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BT HomeHub 6? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Maidenhead
Posts: 101
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BT HomeHub 6?
I'm thinking of upgrading from ADSL broadband (7.5MB) to Infinity (1 or 2) but would like to know if BT are going to be bringing out a new HomeHub in the near future?
The current one (HH5) has been out since late 2013 I believe, so it's long overdue an update. I'd be a little miffed to upgrade, and then find out the HomeHub was being upgraded, and I'd just missed out! Cheers, |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,636
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Can't comment, but bear in mind you aren't restricted to using the Home Hub. There are plenty of very capable routers out there, for not much money (IMO more capable and reliable than the HH)
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#3 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Nailsworth, Gloucestershire
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Quote:
Can't comment, but bear in mind you aren't restricted to using the Home Hub. There are plenty of very capable routers out there, for not much money (IMO more capable and reliable than the HH)
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#4 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 28,534
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I am still on an HH3 and it does the job just fine.
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#5 |
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Maidenhead
Posts: 101
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I'm currently on a HH2 with ADSL and have decided that I need to upgrade my WIFI to something a little faster
![]() I did look at buying my own AC1900 router (e.g. Netgear D7000) but for the cost of that I could spend the money on upgrading my broadband to Infinity and get a *free* AC1900 router via the HH5. I'm pretty sure BT must be testing something new, in order to keep up with newer technology (e.g. MU-MIMO). I've searched, but there's no mention of a HH6, anywhere! |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Quote:
I'm currently on a HH2 with ADSL and have decided that I need to upgrade my WIFI to something a little faster
![]() I did look at buying my own AC1900 router (e.g. Netgear D7000) but for the cost of that I could spend the money on upgrading my broadband to Infinity and get a *free* AC1900 router via the HH5. I'm pretty sure BT must be testing something new, in order to keep up with newer technology (e.g. MU-MIMO). I've searched, but there's no mention of a HH6, anywhere! AFAIK the current HH does everything they need it to do, including BT TV and IPv6. BT is not that good at keeping up with newer technology. Otherwise we'd have a "fibre optic network" that wasn't mostly copper and comprised of 10 year old technology, still being built today Quote:
To be fair, though, I've had a HH5 since mid-2014 and, so far, it has been faultless.
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#7 |
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Leicester
Posts: 1,993
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I seriously doubt they will. My view is they will wait for G.Fast to pick up pace/ roll out. Start off with separate modems (there is still a red port on the HH5) and when it really takes off make a combined router.
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#8 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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Quote:
I seriously doubt they will. My view is they will wait for G.Fast to pick up pace/ roll out. Start off with separate modems (there is still a red port on the HH5) and when it really takes off make a combined router.
There'll always be an ethernet WAN port - there are a handful of people who got the rolls-royce fibre to the premises service, and need it to connect to the Openreach FTTP equipment. If G.bodge happens, BT will continue to need it for those people, and those who take up FTTP on demand (which will supposedly be made cheaper because the fibre will be outside the house already) |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Maidenhead
Posts: 101
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Thanks for the replies.
I hadn't heard of g.fast, but have just been reading some pages on it. Seems they've been trialling a combination of routers/modems http://arstechnica.co.uk/information...reverse-power/ Still some time off, so I guess I'll upgrade and see how good the HH5 is. If it's a disappointment, then I've always got the option of using my own access point... |
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#10 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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Quote:
Thanks for the replies.
