BTSmart Hub Router

I opted for the cheaper "refurb" or return. Still as new condition. Just an ethernet cable had been used. This hub is great. Despite saying locked to BT, you can use these on plusnet (which i am) juwt put your details in and away you go. Syncs at a better speed than the hub 5. Wifi is considerably improved. It now reaches the firestick in my bedroom with "good" signal even on 5ghz band. whereas it would be "fair" and drop out alot with the hub 5. Menus are easy to access and use. Changed the ssid and password and solut the 5ghz network. Was up and running in literally 5 mins. Cant see any cons to this so far. Any reviews that say its useless or dosent work just dont know what they are doing. If you want 50% better coverage on wifi choose this over a hub 5. My line sync speed is about 2mbps higher with this router compared to the hub 5 and plusnet hub 1.

I am really pleased with this BT router. I bought it to use instead of my Plusnet issued router which was ok but this is better. Very easy to connect up and I followed a video shown on You Tube that gave good directions. Plusnet is part of BT so hooked up nicely. It certainly adds a punch to my broadband connection ( I live in an area that has reasonable reception) . I also use a mesh system (BT) and it has really increased the power of my broadband. No drop outs since. I was anxious about set up but no problems whatsoever. It has a good Which report rating. Really happy that I got this.

I bought a BT Smart Hub when my Dreytek Vigor 120 modem (which was coupled with an Apple Airport Extreme) stopped connecting to BT Broadband after a power cut. Overall, I've been pleasantly surprised by how good the Smart Hub has been, although it isn't without its flaws.Pros:- The range is a lot better than my old Airport Extreme. I have a large garden and the Airport Extreme covered half, whereas the Smart Hub gives me full coverage. This was a surprise.- The speed is also good on my ADSL2 line. My upload speed has doubled, my download speed has increased slightly and has become a lot more consistent, and my latency has halved. Again another surprise.- The Smart Hub itself is more neutral looking than many of the current crop of routers - important when in my case it is prominently on show in the living room!Cons:- The first Smart Hub I received experienced drops out in connecting to BT Broadband. I sent it back and bought a replacement direct from BT. So far I haven't seen any dropouts with the replacement box.- My Apple devices at times struggle to move between the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. On the first box this could lead iPhones and iPad unable to connect to wifi without a reboot but I haven't seen that on the replacement box. I've (for now) separated the bands so that I can manually make sure they are connect to the 5GHz band.- No option to set up a guest network, which I would expect on even the most basic router these days.- Some of the more advanced features such as beam forming and MIMO are not on right now.So overall the Smart Box has been a pleasant surprise. If you are a BT Broadband customer it may be worth a go and I would certainly try it out before dismissing it. It does certainly feel a cut above your average ISP router and speed and range have been way beyond what I expected.UPDATE: Since posting this review, I’ve tried modem/routers from Netgear and TP-Link. Both had individual issues and have been returned, but as a point of comparison the SmartHub’s range and speed were equivalent to both routers. The only difference I saw was fastest switching between 5 and 2.4 bands compared to the Smart Hub but hopefully when BT turns beam forming back on again that will improve. My second Smart Hub is proving very reliable, so my advice is if you get one that is problematic is to insist on a replacement.

Bought this as a replacement for a home hub 5 which although was working coverage and connectivity wasn’t consistent. Install was easy. Two things worth noting. Turn smart set up off. It is annoying! And split the 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wifi channels. Apart from that all good. Performance is really good. Coverage is vastly improved. I was getting poor connectivity upstairs. The speed has improved dramatically especially on the 5GHz channel. Definitely worth the upgrade.

Hi folks - The main reason people are giving this hub bad reviews is because it needs a small tweak before it will work correctly. I had the last model of BT hub and it also needed this adjustment - I cant believe that BT put these hubs out without pointing this out!!!! (bangs head on wall for 5 mins!)The problem is that the hub spits out TWO different signals - very often your tv or xbox or whatever will go " hey, I think I will switch to the other signal as it is a bit better at the moment" and you will lose connection for a moment!!!! not ideal in the middle of a movie :( - to fix this you need to go into the hub settings via the settings webpage and name both signals eg Sig1 and sig2 - you then tune each of your devices into one or the other and it will then not be naughty and try and keep switching. Google 'rename BT hub channels' for full instructions - it is really easy.The hubs performance is better than the old model but not as brilliant as some might say - I live in a bungalow with an L shaped hallway and the signal is one bar in the back bedroom behind the hub - so not absolutely brilliant but still one of the better hubs out there.

I got this router to replace the Home Hub 5. It works for a few hours then I lose all connectivity and the light goes green. It then gets stuck on solid orange and the only way to get it back up and running is to power cycle it. It somethings takes several power cycles. Yet there's no such problem when I go back to the Home Hub 5.I tried 3 of these Smart Hubs all with the same problem. It seems it can't cope with my setup for some stupid reason. Shame on BT who can't make a router that works properly. It's better than the Home Hub 5 when it works but there's something that this can't cope with but the Home Hub 5 can. I don't know whether it's some fault with the line or a device connected to it that's causing the malfunction. I don't have time to pinpoint the problem because I have other people in the house who need the smart devices to work otherwise they moan at me.