1.6Gbit connection new smart hub (white, small box) sporadic issues? DNS MITM?

[allamavortex]

Hello all,

So I recently changed my service from 900mbit to 1.6Gbit and that involved a change of router and obviously the OR ONT on the wall.

Ever since having it installed there seems to be an issue with (most likely DNS issues). Whatever is loaded/playing/game continue to work, but I have spells where NO further DNS requests seem to make it through.

I totally forgot to nslookup during one of these issues, but I will the next time it happens (it's pretty frequent and annoying). I can ping 8.8.8.8 (google) whilst being unable to load any webpages on any device/browser. Thus removing the possibility of it being localised to a single machine/device as some were using the router, some were set to DNS over HTTPS and some were using Google's 8.8.8.8 etc. 

It is very much like the router is playing the MITM and intercepting the requests and then slowly, or failing to process these requests at all for a period of time which ranges up to about 45 seconds.

As I said, cached requests, or those already in process are fine, but even something as trivial as trying to watch a YT video is met with 45 seconds of nothing, totally unable to look up ANY address, but established connections and new connections not requiring DNS all work fine.

I'm not really one for conspiracies but I really feel like this new router is intercepting (MITM), attempting to do something with, and failing the DNS requests. This behaviour is only been present since getting the new Smart Hub (the tall, thing white one).

I did a quick google and it seems I'm not alone with this - is anyone else noticing this type of behavior?

Mixture of wired and wireless devices, same behaviour.

[JimM11]

@rainman2871 Few 900Mb/s user's now throwing there hat in the pot with very similar concerns so keep it in mind may just not be the 1.6Gb/s speed service that is the general issue! Hope your change at the weekend sort's it all out, would be surprised if it does not! EE Pro/Plus and all the FW/App updates just not ready for prime time currently!

[rainman2871]

Hi Guys

I have some good news for you guys regarding the firmware issues with 1.6gb and 900gb packages . Just got a call back this late afternoon  from Andy from EE Tech Team , you be pleased to know I have been informed there will be firmware rollback in the next week or 2 so the errors we are getting now will be temporary fixed until we get the latest stable firmware then he mentioned there IT Manager is instructing the team who deals in the software /firmware upgrades to pinpoint the issue causing this,  then they will remotely roll out the new firmware fix once it has been tested and 100% checked  , also he mentioned as for compensation we might get a letter in the post or email stating what the issue was and if they will compensate customers who complained about this, I have done my part now ,  he also mentioned 40 customers phoning about the same issues in the last week or 2, so again guys if you haven't  phoned please phone EE support to report this problem the more the better. to get this issue finally fixed,  EE Team do  read are issues on this forum site after all just taking longer to sort.

[rainman2871]

JimM11 

Looking like we are getting a firmware rollback  so when it last worked ok have a read, I have just replied here

[JimM11]

@rainman2871 Well done, good result, note below all the FW's for both so someone else wishes to grab and keep updated, knock your sock's off!

SH31B

FW: r1.35.0-R-1138091-PROD-83002 and the gui is at App version: 1.13.1.
FW: r2.68.11-R-1260390-PROD-83002
FW: r2.68.12-R-1270837-PROD-83002 and the gui is at App version 2.36.4. 09/01/2025
FW: r2.68.16-R-1296172-PROD-83002 and the gui is at App version 2.36.4. 31/01/2025
FW: r2.68.17-R-1303190-PROD-83002 and the gui is at App version 2.36.4. 14/02/2025
FW: r2.68.18-R-1303195-PROD-83002 and the gui is at App version 2.36.4. 11/02/2025
FW: r2.72.2-R-1302577-PROD-83002 and the gui is at App version 2.36.9. 11/04/2025
FW: r2.72.3-R-1302579-PROD-83002 and the gui is at App version 2.36.9. 11/04/2025
FW: r3.8.11-R-1414606-PROD-83002 and the gui is at App version 2.36.9. 23/06/2025

Pro

FW: r2.49.5-R-1094775-PROD-1 and the gui is at App version 2.22.6. Looks like OOB
FW: r2.64.2-R-1210501-PROD-1 and the gui is at App version 2.34.2.
FW: r2.64.3-R-1213091-PROD-1 and the gui is at App version 2.34.2. 06/12/2024
FW: r2.64.5-R-1298597-PROD-1 and the gui is at App version 2.34.2. 04/02/2025
FW: r2.64.6-R-1303886-PROD-1 and the gui is at App version 2.34.2. Unknown not released in the wild.SW40J WiFi Extender?
FW: r2.64.7-R-1303938-PROD-1 and the gui is at App version 2.34.2. 07/02/2025

[tnj]

The latest firmware on the Pro did not introduce the problems, they were there on the earlier versions. I have two hubs with different  versions and neither are good. 

As to a firmware update next week I was promised one next week some months ago. I doubt there's a fix coming soon which is why they released me from my contract term after not being able to resolve the problems.

I am back on my old BT Smarthub2 which is running perfectly apart from not supporting 1.6Gbs and WiFi7.

[JimM11]

@tnj Difficult, i know you may just have to pony up and ((out the EE Router's back to there box)) go third party with a real router, decision's may just have to be made! Asus for sure work but cheap they are not! 

[rainman2871]

I understand your don't trust EE but the EE tech did say by the end of this month when we get the firmware rollback lets see what happens you never know it maybe sooner that's why the more EE customers that contact EE support about the issues the better the outcome for us all for a firmware fix , I was told today they are rolling back to workable firmware

[JimM11]

@rainman2871 Going to be real interesting this one, i OTS'd on Mar5th gone Mar10th all because FW push mid Feb destroyed the EE Smarthub+ operation and overnight killed a fully functioning network.

[bobpullen]

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@rainman2871 wrote:

Looking like we are getting a firmware rollback  so when it last worked ok have a read, I have just replied here

---

Given the latest firmware has been in the wild for some time (before these reports emerged), and suspecting that it contains a whole bunch of other 'stuff' that it's probably not desirable to regress, I'll be real surprised if this ends up being the case 🤔

[ryajohnst]

Every promise made by EE about them getting back to me has been broken, so I phoned them up again on Tuesday afternoon and had to explain the whole problem from the start again - this time they insisted on sending an engineer around despite me telling them that it would be pointless. The engineer has just been, I explained everything once more to him and he said he was aware of the issue and there's nothing he can do, pretty much what I said to the agent on the phone.

Anyway, I purchased a Ubiquiti Dream Router 7 and have been running it since Wednesday. Not only are the aforementioned issues gone, everything definitely feels much snappier, some basic testing shows external latency down around 7-8ms compared to the Smart Hub Pro.

Nonetheless, I shouldn't have to purchase third-party hardware to use the service I'm already paying a fortune per month for and I am going to insist on some compensation from EE.