I hadn't heard of g.fast, but have just been reading some pages on it. Seems they've been trialling a combination of routers/modems http://arstechnica.co.uk/information...reverse-power/ Still some time off, so I guess I'll upgrade and see how good the HH5 is. If it's a disappointment, then I've always got the option of using my own access point... The HH already has an ethernet WAN port to connect to an external modem, or FTTP equipment, so it's futureproof in that respect |
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#11 |
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Join Date: Oct 2003
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I can't see g.bodge having a combined router. It'll need a professional installation to work properly (being even more demanding of that 50 year old copper or aluminium than ever before, poundland extension cables aren't good enough), and BT has already discovered what happens when you let anyone use any modem on VDSL, with the Openreach supplied modems being the most dependable and reliable ones of the lot (and go for high prices on eBay)
There'll always be an ethernet WAN port - there are a handful of people who got the rolls-royce fibre to the premises service, and need it to connect to the Openreach FTTP equipment. If G.bodge happens, BT will continue to need it for those people, and those who take up FTTP on demand (which will supposedly be made cheaper because the fibre will be outside the house already) There is also now an Openreach Ultrafast website... http://www.ultrafast-openreach.co.uk/ Seems to me to be a far more sensible method of making ultrafast generally available as quickly as possible and cost effectively... fibre to the dp. |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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Well BT have already said they hope to make G.Fast a home install solution, with speeds increasing from 300Mbps to 500 Mbps, and are now working on XG.Fast for over 1Gbps based on average dp distances from homes.
There is also now an Openreach Ultrafast website... http://www.ultrafast-openreach.co.uk/ Seems to me to be a far more sensible method of making ultrafast generally available as quickly as possible and cost effectively... fibre to the dp. Realistically it's no quicker to deploy than FTTP would be - you still have to pull fibre to each and every DP, just as you would with FTTP itself - this is the most expensive and laborious bit. But you then replace a simple piece of fibre and commodity equipment with tons of expensive active electronics based on an unproven standard, you don't get consistent, predictable service (it's still dependent on distance) and you still have all the lovely issues with copper that fibre does not have. Once the fibre is in, it's in (and won't need to be touched for decades), but with G.FAST you get to maintain thousands of mini DSLAMs on every pole and underground pit, with upgrades to newer standards likely involving replacement of all of those DSLAMs. Moving to a new FTTP standard is simpler. The fact that they're going to offer FTTP on demand alongside it makes no sense - they'd just as well just do FTTP only and charge a bit more for each installation (using economy of scale to lower costs). In the now neutered Australian plan, they were going to run fibre to each home in a street in one go, and then organise the remaining installation inside the home at the homeowner's convenience, with the aim to shut down existing services in a given area and go fibre only within 18 months. For places with directly buried cable, or FTTB type setups G.FAST will be fine. But that isn't most homes. You could compare the whole mess to the GPO's decision to use aluminium cables because it was cheaper than copper. Seemed absolutely fine in the 70s and a great money saver back then, but it's a bugbear for *DSL services in 2016. At least the GPO can be forgiven for not knowing about the whole internet thing. |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 420
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I believe BT are currently emailing trialist for the new hub. You have to part of scheme though.
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#14 |
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: too close to Hell, Londonistan
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Quote:
BT has already discovered what happens when you let anyone use any modem on VDSL, with the Openreach supplied modems being the most dependable and reliable ones of the lot (and go for high prices on eBay)
FYI, ECI BT open reach modems do not have functioning G.INP support at all. They can support G.inp ( partially in 1 direction only ) with an unoffical firmware based on Openwrt with a more up to date driver, even so it's still short of BT's own specification. They also have been testing and approving other ISP's routers before allowing them to be used on the BT network. Go figure. |
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#15 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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Yes quite, it turns out BT can't even manage to get a hardware vendor ,supplying more than half the modems they manufacturing on behalf of BT BT, up to their own specifications.
FYI, ECI BT open reach modems do not have functioning G.INP support at all. They can support G.inp ( partially in 1 direction only ) with an unoffical firmware based on Openwrt with a more up to date driver, even so it's still short of BT's own specification. They also have been testing and approving other ISP's routers before allowing them to be used on the BT network. Go figure. I think the Home Hub's built in VDSL modem has issues too? IIRC it uses the same DSL chipset as the ECI kit (Lantiq based), whereas Broadcom is used by Huawei cabinets and modems I anticipate similar issues, if not worse with G.FAST - since it's going to be a brand new technology, whereas VDSL2 isn't (it's about a decade old and used by numerous telcos before BT woke up and decided to upgrade from ADSL1 for the majority) There seems to be none of these clangers on the FTTP side - the people who have it seem to have flawless service... |
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#16 |
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Join Date: Oct 2003
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BT like to talk a good game with G.FAST because they're ideologically opposed to going for the futureproof technologies in the first place. They're basically the only telco that is doing this.
