Frequent HH20C Smart Hub 5G dropouts

[sammc007]

I have the HH20C Smart Hub 5G. Wireless broadband has been working more or less fine in the 10 months I've had it. However, over the last week there have been connectivity issues. The internet connection will just drop completely from time to time (every few minutes), then come back again to a decent 50Mbps or more.

Right now, the hub is flashing aqua, i.e. is trying to connect to the network, yet on the web interface it shows a strong 5G signal and fast.com shows 73Mbps download speed. I've power cycled the hub several times over the past few days, but the dropout issue persists.

I don't understand how the LEDs show it as "connecting" yet interface status shows it's connected with good throughput at the moment.

[Northerner]

Hi @sammc007 

Have you checked your local network for issues?

https://ee.co.uk/help/service-status

Thanks 

[sammc007]

Yes, did that a couple of days ago but the response just came back that no problems are in the area. I'll call and speak to EE, if the hub is faulty it's still under warranty as it's less than a year.

[Peter_W · Accepted solution]

Thanks for giving that a try @sammc007!
It may be the case that you're on the edge of an outage and there's just a bit of congestion causing these drop outs, or there's a chance that it could be linked with the device / SIM too. 
Our team will be happy to help you get this checked over though, and I'm confident you can get things sorted.

Peter

[sammc007]

My mobile seems to be pretty solid, it's just the broadband via the hub that's the issue. Tried selecting 4G only mode but, the setting didn't take after the hub did its disconnect cycle. Flashing aqua LED still going non stop all day.

[Peter_W]

@sammc007 If that's the case it very much sounds like this is pointing towards the device, but our team will run a range of different checks so we can be 100% sure 😊

Peter

[paulgarb54]

Sorry to ‘wake’ this thread but it seems to sum up my situation quite well. The 5G Smart Hub is, in general, fast and reliable BUT every now & then it drops out. Usually an isolated thing but occasionally within minutes or hours. It happens maybe once or twice a week - for example last night it dropped out early evening, I did a power off/on reset it was OK for an hour or so the dropped out again (same ‘solution’). This morning it was fine for an hour from about 6:30am then dropped out yet again (same fix). 

I know for certain it isn’t the signal, position, loose cables or any of the other “try this” suggestions. Our devices work fine on our devices (phones, tablets, etc.) if WiFi is switched off AND they all are on EE 5G and operate to the expected speeds. I really would appreciate any guidance because I have IoT devices - dishwasher and, most importantly, central heating controller that depend on WiFi - in fact both devices “send me an email” to tell me communication has been lost. 

Is there an acceptable solution to this? By acceptable I mean NOT switching to 4G only - I am paying for and I expect to be given 5G capability in return for the significant cost. Any advice, help appreciated including how I might get EE to admit there is a problem and do something about it. 

[sammc007]

I didn't follow through with a further reply, but I called EE and arranged to have the hub checked/repaired etc. After returning it I got a text message to say that it checked out fine and was being shipped back to me. However, when it arrived the paperwork mentioned something like "found connectivity issue" or similar (don't have the paperwork to hand) and they'd updated the firmware to Smart_5G_Hub_V01.12. It has since worked perfectly.

[paulgarb54]

Thanks for the quick response I seem to be on V01.02 so that may well be the issue 

Now how do I get that firmware updated I wonder? 

[sammc007]

For some reason the hub's check for new firmware has always reported back that I'm already on the latest version even when not. I don't know of any way to check for the latest version without using the hub. Maybe only EE's repair subcontractor can do it.