HomeHub5 unreliable - what's better for FTTP?

TL;DR - We have FTTP and a HomeHub5. Inexplicably since Monday night it has been unreliable with constant reboots (i.e. it never stablises). Nothing in the network has changed, but leaving a WiFi router out of the wired network seems to stop the HH5 reboots and allow both wired and wireless connectivity (although wireless remains weak and unreliable). What's the best solution?
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Hi all. Long time no speak

We've had BT Infinity 80/20 with FTTP for about two years, using the HomeHub5 that BT delivered. It's never been great for stability compared with whatever router I was using before, but since Monday night this week it's been abysmal. After wasting the entire evening last night trying to work out why it wouldn't remain solidly connected to the broadband I've started to consider replacing it with a different router.

The HH5 is in my study in one corner of our house. I use it for ethernet connections (via an Asus 8-port switch) to my Plex server, workstation, printer etc. and 5.0 WiFi for my phone and tablet. It also connects to a Solwise homeplug that gives me ethernet into the opposite corner of our house, where I've got an old but solid Linksys WRT54G wifi modem/router that extends my wireless network (with a different SSID). That's the WiFi that my kids, guests and Chromecasts use, and the Xbox and home cinema plug into that router too.

After Monday night, when we had bad weather, the HH5 has been rebooting continuously and never locks onto broadband. It's inaccessble over WiFi and isn't providing a DHCP service to the (wired) workstation. I did a factory reset and plugged the workstation straight into one of the HH5's ports and it stabilised. By a process of elimination I've managed to work out that the HH5 is stable for wired connections (but not WiFi) until I connect the Linksys router into the Homeplug, at which point the HH5 goes into its reset cycling again. A factory reset on the Linksys hasn't helped and switching off Smart Start (or whatever it's called in the HH5 config) makes no difference. The HH5 lost all its settings and did its own factory reset twice while I was experimenting with the network, which was weird too.

Maybe the Linksys router is suddenly borked somehow and screwing up the network, but having had it for years and been happy with its stability I trust it more than I trust the [censored] HomeHub5. Or maybe the HH5 got a power surge in storm Angus and something fried.

At work we have a Draytek Vigor 2830n that is absolutely solid. It *never* has an issue, either with Infinity or with its WiFi. It has features that I'd like at home (such as two independent WiFi SSIDs that make guest access easy), and it's awfully tempting to ditch the HomeHub5 and buy a Draytek unit for stability.

Two questions:
- Is there an obvious reason why my HH5 has suddenly become unstable? (Was there an OTA firmware update this week or anything?)
- Which alternatives to the HH5 offer the best stability and features at a domestic price point (up to £200, I guess)?

Would be grateful for any advice!

I went with a BT OR modem off the bay, Ubiquiti Edge Router Lite and a Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC Pro in the end as I was sick of AIO solutions where either the routing sucked or the wifi was woeful.

So far, it has been rock solid. The Ubiquiti gives you four Wifi SSIDs, the guest network config is extensive and if you buy it from broadbandbuyer they set the controller up in their cloud so you can monitor and adjust config anywhere in the world...

My ERL doesn't break a sweat with 80/20 FTTC so imagine it would be the same for FTTP the the three ethernet ports on it are configurable so 1xWAN, 2xLAN, bridged LAN ports or 2xWAN and 1xLAN.

All up I spent around £230 on the kit but it was well worth it.

Its FTTP so ebay tends not to have the FTTP ONT

The internet i.e. FTTP is handled by the Openreach ONT

The Linksys router might be making the DHCP server on the HH5 flap around depending on how connected, if seeking to improve wireless you need to use extra routers in wireless access point mode rather than router mode.

You can replace the HH5 so long as replacement device supports PPPoE and has an Ethernet WAN connection.

The Home Hubs tend to have a habit of rebooting when they get confused, which does flap even Ethernet connectivity.

I would ring BT and get a replacement HomeHub given it is FTTP.

The Hub 6 just had a brand new firmware upgrade which solved a few issues I was having.

The reboots point at the way the Linksys router is configured, it seems likely it is causing the HH5 DHCP to have issues and the HH is rebooting.

Do you have DHCP turned off on linksys?
On the Linksys are you using an ethernet port (not the WAN port)?
On the linksys have you assigned a static IP to it in the same range as HH5 (ideally high up so it does not clash with the HH5 allocation)?

Thanks for all the replies. (Can't see how to reply to the whole thread.)

The Linksys has DHCP server switched off (and always has had) and is set to use its own static IP outside the DHCP range I've set in the HomeHub.

I think we have a spare HH5 here at work so I might take that home and try it instead. Good suggestion.

I don't think I know how to set the Linksys into wireless access point mode. I'll have a play tonight if the problems persist.

What port on the Linksys are you connecting the HH too?

It is possible some odd handshaking is going on causing issues, beyond the DHCP server. What model Linksys router, someone might find the manual online and point you at the page to configure access point mode (some devices Asus/TP-Link have this as an explicit option)

The ethernet cable from the homeplug is going into one of the regular ethernet ports in the router. If it has an uplink port I don't think I tried it last night.

Thing is, this whole set-up has been working for two years! Argh!

Do you have a Google Chromecast or Home Audio?

If you do have a look here

If you have a Google Chromecast then that is the cause of the constant reboots. It affects all BT HH5 and Plusnet Hub One's and was caused by the release of a new firmware by Google this week for Chromecast devices.
It has been reported on the Plusnet boards and confirmed. Google have today released a fixed firmware for the Chromecast.

Have you enabled encryption on the Homeplugs? There are many happenings of neighbours networks being connected to other peoples LANs via insecure Homeplug connections.

You're a genius (with IanBB). Thank you. This is the problem.

Yes, I have a bunch of Chromecast Audios connected into the network through the Linksys's wireless. Disabling those has restored stability to my network and my Linksys can exist in harmony again. Thank f**k for that!

I'll take them into work and see if I can update them through our Draytek modem instead once Google releases new firmware.

(I'm kinda disappointed, since I was quite sold on the idea of a shiny new Draytek router for home! )

Edited by deleted (Wed 23-Nov-16 19:58:53)

Thanks for this reply too. I don't think these Solwise homeplugs have any kind of admin interface, but they are linked to each other through some sort of automated pairing so I hope they're encrypted in some way.

It's odd that no-one so far mentioned that HH5 can be flashed with OpenWRT - and thus get a whole bunch of new functionality.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Have you enabled encryption on the Homeplugs? There are many happenings of neighbours networks being connected to other peoples LANs via insecure Homeplug connections.

don't suppose if you know the ones BT Provide for BT vision are encrypted? They gave me the new ones which are aimed at the hh6 & cannot find any info anywhere.

The BT instructions just state to plug both in and wait for the light to turn blue. I cannot access a GUI or anything. There is also no talk of encryption in any of the manuals BT provided.

I'm struggling to imagine a manual that says:

"Plug into a mains socket, wait for the light to turn blue, then connect to it with an Ethernet cable or wirelessly with the wifi username and password of your HomeHub.

Fault finding: If it doesn't work, it's broken, Solution: Replace with a new one."

Genuinely that's all there is.

A one pager document that folds out with setup steps and another small booklet which is purely based on compliance.

EDIT: there's a manual as well but no mention of encryption.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Thu 24-Nov-16 09:20:06)