Realistically it's no quicker to deploy than FTTP would be - you still have to pull fibre to each and every DP, just as you would with FTTP itself - this is the most expensive and laborious bit. Intuitively, the savings are likely to be substantial and that's probably a big part of the reason why they are going down this route. |
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#17 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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Don't underestimate the potential savings in being able to run all that fibre without a single home visit or appointment (and missed appointment) involvement with any householders. Followed by local mailshots and sign-ups again with no householder appointments and no further Openreach engineer involvement other than a dp switch-over. They can use the engineers who won't have to run fibre on an ad hoc basis from dp to home and install stuff, to speed up the nationwide rollout of G.FAST to dps.
Intuitively, the savings are likely to be substantial and that's probably a big part of the reason why they are going down this route. I've had BT mess around with my copper phone line without needing my permission - that included large-scale reorganisation of the copper network and pole locations. I don't recall even getting a letter, though they clearly were on my property. The people digging up the roads to run fibre to DPs won't be the people doing home installations, just as they aren't today for VDSL or FTTP. They use contractors for that, with Openreach staff handling the customer installation (or different contractors for some VDSL/PSTN work). This is meant to be a long term investment. Running the actual fibre to the home is a long term investment, because it will not require replacement for decades. Using G.FAST to shave off a couple of quid is incredibly short sighted (and may prove to actually be more expensive in the long run), just as VDSL is proving to be today. It's certainly far more complicated than FTTP would be, and it's holding up progress. BT could have started a proper FTTP rollout years ago, and be much further along than they'll be next year with G.FAST. With the news that BT is trialling cheaper methods of installing FTTP into the home, perhaps they're realising the same thing... |
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#18 |
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Join Date: Sep 2009
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Moox, change the record, mate.
It seems like you somehow manage to squeeze your pointless rambling about FTTP into every thread you ever post in. |
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#19 |
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Moox, change the record, mate.
It seems like you somehow manage to squeeze your pointless rambling about FTTP into every thread you ever post in. |
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#20 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
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Moox, change the record, mate.
It seems like you somehow manage to squeeze your pointless rambling about FTTP into every thread you ever post in. |
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#21 |
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Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: North West
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I guess it depends on your needs. There seems to be an ongoing issue with the HH5's VDSL modem not supporting all of the required features of BT's network, like upstream G.INP
At the time G.INP was launched, I was on the trials for software updates to both routers, interestingly energy usage decreased as they optimised the code. |
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#22 |
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Theoretically you can do the same with FTTP - you can run fibre to the property without requiring the customer to be there (on a large scale), and arrange the final installation into the home whenever they want it. G.FAST, if it really needs a professional installation, will be similar in this regard.
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The people digging up the roads to run fibre to DPs won't be the people doing home installations, just as they aren't today for VDSL or FTTP. They use contractors for that, with Openreach staff handling the customer installation (or different contractors for some VDSL/PSTN work).
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#23 |
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I guess it depends on your needs. There seems to be an ongoing issue with the HH5's VDSL modem not supporting all of the required features of BT's network, like upstream G.INP
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#24 |
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Makes no significant difference to the costs though because contractors don't come free. For any given annual budget, FTTP would take longer to roll out because it costs more to roll out.
That said I do think moox is correct, it would cost less money over the longterm rolling out FTTP as opposed to FTTDP, BT won't stump up the money for that, I doubt the government will either. It is what it is, and there is nothing we can do now or in the immediate future to change that. |
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#25 |
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rolling out FTTP as opposed to FTTDP, BT won't stump up the money for that, I doubt the government will either.
It is what it is, and there is nothing we can do now or in the immediate future to change that. But I for one am grateful that G.Fast has been announced as 'the solution' and is likely to make 300Mbps available to places like mine within 5 years or so, increasing to 500 Mbps and eventually perhaps with XG.Fast to over 1Gbps. That's something to look forward to, not whinge about as one or two (not you!) seem intent on doing. |
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