.

Just configure it on a different WiFi channel, and a separate SSID for 'outdoor WiFi'

[#15]

So to further add to the confusion of [-Censored-] is going on both me and my partner just joined the exact same lobby on Fortnite both connected to the 5Ghz WiFi and both on PS5's only difference is mine is about 3 meters from the router hers is basically right next to it and bam mine has ping spikes hers doesn't lol pulling my hair out at this rate.

Think it's bed time and try the hub 1 tomorrow will report back after