Streaming problems new Hub Two

[#1]

Hi all,

So I've had my new super-duper 500Mbps full fibre installed, which is working well from a link point of view

I've also had to install the supplied Hub Two, since my old DLINK router was struggling to cover my house with the new fibre ingress location (they switched the input to the other end of the house because of tree problems).

After loads of messing around, I've finally got the HubTwo working reasonably well (2.4Ghz/5GHz channels clusterf**k aside), but I'm having frequent dropouts on the HubTwo when I'm streaming video/music. Particularly bad on the video if I'm using something like iPlayer, where it just "circles and circles" before crapping out. Pretty much every 5-10 minutes. Makes it completely unusable.

So I know its DEFINITELY the HubTwo rather than the fibre connection, since if I swap back to my old DLink router, it's fine. If I stream the content to the TVs over Powerline adaptors, it's fine (throughput about 30Mbps). But If I do it over the HubTwo WLAN (connection speeds > 200Mbps) it always happens.

Firmware on current version, Board version R01. The HubTwo is literally two days out of the box (although I suspect this is a reworked Hub2 since it came with a broken leg). Interestingly, this also used to happen on the HubOnes many years ago which is why I eventually switched to a DLINK router for my old fibre broadband.

Any ideas as to the cause/fix? Ideally I don't want to have to spend anothet £200 on a decent mesh Wifi network at the moment, but frankly speaking switching to the new FF 500mbps from 40Mbps Fibre Broadband isn't bringing me any advantages at all (in fact it's worse because of the router) since I can't stream anything.

Appreciate any ideas.

Dave

[#2]

@d8smt  by default the Hub 2 uses 'smart wifi' whereby it will scan adjacent networks and select what it thinks is the best wifi channel to avoid interference. There's a problem with this approach where there is some distance between the Hub and the client. The interference may well be completely differenet in the two locations. If you have a phone or tablet its worth installing a wifi analyser such as https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vrem.wifianalyzer&hl=en_GB&gl=US and checking the adjacent network strengths in both the hub and client locations. Then turn off smart wifi on the Hub and set a channel manually to best avoid other networks. 

[#3]

@MisterW  thanks for the suggestion, have already done this. The same thought crossed my mind but still happens on different channels. Also I then use the same channels on the DLINK router to compare and it's fine.........

[#4]

@d8smt in that case it MAY be worth experimenting with the Wifi Mode setting . Default is Mode 1 , try setting Mode 2 or 3 and see if it makes any difference

[#5]

HI Plusnet gurus,

OK, so this happened again (actually quite frequently) but in this case I managed to capture exactly the technical logs from the router when it occurred since I was logged into the router at the time. Have tried the 3 different Modes but no effect. This happens on the 5GHz channel predomnantly as far as I can see. Plusnet are kindly shipping a replacement router just in case.

Scenario

- Just trawling internet, watching news streaming from the Surface laptop (192.168.1.125, mac addr. 28:16:a8:50:3a:cb) via 5Ghz wifi. Laptop also has an ethernet connection over powerline (192...245) but it was the Wifi that was being used.

- At about 10:34 all connections on my laptop to the internet drop. Still can connect to the router to get logs (below) since I also have an ethernet connection over powerline ( IP Address 192.168.1.245 in the DHCP table). Laptop shows connected with no internet, Wifi connected via the 5MHz channel. No internet access over either Wifi or powerline/ethernet.

-about a couple of minute later, internet reconnected, all fine again.


Any ideas why these continual drops occur from the logs? These seem to occur regularly especially when I'm trying to stream video to the TV, making it pretty much unusable.

[#6]

Just trawling internet, watching news streaming from the Surface laptop (192.168.1.125, mac addr. 28:16:a8:50:3a:cb) via 5Ghz wifi. Laptop also has an ethernet connection over powerline (192...245) but it was the Wifi that was being used.

That sounds a bit odd, Windows (I assume) will normally prioritorise ethernet over wifi! Have you changed the priority ?

[#7]

Yes, I did change the priority. That's not really the issue though......:-)

For some reason the rest of my reply didn't work: here's the bottom half of my previous post

Any ideas why these continual drops occur from the logs? These seem to occur regularly especially when I'm trying to stream video to the TV or music to a tablet, making it pretty much unusable.

I suspect this could be the offending log:
10:35:05, 19 Dec. 5G client Mac: 28:16:A8:50:3A:CB Deauthentications (Reason:Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS)

This would normally occur when a client indicates to an AP that it's disconnecting from the wireless network. (Could be from a client going into 'sleep' mode and disconnecting the WiFi radio for battery savings). but in my case, the clients weren't going to sleep but the HubTwo thought they were? (happens on laptops, TVs, tablets).

Update: found this on t'internet, a 2-year old post from the BT Community, exactly the same problem as I'm experiencing, presumably with the same hardware:

https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Smart-Hub-2-Wi-Fi-devices-are-dropping-connection-and/td...

