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.

[bobpullen]

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@MikeAlanR wrote:

Yes I've got the smart hub plus...

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What specific model and do you know what firmware you are using? Model should be on the label somewhere. Up until now, I was under the impression that the Smart Hub Plus was on a v3.x firmware and wasn't affected by this problem.

You say the problem started around the same time as this thread, yet your other post (dated 13/08) suggests you'd had the problem for 8 weeks. That would put it well before the issue being discussed here 🤔

The fact you can't get into the Hub Manager when you have problems also makes me think there's likely something different going on for you. I've offered some thoughts in your other thread.

@Mason1978 - how frequent are your problems and did your Wi-Fi Calling problems start towards the end of July, or earlier? I only mention as @baldwins1754 is also reporting a Wi-Fi Calling problem that seems to have been around a while longer.

[baldwins1754]

Hi all,

Right, after over an HR on the phone to EE this morning they have admitted that the problem remains and they have even made a specialist team now to deal with the issue. They only app have nearly 50 customers who gave complained about the remaining issue so if you are still experiencing the issue in any form you need to call them. Once sorted they will be compensating customers. Our issue is the same as before but not as bad but without displaying the DNS error and no internet connection. I honestly think they've just applied a fix that removes us getting the fault displayed as when you go onto the check your connection page it's says it's not available but if you repeatedly press it it does it and will give you an error.

You will be added onto a SPECIAL list for being contacted for the error. 

Told prefer they just covered the cost of the 3rd party router whilst they sorted the issue.

[spacedyemeerkat]

That's interesting, thank you.

I didn't get the promised callback on Saturday, second time that's happened. I did, however, get a text yesterday out of the blue telling me they know the issue hasn't been resolved yet.

It's certainly a lot better for me now than before whatever 'fix' they applied last Thursday, I think it was. But there are times I get the feeling it's about to fall over in the same way again. And then suddenly the page refreshes and it's fine.

[Mason1978]

I have only has the Wifi calling issues since upgrading to the 1.6Gbit package using the Smart Hub Pro.

I had to resort back to my old hub, as I was freezing up on Zoom calls for 30secs or so and can't have any calls using Wifi calling as this just breaks up for maybe 20secs every so often.

I am going to be calling them again on Monday. 1 month since I got the new package and nothing but hassle.

[JimM11]

@Mason1978 As you and @baldwins1754 are having the wireless wi-fi calling issue have joined you together for the common feature fallout. @Mason1978 As you appear to be going way back on a wifi5 Router when you change back which model is that you hang back on the service and with the voice dropping is it both way's speech out and hearing in or unknown!

Fully testing wi-fi calling and a lot depends on the service provider etc, turning to airplane mode and removing the phone flip mobile/wireless did you find it was working fine, bit off a pain and faffing about mode wise, but suppose everything helps information wise

[ben_flugel]

I've just been away for a week and now back home. 

The replacement Smart Hub Pro they asked me to swap to is now on the latest firmware. 

More testing to be done today. 

[ben_flugel]

I'm still having problems here. I will phone them back up and re-report it. As I was away, all the callback links they provided have expired.

The biggest issue are the random breakages in Teams calls. The wifi never drops but calls hang for about 5 seconds or so then reconnect. As someone who works from home, it's very annoying!

[TraderTravel]

@ben_flugel 

I've continued to test and actually things have improved over the last week.

I'm also testing a best firmware version, and the few hiccups around DNS resolution might have been resolved (or at least pretty close to full resolution).

Personally, I would call the EE Customer Service team (Belfast) and get them to double check that wifi optimisation has been turned off on your account. I'd also encourage you to use a script to do some testing. Do you have a linux distro you can fire up by any chance? (I do feel that script outputs are a little more predicable running on Linux compared to Windows). Mac also is a little more predictable.

The following could be a good script to run:

#!/bin/bash

OUTFILE="dns_ping_test.txt"

while true; do
    # Timestamp for each cycle
    echo -e "\n$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')" >> "$OUTFILE"

    # (a) Ping to local gateway
    LAT_A=$(ping -c 1 -W 1 192.168.1.254 | grep 'time=' | awk -F'time=' '{print $2}' | awk '{print $1}')
    echo "Ping to 192.168.1.254: ${LAT_A:-timeout} ms" >> "$OUTFILE"

    # (b) Ping to www.google.co.uk
    LAT_B=$(ping -c 1 -W 1 www.google.co.uk | grep 'time=' | awk -F'time=' '{print $2}' | awk '{print $1}')
    echo "Ping to www.google.co.uk: ${LAT_B:-timeout} ms" >> "$OUTFILE"

    # (c) DNS resolution latency via dig
    LAT_C=$(dig +stats +time=1 +tries=1 @192.168.1.254 www.google.co.uk | grep 'Query time' | awk '{print $4}')
    echo "DNS resolution via 192.168.1.254: ${LAT_C:-timeout} ms" >> "$OUTFILE"

    # (d) Web pull latency via curl
    LAT_D=$(curl -o /dev/null -s -w "%{time_total}" https://www.google.co.uk)
    LAT_D_MS=$(awk "BEGIN {printf \"%.0f\", $LAT_D * 1000}")
    echo "Web pull latency (www.google.co.uk): ${LAT_D_MS:-timeout} ms" >> "$OUTFILE"

    sleep 1
done

If you get any DNS resolution that is above 50ms, I would take a look and see if anything else has been hit at the same time code. Ideally make sure the machine running the script is connected via ethernet. If you just have a few queries over a few hours which meet that threshold, I expect you are totally fine. If you see anything where queries regularly exceed 100ms, then further investigation is definitely warranted, and I would try and get in touch with customer service and have a discussion.

[Mikeeecustomer1]

I've just spoken to EE, I have the fttp on order and rang to cancel it on the beck of comments in this thread. Had to wait a long time but they are saying they was a batch of faulty routers but any problems have now been resolved. .... Ummmm.

[Mason1978]

@JimM11  The wifi calling issue only present when using the Smart Hub Pro. Don't have any issues when using the old Wifi 5 hub. Which is the 'Smart Router' which is white.

Regarding Zoom calls when working, I can hear everyone okay but they are saying my speech is stuttering on some occasions but not all the time.

I just want to be able to use the service I am paying for, but don't think I should have to purchase a third party router to enable that. But thanks so much for the help so far.