topic Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router in Broadband & Landline

Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

matthewmcneilly — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:46:13 GMT

I am trying to help a friend who has recently switched to EE since December 2025. Initially all worked well but suddenly some of her tv's (x3) lost internet connection (they are old but not ancient, still have smart capability). And also her sons VR Headset requires reconnecting to the wifi and entering the wifi password each time after powering down the device. Upon inspection the WiFi is working fine on all other devices (laptops, mobiles, ps4, firesticks, nintendo switch) and seems stable. However on the tv's they refuse to detect the network even after resetting them. The network is using WPA3-Personal-Transition security type so should be backward compatible out of the box. What I have tried;

Resetting hub to factory settings
Setting up compatibility wifi network using WPA2. Doesnt find this network.
Setting up guest mode using WPA2 protocol. Doesnt find this network.
Disabling 5GHz band
Moving TV's closer to the router
Manually entering the ssid and password on the tv's. Connects to the network but has no internet connection.

When using a mobile hotspot the tv's are able to connect fine. And neighboring wifi networks are also viewable.

Leaving me to suspect the wifi channel. From what I have read the compatibility and guest network use the same channel as the main network. The router is setup to automatically select a channel and will not allow me to manually configure either 2.4GHz or 5GHz. By default it is choosing channels such as channel 100 (DFS) which could cause problems with older devices. Is there any plan from EE to remedy this and allow more configuration to protect against issues with older devices.

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

JimM11 — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:50:29 GMT

@matthewmcneilly No plans, you should find out what the devices support and use the 2.4Ghz option!

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

Mooly01 — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:28:09 GMT

It sounds like you perhaps have a more recent Hub to mine but many have an option on the WiFi settings to change the mode to something more suitable for older equipment. Look for something like this.

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

JimM11 — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 15:42:01 GMT

@Mooly01 Not on the newer models that is why they have all the extra options, but Auto channel is the only option given and you cannot say where the channel is going to be, along with all the others. main, compatible, guest and the Hidden plus EE WiFi free for all. FW is more clamped options wise on the later EE Hubs. Are you using the BT or the EE version off the old Hub, BT Smarthub2 or the EE Smarthub (2023) model, your FW does look old as the newer wifi report's as smart channels.

Re: BT Smarthub2 on a FTTC 40/10 split. - The EE Community

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

Mooly01 — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 20:16:29 GMT

@JimM11 I did wonder.

It is an EE Smart Hub SH20A that is not quite 2 years old and it replaced the virtually identical BT version when BT unceremoniously and without asking or telling me moved me to EE at contract renewal time... however...

Fixing the channels was actually one of the first things I did tbh. Let the neighbours channel hop. It sounds like each version takes away user functionality. I think the earlier BT ones also allowed the bands to be separated as well.

FW last updated Dec 2025

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

JimM11 — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 21:04:16 GMT

@Mooly01 Linked posting from above did have the BT Smarthub2 FW and was updated to a slightly later version 1st Apr 2025 on the FTTC waiting on OR to install the Fibre connection, so Hub was Factory Reset then to return it ready for connection and to suit the original user's SSID/Password with only a TV connection. Your EE and that BT share the exact same FW versions.

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

Mooly01 — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 13:24:10 GMT

I'm not quite sure what you are saying with those screen shots vs mine 🙂

Do you mean I will see a different FW version pushed out as I move to from FTTC and over to FTTP?

In your shot here would you not now be able to manually pick a channel if you click on the the box that says Smart (channel 6) for example. Has that option gone with the latest FW you show.

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

XRaySpeX — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 13:51:00 GMT

@Mooly01 : The 2 of you are talking about diff routers, not just f/ware.

@JimM11 is referring to a BT SH2.

You have an EE SH (2023). It is a clone of the BT SH2 with similar functionality. You should be able to choose the channels via drop-downs.

Neither router relates to the modern EE SH router the OP has.

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

daveb10780 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 18:27:08 GMT

I am glad I found this thread but sadly have no good news or suggestions. We have just switched from BT (SmartHub 2 no problems) to EE (Hub 7 PRO) doesn't work for old devices. I have the same issue with an elderly laptop no networks are visible despite trying Compatible (should work), Guest (also should work) and all combinations of speed settings. Come on EE this is a common issue it would seem so please work out how to fix it as as matter of priority. The user interface on EE Pro 7 has removed lots of options, please bring them all back like mode for instance there are smart users out there.

You are most welcome to come round to our house then see and fix on site.

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

XRaySpeX — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 18:29:43 GMT

@daveb10780 : I think you'll find the router is set to Wireless Mode = WiFi6 and Security Type = WPA3 by default. Your device mayn't cope with that. Change the router settings down to WiFi5 and/or WPA2, particularly on the Compatible WiFi..

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

daveb10780 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 18:48:36 GMT

Thanks for the reply and I only wish we could, the only setting I have is for for security type and not Wireless Mode.My old laptop device is seeing no SSIDs Also when I try and connect to the compatible network from my phone it has the little 6 icon which I suspect it should have 5 or blank (see top connection on phone screen), same with the EE Wifi SSID. I think EE have really not got compatible type configured correctly which would be a major flaw and worth a speedy resolution.

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

JimM11 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:05:29 GMT

@daveb10780 Lot going on under the hood for transmissions hub wise, main, compat, guest if enabled, and all the hidden backhaul's, EE WiFi may also be up and out depending on what the hub does. You may just have to Ethernet web the hub, start turning off what you can and see if the laptop finds, if not then time to get an old RE connect that up and get the laptop connected to it!

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

daveb10780 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:12:05 GMT

There are indeed a lot of possibilities but if EE hadn't hidden most of the options I bet I could get it working fine. They are clearly not setting up a compatible network, what devices was that tested with I wonder.?A room full of old hardware would be a good idea. My current solution is a WiFi dongle for the laptop but it really should not be necessary.

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

JimM11 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:19:55 GMT

@daveb10780 Correct, had the son's ring doorbell, just would not connect to the VM hub 5x no matter what, just had to stick a Tp RE in and get that connected, doorbell had no issues connecting to that whatsoever!

The mid Feb 2025 intro of compat to the Hub Plus did more harm than good, 1st week of march hung up the spur's and departed!

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

bobpullen — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 09:24:17 GMT

@daveb10780 - Compatible WiFi uses WiFi 6 and that's intentional from what I can gather. DFS channels are irrelevant if you can't connect to the 2.4GHz Compatible WiFi network either.

Given the laptop cannot 'see' the SSID at all then I strongly suspect it's a WiFi 6 thing. I have encountered old Realtek network cards before that have exactly this problem. See here for something that sounds similar.

You may have some success trying to reinstall a different driver package for the network card. A less fuss option (but carries some expense) might be to invest in a cheap USB WiFi adapter.

Re: Incompatibility with older devices (TV's) and inability to configure EE router

daveb10780 — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:36:14 GMT

I have indeed gone for the simple approach of a cheap USB dongle which is certainly the simplest and most reliable solution. It is a little disengenous to market a Compatible Network that is not really. All it does in practice is let you have an old and new SSID since WPA3-Personal-Transition supports most WPA2 devices.

As an aside I did shoot myself in the foot in that there is a later driver available which may or not work but only for Windows 10. I have done an unsupported, albeit successful, upgrade to Windows 11 on the laptop so the driver will not install but would undoubtedly work.