Smart Hub 2 or Other solution

Hi,

I'm on ADSL2+, have BT Home Hub 4, which whilst reliable, the range is not great. I live in a 3 bedroom flat, and it struggles to load even Google when I'm farthest from the router.

My contract ends in November, but Community Fibre signed a wayleave with my landlord in mid 2021, so presumably I'll have FTTP within the next 2 years. BT offer the Smart Hub 2 free but on 2 year contracts, and individually purchasing them is £200. On Amazon, they're £35.

Would buying the SH2 on Amazon be the best idea? I'm a noob to third party routers, so looking for the easiest thing to install.

Edited by deleted (Mon 10-Apr-23 16:23:01)

The Smart Hub 2 will be simplicity itself to set up, and ought to improve wifi coverage

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

ought to improve wifi coverage

Just to add

It will, but if thats good enough for the OP's property no one can guarantee it.

This is a fair point, do believe the upgrades e.g. WIFI 4 to 6, 4G filtering and stronger 5ghz bands should be an improvement, though the extent is up in the air, especially with the limitations of ADSL.

I think switching out the routers is worth a shot, not sure what issues I may run into though.

The Home Hub 4 is a very old model so moving to a Smart Hub 2 is a good idea, but none of BTs routers have Wi-Fi 6 currently.

I wouldn't recommend buying off BT and paying full price - get a Business Smart Hub 2 from eBay - the Business versions of the routers let you change the DNS servers and enable WAN ping for things like BQM graphs.

Thanks for the advice on business versions, believe they support bridging as well! Quite a surprise SH2 doesn’t even have Wi-Fi 6, given 7 is on the horizon

do you know if the business smart hub 2 works with residential BT digital voice?

I have a SH2 and I use it with a wireless point (a repurposed router ) as I find the performance poor and unreliable. Other users on the BT forums have the same issue.

It's better than earlier models of BT hubs, but the hardware specification is getting a bit dated now

I've just had FTTP installed and the SH2 is still in the box. I've used my own non wifi router along with 3 PoE AP's for wireless. On the other hand, a family member changed from VM to BT and the SH2 was a vast improvement over the VM Hub.
So really it's very difficult to say how any ISP Hub will perform until it's up and running in situ.

Edited by Adduxi (Tue 11-Apr-23 09:43:40)

Any router wifi and our concrete block interior walls do not mix, so I use a TP-Link powerline extender at the far end of the house. Has worked fine for years and is readily portable if you need to move.

I used a SmartHub 2 from eBay. Plenty below £20.

Didn’t get disconnected or anything, as far as I can see the only check it does is whether the landline number is a paid account if so it’s allowed on the network.

Was planning to try Extenders and WAPs, but the awkward placement of sockets would make getting them plugged in tough

Yeah, a whole range of factors will affect things. I live really close to a telephone exchange, so perhaps that benefits me. Congrats on getting FTTP.

Thanks for this, am paying for landline, so going to hope that makes the transition easier

Update: Just got the router, so far so good!

Plugged it in, gave it a few mins and it was running! SH2 is quite big, almost double the size of my Home Hub 4

Early days, but looks like the dead spots are gone. Not blazing fast, but serviceable. Downloads are up from 15 to 18, and it doesn’t take half a minute to connect to WiFi anymore. The Wi-Fi seems more responsive, but not faster, if that makes sense.

Thanks all for the advice.

In reply to a post by safwanm:

Update: Just got the router, so far so good!

Plugged it in, gave it a few mins and it was running! SH2 is quite big, almost double the size of my Home Hub 4

Early days, but looks like the dead spots are gone. Not blazing fast, but serviceable. Downloads are up from 15 to 18, and it doesn’t take half a minute to connect to WiFi anymore. The Wi-Fi seems more responsive, but not faster, if that makes sense.

Thanks all for the advice.

…… glad it’s all worked out as suggested.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

…… glad it’s all worked out as suggested.

My below concern was unfounded 😎

In reply to a post by dect:

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

ought to improve wifi coverage

Just to add

It will, but if thats good enough for the OP's property no one can guarantee it.

It will, but if thats good enough for the OP's property no one can guarantee it.

Of course.

I reckon many/most who post regularly on here have ‘heightened’ requirements in terms of what they want from their broadband, and that’s just fine, we are all different, and I find for my needs, that router works pretty well. That it performs better than what the OP was using previously, is something I have observed many times through my work.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

something I have observed many times through my work.

I have no idea about any of the BT router specs as I haven't been an internet user via BT since the staff trials back in the 90s and obviously it was dialup then.

The issue with the SH2 wasn’t just about coverage although that wasn’t great compared with my previous router, it was reliability. Drop outs and lack of connectivity plus connecting to the BTWifi rather than the ssid. I suspect it is/was down to firmware issues. As ever YMMV

Edited by spile (Sun 16-Apr-23 07:48:51)

Since Community Fibre have signed a wayleave agreement for your building. I'm pretty sure that when it goes live, your speeds will drastically improve and you'll get served with a router that is even better than the SH2.

I also have Smart Hub 2 with BT FTTC. I'm wondering, don't you have FTTC in your area?

Also, I believe it may be a waste of money to buy the SH2 particularly if Community Fibre soon come because that router will be rendered useless as it will be locked only with BT and Plusnet.

I would've invested in another third party router that isn't locked to an ISP. I suppose having spent £35 it is no big deal.

My area got upgraded to Community Fibre within 20 months of wayleave agreement. Some areas can go live within only 6 months. I believe it has taken only 9 months for one of the other buildings nearby us. So you might not have to wait 2 years, Community Fibre and Hyperoptic are generally quicker to go live compared to Openreach at least in London.

I'm always someone who best prefers connecting router with an Ethernet cable as that gives you the best performance and reliability. Here where I live, we drilled a small hole in the bottom corner of the walls where the cables feed from the router in our bedroom all the way to the living room computers and satellite receiver. It is so clean, convenient and discreet that it is worth the hassle. Unless of-course you're a tenant and require permission from the landlord.

People across my street have OR FTTC & Virgin, on our side only OR ADSL

Did think about third party routers, but wanted to play it safe. Not the best use use of £35, but not the worst. Given the limits of ADSL, can’t complain with the SH2s performance.

Congrats on getting FTTP, guess the flat I live in is a rare case? This month marks two years since the wayleave agreement, they said they’ve yet to begin the building phase, might have to give them a ring.

I’m not too fussed, fingers crossed CF will be available by the end of the year