BT - HH 6 feedbacks

Hello, I've received yesterday the new HH6 from BT and I thought to give a few comments for future users.
Situation:
- coming from hh5
- BT user for a bit more than one year (previously with Sky)
- Samknows white box user
- in the house : 3 mobiles, 2 tablets, 3 PCs (win 7), 1 NAS (Asustor), 1 smart tv, no topbox.

Pros:
Installation: straightforward. I believe the power supply is the same as HH5. Connect, wait, green, orange, blue. Online.
Nas was online and working
Upnp working with no issues (better than HH5)
Wifi slightly better than HH5, by a few more metres through brick walls.
2 Mbps upload gain
VPN working

Cons:
Lost 7 Mbps download
No DDNS except the ones allowed (so cannot use the NAS DDNS)
No loopback
NAS cannot acquire WAN anymore after several reboots of both

I still have to check if the ping has changed (yes I'm a gamer)

So for my requirements is a no go and I'll get back to HH5 tonight.
Let me know if you have questions.

Well I have received my free SmartHub today ready for when they do our FTTP.

So I am currently using it on our ADSL2+ connection, it seems that we are getting a little bit more speed, the latency has gone way up and is about 26mS to 45mS and that's in FastPath (i.e. Low Latency) where it use to be about 8mS to 12mS.

Here is the stats:

This is a list of your BT Smart Hub settings and current statistics.

Product name: BT Hub 6A
Serial number: +xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Firmware version: SG4B100021EC
Firmware updated: 12/05/16
Board version: 1.0
Gui version: 1.28.3
DSL uptime: 0 Days, 0 Hours 32 Minutes 36 Seconds
Data rate: 1.06 kbps / 5.97 kbps
Maximum data rate: 1064 / 6908
Noise margin: 5.9 / 6
Line attenuation: 41.5
Signal attenuation: 201 / 415
VPI / VCI: 0/38
Modulation: G_992_5_ANNEX_A
Latency type: Fast Path
Data sent / received: 13 MB Uploaded / 128 MB Downloaded
Broadband username: [email protected]
BT Wi-fi: Not active
2.4 GHz wireless network name: xxxxxx
2.4 GHz wireless channel: Smart (Channel 11)
5 GHz wireless network name: xxxxxx
5 GHz wireless channel: Smart (Channel 36)
Wireless security: WPA2 (Recommended)
Band steering: Off
Wireless mode: Mode 1
Firewall: On
MAC address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Software variant: -
Boot loader: 7.33.1

It seems that we can get a maximum of 6.9Mbps Sync Speed which becomes about 6Mbps download speed, however we are syncing at 5.97Mbps which is about 5.19Mbps download speed.

This is the TBB Speed Test for our HH4.
This is the TBB Speed Test for the SmartHub.

Its not much of a speed boot, but when you have a slow connection any boost is better than nothing LOL.

There is some issues when you disable the DHCP Server in the SmartHub where the IP range that it would use needs to still be valid and match the hubs IP, where with the HH4 this wasn't an issue.

The network devices section looks better.

So overall I like it, but I will see how it runs over the next few days and then a few more when we get our FTTP installed and if there is issues when used on our FTTP I will probably by a new Router/modem to connect to the ONT.

Paul

Be careful with the power supply. Don't just assume it's the same (it may be though). I remember on the Hub 5, I think you could use the Hub 4 power supply but it caused sync problems. The thing would turn on but was not able to sync if I remember correctly anyway.

A couple of settings that have caused some issues are Authoritative DHCP & Smart setup. Not sure what you mean by NAS getting WAN but perhaps this may help if it's struggling with getting an IP?

Edited by ukhardy07 (Thu 25-Aug-16 17:52:36)

I have just moved to BT and have the HH6. I quite like it and it was easy to set up, but I didn't use smart set up. I like the ability to name my network connections and delete unused objects (something I couldn't do with my previous ISP's routers). Port forwarding for my webcam & DDNS setup was easy enough and sync speed is roughly on a par with my previous Technicolor router.

I am not a tech, but it seems to to the job for me at the moment (apart from the TBB monitor).

Mark

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Be careful with the power supply. Don't just assume it's the same (it may be though). I remember on the Hub 5, I think you could use the Hub 4 power supply but it caused sync problems. The thing would turn on but was not able to sync if I remember correctly anyway.

The HH5 Type A and Type B use a different power supply to each other so it is worth checking the specs if you aren't going to change it.

Yes I did check and all the specs are exactly the same, at least on mine.
Still I've used his own

I have yet to have a single issue with the router personally. Syncs just the same as HH5b, stats look very similar too, same SNR, attenuation etc.

Attainable rate did change a lot initially but now back to normal.

Has not rebooted once apart from the 14 day reboot, no drop outs of the connection (hh5b dropped at least once a day).

No WiFi slowdowns, hh5b speeds dropped to sub 10Mbps regularly on 5Ghz.

I have had 28 devices connected at once all over wireless and it still worked flawless.

For reference I do not have a single wired device so have done no diagnosis on the wired side.

I have
1) disabled smart setup
2) set a fixed wireless channel for 2.4 and 5ghz (made a huge difference in my home - no idea why as I selected the same channel smart setup already had?!)
3) disabled upnp extended security
4) split 2.4 and 5ghz bands & connect into the hub only at 5ghz on most devices (apart those which do not support it)

Edited by ukhardy07 (Fri 26-Aug-16 10:02:52)

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

I have yet to have a single issue with the router personally. Syncs just the same as HH5b, stats look very similar too, same SNR, attenuation etc.

Attainable rate did change a lot initially but now back to normal.

Has not rebooted once apart from the 14 day reboot, no drop outs of the connection (hh5b dropped at least once a day).

No WiFi slowdowns, hh5b speeds dropped to sub 10Mbps regularly on 5Ghz.

I have had 28 devices connected at once all over wireless and it still worked flawless.

For reference I do not have a single wired device so have done no diagnosis on the wired side.

I have
1) disabled smart setup
2) set a fixed wireless channel for 2.4 and 5ghz (made a huge difference in my home - no idea why as I selected the same channel smart setup already had?!)
3) disabled upnp extended security
4) split 2.4 and 5ghz bands & connect into the hub only at 5ghz on most devices (apart those which do not support it)

Same here, nothing but praise for the Smart Hub

Just to say, I switched back to my ols isp's router (Technicolor) as I couldn't get anything in the DMZ to respond to the TBB monitor pings.

I have nitced that even though the sync rates are virtually identical, the throughput on the speedtests are shoing a marked difference. Over 50meg on the Technicolor, 42- 46 on the home hub