Smart Hub 6 Variants and Performance

[#1]

@bill888 Plusnet are the only BT Group business not using the smart hub. EE customers now also get an altered BT Smart Hub when ordering fibre

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[#2]

Q: On the BT hub - how can I establish whether Fastpath or Interleaving is active?

[#3]

Log in to the router. Go to Advanced Settings./ Technical Log / Information.

[#4]

Need some help.

I choose to use Wireless Isolation (also know as AP Isolation, Station Isolation, or Client Isolation) on my home network as described here:

Lock Down Your Wi-Fi Network With Your Router’s Wireless Isolation Option - howtogeek - Jan 14'

This is not for everybody - it can affect google chromecast, file sharing & devices that 'talk to each other through the router' etc.

But for those of us that choose to use it:

Q: Does the BH6B have this feature/allow this - can I airlock devices on the same network from each other?  

My sincere thanks to any willing to help explore this.

[#5]

I have a 6A and have never come across this feature. I know nothing of the 6B but think it very unlikely. The business hubs have a form of guest network but I expect that that's as close as you will get.

[#6]

the simple answer is no it doesn't have this feature. The smart hub doesn't allow you to alter many wifi settings and this would be considered as a feature for an advanced user. You have to remember the home hub is aimed at standard consumers who want a wifi router that simply works so it usually only comes with basic settings that can be changed. I've checked my business smart hub 6 and although you can change more settings on it than you can with the standard smart hub it does not have this feature. 

[#7]

I recently managed to pick up a “BT Business Smart Hub 6” on eBay hoping to solve some of the issues I’m having with the standard PN Hub One with iOS devices.

Followed the instructions posted here and everything was quickly up and running.  Wi-Fi range is definitely better and speed is up slightly, but that might just be time of day etc.

However, the other thing I wanted to do was change DNS servers.  It isn’t obvious in “advanced settings” as it doesn’t look like you can edit the standard PN ones (212.159.6.10/9).

After some digging, I found something under IPv4 configuration which allowed me to switch “auto” off and set up google DNS addresses.  However, when I went back to the main page, it still displayed the PN ones.  Just got on my iPad and disconnected/reconnected Wi-Fi and surprised to find that “auto” on the iPad has changed to google DNS addresses.

Have I done this correctly, or am I missing something?

The firmware version is SG4B1B008198

[#8]

You have set the Smarthub up correctly. The main page doesn't update correctly but when I checked with a Win 10 PC it was correctly picking up the new DNS settings

I have been playing with my newer Ipad and found that the correct DNS addresses are not displayed unless I click on Configure DNS on a connected wifi channel. I also had to drop the connection then reconnect. If I check with the System Status app this is reporting the correct addresses.

[#9]

excuse me but what is the benefit of using a smarthub over the plusnet one?

does it have better wifi signal.

I say this as i have a smarthub 6 sitting in the cupboard

[#10]

I’m no expert, but was having problems with poor wifi range and the internet ‘hanging’ on a regular basis, especially on a google search. My initial thought was it being a DNS problem, but soon discovered that the PN router is locked down to PN DNS servers.

Reading this and a few other threads on this excellent forum, the general view appears to be that the Smarthub6 is a better router than the PN one (which is based on the HH5). Also, there appears to be known issues with connecting iOS devices, which is all we use over wifi in this household.  Also, the Business version of the smartbhub allows you to change DNS to google, openDNS, etc.

Anyway, I gave it a go and things are much better - faster searches and I can now get wifi on the patio - beer, sun and Wi-Fi - what else could you ask for.

[#11]

Pleased to hear it’s working for you. For the record the 2.4 and 5GHz bands are also synced on these routers so it’s worth separating them as per the Hub One.

[#12]

worked a charm cheers guys my sync went up from 54 to 57 too

[#13]

My experience has been the opposite. I have the Plusnet Hub One also the BT Home Hub 6 as well as the business version of the HH6. The BT HH6 models were new and unopened when I got them.

Whilst the wifi may be marginally better with the HH6, in my house, the Plusnet Hub One is more than adequate for my purposes.

What I found surprising was that my connection speed with both of the BT HH6 models  was 50.23Mbps while the connection speed with the Hub One was 55.71 Mbps! (almost 10% less)

That may not seem much in the scheme of things but many people in rural districts still on ADSL would be delighted to get that extra 5.48Mbps

Another thing which annoyed me was the fact that the HH6 (both) rebooted every fortnight unasked.

The only thing I missed was the ability to schedule turning off the hub lights. 

[#14]

It is wrong to assume that the drop in speed was due to the Smarthub having inferior performance without more evidence, for example you may have picked up a different  IP address and in my experience they do vary in sync speed. To conclude that as a result a Hub One would give an extra 5Mbps download speed on an ADSL service is illogical.

I do agree that they do a soft restart without dropping the line every 14 days but I have never noticed the short drop, let alone be irritated by it.

[#15]

You really should pay more attention to detail when reading posts.

I did not "conclude that as a result a Hub One would give an extra 5Mbps download speed on an ADSL service". I pointed out that although 5Mbps is not a great deal in the scheme of things, that 5Mpbs would be welcomed by someone in a rural district with no access to fttc and stuck using ADSL. ( Being far from the exchange, my typical connection speed on ADSL was 2Mbps, so 7Mbps would have been heaven)

Further, I am more than aware that as I do not have a fixed IP there may be an increase or decrease in connection speed depending on which nodes I am routed through.. 

You are naive to assume that I did not take this into account.  I bought these HH6s to use, not to prove that they were inferior to the Hub One, so I repeated the tests on several occasions, sometimes obtaining the same IP address, and the HH6s consistently connected at a slower speed. On the other hand, the wifi performance of the HH6s was consistently better than the Hub One,  but as I said, the wifi performance of the Hub One was more than adequate in my house for my purposes.

Thus, I chose the better performing of my particular Modem/routers in respect of connection speed to the slightly inferior performance of wifi speed. Horses for courses.

This was my experience with my particular examples of these Modem/Routers. Others, with their particular examples may well vary, as may manufacturing tolerances.