The BT Home Hub 4, Hub 5 and BT Smart Hub are dual band with two wireless frequencies for devices to connect to: 2.4GHz and 5GHz. On both Hubs, the default setting has the same network name (or SSID) for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Connecting a typical 5GHz-capable device to this single SSID will automatically connect the device to both the 2.4 and 5Ghz frequency at the same time.
However, not all dual band devices behave the same way and some device software does not cope well with a single SSID for both frequencies.
As a result:
- the device may not connect wirelessly to the Hub
- it may not connect to 5GHz frequency even in the same room
- the wireless connection might be intermittent
- the wireless connection might be very slow
Devices where there are known to be problems include:
- Some Apple devices including iPhone 5 and Apple TV
- some Android smartphones
- Xbox
For some devices you can solve this problem by having different network names (SSIDs) for the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz bands. To set this up, follow these steps:
- Open your web browser on a device connected to the Hub and go to bthomehub.home. This will open the Hub Manager
- Click on Advanced Settings and enter your Hub admin password when prompted. Unless you've changed it, you'll find the default Hub password on the Hub settings card
- Click on Continue to Advanced Settings
- Click on Wireless
- Click on 5GHz
- Change 'Sync with 2.4 Ghz' to No
- Change the 'Wireless SSID' to a new name (we recommend just adding '5GHz' to the end of the existing SSID name so you'll know which one is which)
- Click Apply to save the changes
After a few minutes you should see two BT Hub SSIDs in the list of networks on your device. All of your devices will still automatically connect to the original SSID name, which will be the 2.4GHz.
If you have existing dual band devices you want to connect to 5GHz only, you'll need to connect them to the 5GHz SSID that you've renamed.
Even though wireless speeds at 5GHz can be significantly faster than 2.4GHz, the range of a 5GHz connection is not as good. As a result, you may need your device closer to your Hub (than you'd need to when using the 2.4GHz SSID) to get the best performance possible.