So today 18/12/2024 I am told by my Wife that two older Wifi Devices (Heating Thermostat & IP camera) are not accessible...As I'm not at home the instruction was given to "Just try switching everything on and off" but that does not resolve the problem. Those 2.4GHz devices simply won't connect to the Smart Hubs network (they have been working fine) yet a myriad of other devices happily connect to the Smart Hub as usual.
So I get home and sure enough they wont connect. I log into the Hub. Firstly I notice DDNS is back !!!! - (I went though weeks of infuriating pain following a forced BT to EE move and migration to the 'Smart' Hub SH31b. DDNS got removed from the EE Smart hub during a firmware update just hours after I set it all up! Yes i'm a geek but we have numerous IoT devices some of which depend on having a DDNS service to gain remote access. - I haven't tested the new DDNS feature yet . Parts of EE categorically stated DDNS would return to the Hub in future firmware (they were correct) , But at the same time several escalations in Tech support categorically stated it was not going to return)
Anyway, why had these older WiFi devices stopped working ? Well the technical log in the hub suggests the Hub restarted at 16:27 (all events prior to that having been cleared) . It appears that a new firmware version r2.68.11-R-1260390-PROD-83002 has been uploaded to the Hub.
Then in "Manage your Wireless - Advanced settings " I spot there are now Main and 'Compatible Wifi' setups. The Compatible WiFi window says ' Enables a separately named WiFi Network that uses older technologies to improve device compatibility, if you own devices that will not connect to the main WiFi Networks then you can try connecting them to the compatible network instead".
So one hour later i had set up a new compatible WiFi network SSID and password, plus changed the wifi settings in the offending devices - they instantly connected to this compatible WiFi (security set to WPA2-Personal) all is now working.
Hopefully this may be of help to others who suddenly find the same problem of older WiFi devices going offline.
EE...This hub has been a very uncomfortable experience for users. Please don't launch products which clearly have firmware in development. Also, users have no ability to prevent or control remotely forced firmware updates which can screw up someone's homes IT setup - the week before Christmas we suddenly find we can't remotely control our home heating and several security cameras go off-line. Its fixed now but, but i'm almost technically savy, it's hugely frustrating and not acceptable.
