topic Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus in Broadband & Landline

BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

Gary019 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:29:11 GMT

My BT SH2 restarts itself every 2 weeks with a reason of SAAF. It appears to be self-initiated rather than as a result of a command from the Network Management System. These Restarts can be any time night or day. I have raised both a fault and complaint regarding this issue but am going round in circles. It is wasting Openreach Engineer’s time, as it is simply being re-assigned it to new engineers. Each time they admit that there is nothing wrong with either my SH2 or Broadband Connection and is not something they can suggest a resolution for. I have submitted the evidence I have found within my SH2 Logs and 2 others including a new SH2 that BT insisted I installed. Other people have also reported this in the BT Forum

Despite it being escalated to the BT Executive Complaints department they have drawn a blank and claimed we have reached an impasse. They are basically saying that they do not accept there is problem. They say my only course of action is to take it to the Ombudsman.

Before I consider doing that or moving to an EE Smart Hub Plus has anyone observed the same behaviour on the EE Smart Hub Plus.? My belief is that it is the same underlying hardware/system and so the 'Issue' may be happening with that Hub.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

XRaySpeX — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:24:54 GMT

There is no EE Smart Hub 2. Do you mean the white EE Smart Router or the black EE Smart Hub Plus?

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

Gary019 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:26:11 GMT

Sorry my mistake, the EE Smart Hub Plus.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

XRaySpeX — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:43:45 GMT

They are not the same. For starters the EE SH+ is WiFi-6 while the BT SH2 is WiFi-5.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

Gary019 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:56:36 GMT

So is the EE Smart Hub (2023) , which is Wi-Fi 5, the model that is more likely to have similar hardware/firmware as the BT SH2?

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

XRaySpeX — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 15:52:37 GMT

Possibly.

Not many users have posted about it. Think it had a short lifespan.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

Gary019 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 15:36:18 GMT

In that case has anyone who is running with an EE Smart Hub (2023) noticed it behaving in the same way, namely restarting itself every 2 weeks? If the System Uptime is consistently greater that 14 days then it is not suffering the same Issue. If it is less than that then looking at the Event Log will confirm if the Hub is being Restarted every 2 weeks.

I see little point migrating to an EE Smart Hub for it only to perform in exactly the same way.. Their is a good chance that the EE Smart Hub Plus is less likely to have the same problem, as it would appear to be based on different hardware, but apparently getting hold of one of these when moving to and EE package is not guaranteed.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

XRaySpeX — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 15:57:25 GMT

If you did migrate to EE New BB you are very unlikely to be given the SH 2023.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

Gary019 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 16:11:35 GMT

Unfortunately the Thread 'Waiting for smart hub plus' would suggest otherwise, however I will make some enquiries.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

Mustrum — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 16:17:45 GMT

@Gary019 BT based routers have done the 14 day reboot themselves for years, I believe it is part of their routine to ensure firmware is up to date and or stop connected devices getting "stuck". I don't have the latest EE router, but see no reason why their designers would change things now.

What problems is it causing you?

An easy option to get round it is to use your own non BT designed/supplied router..

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

Gary019 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 16:28:38 GMT

The problem is that the Hub restarts can happen anytime day or night. If they were to happen overnight or at a time of your choosing it would not be a problem. However if you are using a streaming service such as Sky Stream or Digital Voice then the service gets interrupted during the Restart. That fact that it only happens once every 2 weeks in not the issue, the fact that it happens and that BT are denying all knowledge of it is the real problem. I worked for them for 10 years and know that they are simply not willing to own up to this.

If you use a non BT designed/supplied router then at present you preclude yourself from migrating to Digital Voice.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

Mustrum — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 17:27:03 GMT

@Gary019 not experienced the restarts when I was using a BT router during the day, mine seemed to pick a time when there was little or no traffic. Perhaps now with more active devices, or perhaps they run out of memory to hide the code or some other reason it does not happen in the way it used to.

Perhaps @bobpullen may be able to provide more of an insight regarding the reboot criteria.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

Gary019 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 17:51:43 GMT

The DSL is occasionally taken down overnight in-between the 2 weekly restarts, which I am assuming are to maximise the performance of the connection. The main culprit is the Entries in the Event Log that State reason SAAF. A few examples below. The suspicion is that they are restarting it to 'camouflage' an inherent Memory Leakage issue.

15:54:54	28 Oct. System restart	reason: SAAF
15:39:17	14 Oct. System restart	reason: SAAF
15:23:45	30 Sep. System restart	reason: SAAF
15:08:08	16 Sep. System restart	reason: SAAF
14:52:35	02 Sep. System restart	reason: SAAF
01:26:57	25 Aug. System restart	reason: SAAF
01:11:19	11 Aug. System restart	reason: SAAF
13:50:58	03 Aug. System restart	reason: SAAF
13:35:24	20 Jul. System restart	reason: SAAF
13:19:52	06 Jul. System restart	reason: SAAF

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

bobpullen — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 19:36:33 GMT

@Mustrum wrote:
Perhaps @bobpullen may be able to provide more of an insight regarding the reboot criteria.

The Smart Hub Plus doesn't have a reboot schedule so wouldn't be subject to the problem. This assumes that it is a remotely-initiated reboot instruction that's to blame, although I tend to agree with @Gary019 that it does look likely given the reason in the logs 🤔

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

XRaySpeX — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 21:07:41 GMT

@Gary019 wrote:

Unfortunately the Thread 'Waiting for smart hub plus' would suggest otherwise

Where in Waiting for smart hub plus is there mention of SH (2023)? It does talk about an EE SH being sent instead of a SH+ but that is an even earlier SH which one might term as the EE SH 1.

You can see the visual diff between the EE SH+ & SH (2023) in Set up your Home Broadband EE Router

Not many users have posted about SH (2023). Think it had a short lifespan. New users of EE New BB are given SH+.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 verses EE Smart Hub Plus

GosforthUK — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 01:48:24 GMT

Interesting @Mustrum because over my 2 1/2 years with BT and Smart Hub 2, I had consistently more than 3 months periods, when the router never restarted, and if restarted, it was usually connected with FW upgrade, but never in such repeated 2 weeks, You mentioning.