Logs:


10:39:48, 19 Dec. Receive a DHCP request
10:39:42, 19 Dec. ARP [add] br0(wl0) 192.168.1.185 02:f9:4c:b4:dc:c2
10:39:12, 19 Dec. 2.4G client Mac: 02:F9:4C:B4:DC:C2 Deauthentications (Reason:Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS)
10:39:10, 19 Dec. DHCP device Connected: 192.168.1.185, 02:f9:4c:b4:dc:c2, Dave-s-Note10-5G-II
10:39:10, 19 Dec. LAN [ADD] ARP 192.168.1.185 with 02:f9:4c:b4:dc:c2 from br0(wl0)
10:39:08, 19 Dec. Self roaming might be occurring... Deauth original one...
10:37:23, 19 Dec. Receive a DHCP request
10:35:17, 19 Dec. ARP [del] br0 192.168.1.125 28:16:a8:50:3a:cb
10:35:08, 19 Dec. DHCP device Disconnected: 192.168.1.125, 28:16:a8:50:3a:cb, Dave-SURFACE6
10:35:07, 19 Dec. LAN [DEL] ARP 192.168.1.125 with 28:16:a8:50:3a:cb from br0
10:35:05, 19 Dec. 5G client Mac: 28:16:A8:50:3A:CB Deauthentications (Reason:Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS)
10:34:51, 19 Dec. Receive a DHCP request
10:34:45, 19 Dec. admin login success from 192.168.1.245
10:34:20, 19 Dec. admin timeout from 192.168.1.245
10:34:05, 19 Dec. DHCP device Connected: 192.168.1.125, 28:16:a8:50:3a:cb, Dave-SURFACE6
10:34:05, 19 Dec. Lan IPv6 Neighbour Discovery events: NEIGHBOR_SOLICIT
10:34:05, 19 Dec. 5G Client associate from 28:16:a8:50:3a:cb (IP=192.168.1.125) RSSI=-52, Rate=780Mbps, host Dave-SURFACE6
10:34:05, 19 Dec. LAN [ADD] ARP 192.168.1.125 with 28:16:a8:50:3a:cb from br0(wl0)
10:34:05, 19 Dec. ARP [add] br0(wl0) 192.168.1.125 28:16:a8:50:3a:cb
10:34:05, 19 Dec. Receive a DHCP request

[#8]

My suspicion is that, since you can't split the 2.4GHz and 5Ghz SSID bands separately, that clients which are dual frequency capable are possibly switching between the bands (because they have the same SSID). This is causing frequent disconnects and reconnects. Only a theory, mind. But it doesn't happen on my IP Cameras that are only 2.4GHz capable (and are connected via an extender on a 2.4GHz-only frequency with a different SSID).

[#9]

Yes, the PN Hub 2 is basically the same hardware as the BT one, firmware is slightly different. That thread seems to indicate the cause might be devices swapping bands. Have you tried disabling either 2.4;or 5 GHz to see if that has any effect ?

I'm afraid I don't use a Hub 2 ,  I need functionality it doesn't have.

Is there any option on the laptop to force 5 GHz only ? 

[#10]

I do not see device's switching between 2.4 and 5 GHz wireless signal, I would suggest having two live connections to the same network is not helpful

[#11]

"would suggest having two live connections to the same network is not helpful"

Sorry, don't write understand this?

[#12]

Hi

Yes, great minds I've disabled the 2.4Ghz band to see if that improves it at all. I'll then at least know whether the problem is on the 5Ghz band or not. It's not just the laptop that's the issue, happens on numerous devices including all the smart TVs.

[#13]

---

@Dan_the_Van wrote:

 I would suggest having two live connections to the same network is not helpful

---

Sorry I had a disconnect between my brain and keyboard.

It is not advised to have one device with two live network adapters (wired and wireless) connected to the same network (both having a IP Address in 192.168.1.0/24 range)

I will add I do see device's dropping their 5GHz wireless connection, but not switching to 2.4GHz but re-establishing the 5GHz connection. 

[#14]

@Dan_the_Van ah right, thanks for the clarification. I only connected the laptop to the ethernet to check out logs, normally it's just connected to the 5ghz WiFi.

Interesting that you only see it dropping the 5Ghz, that could be consistent with what I'm seeing. I've no idea if it's just dropping or switching frequency band because(of course) there's only 1 SSID for both channels. It was only a theory!
Installed the new Hub Two router last night, running on 5ghz only ( 2.4ghz running on separate router & connected to new router by ethernet), so far no drops in the last 12 hours. Same firmware on the old and new routers as well. Interesting.

[#15]

For me all devices which support both 2.4 and 5GHz always connect to 5GHz, just the occasional drops as already mentioned. I have no issues with 2.4GHz only devices connecting.

For a feed to my garage I have a TP-Link TL-WPA4220 powerline kit which is an 2.4GHz only WAP, this shares the same SSID as the Hub Two, 2.4GHz device use the access point with the strongest signal at the time they connect

Before I moved I had endless wireless issues due to the property construction, now in a smaller property I have been able to reduce my wireless infrastructure from three to one Access Point.