Thaks very much for this video. i have the same Hub Halo 3+ and over 2 years contract and i thought i had an issue as it dropped to 5 to 20 Meg /Sec and when the EE its working. kicks in.
Great video!! Funnily enough, I just had a conversation with BT: my fibre connx. is broken (I can see it, passing through a tree. And this isn't the first time!). So, what about a backup? I asked about this device, and they said (even "checked with a colleague") it DOESN'T backup ethernet connected devices. Their understanding of their own products is woeful. Thanks for confirming that it DOES do what I want 🙂
This Hybrid Connect is essentially very similar to the 4G Assure device that I used to have with them in that it provides atrocious download and upload speeds that are more inline with what you would get with a 3G service. I'm surprised that it is also marketed as unbreakable WI-FI; it doesn't matter if the WI-FI connection is good if its still taking time for the Hybrid Connect to provide a service via a cellular backup connection.
It's only £3 extra a month to go from halo 3 to halo 3+ And I will get a free upgrade to Fibre 100 when it's available. It seems like a good deal, what do you think?
We've just signed up for this for our office at work, although we haven't received the new hub and hybrid unit yet. We currently get a download speed of 9 Mbps through the copper cable BT phone line, but I've noticed that I can get 38 to 50 Mbps on my smartphone through the EE 4G network when I put it in the window, in the position where we're intending to put the hybrid connect device. Hopefully this will translate to faster internet speeds. The increased reliability that this device offers is also useful.
Having received and installed the new hub and hybrid unit, and used it for the last two months or so, I'm happy to confirm that our new download speed is in the region of 40 Mbps. If you can't get a coaxial cable, or fibre optic, connection into your property this is definitely worthwhile.
The unit will act as a failover, which means you won’t get the faster mobile WiFi speeds compared to your current connection unless there is a fault/disconnected on the line.
@@thetechreviewchannel247 I understand what you're saying and logically that makes sense. However, that is not my experience: When the signal strength meter at the bottom of the front face of the hybrid unit glows white, which is most of the time, which indicates that the unit is utilising 4G data, I do get an internet speed of around 40Mbps. I have confirmed this numerous times using a broadband speed checker app. I am not aware of any line faults at these times, again the majority of the time, since the telephone that also utilises this line continues to work. When the signal strength indicator glows blue, indicating that the unit is connected to the 4G signal but unable to utilise 4G data, I only get something like 9Mbps. Once again this is proved by testing with a speed checker app.
Anybody using Hybrid Connect (business) with another router that is not BT? I have an Asus RT-AX82U.Does the BT sim only become active when BT FTTP is down?
The one i had sent recently on a bt900 package was at least half the size of that and is just a plug in and play device. No leads or connection options at all , just wifi. You just plug it in and it sends out strong wifi around the house. Also i have house built in the 1800 that traditional routers struggle with, but this little guy performs great. i was really curious if you could actually use it as a travel modem /router away from the home address. i see no logical reason why not.
If your wired or cabled internet drops then you naturally reset your modem. If this doesn't work then its a local outage, which means that everyone who wasn't already using the local mast for wireless then jumps onto it which causes super slow internet for all. I live 1.5miles away from a mast and can get 4G via it. At 1am it provides 16mbit, at 3pm at the weekend it's less than 100kbit, so completely useless and so is the gimmick of unbreakable internet connections when everyone is using wireless via masts.
So I know for sure, if main BT broadband goes down and I'm in the middle of something, say a video game, does this device kick in immediately and my other devices know to connect to it straight away? Or would there be a temp loss of internet in the process?
There will be a temporary loss of internet while the main router will try for a few mins to reconnect. Once that doesn’t happen then the Hybrid Hub kicks in. Reconnection back to main broadband is a similar process but can take up to 15 mins.
@@HaydnG266 Yes, they should as Hybrid Hub provides a backbone internet connection to the Smart Router 2. Therefore, as far as other devices are concerned, they are reconnecting to the main router where the internet connection has come back up, albeit now provided by the Hybrid Hub.
Just to let you know, I have had Halo 3+ with EE Hybrid solution, if for any reason your broadband line goes down, the EE Hybrid 4G service kicks in and whilst is connected to the BT Hub 2 it provides Internet service to your home. BUT.... 1) Your Digital Voice line does NOT work any longer and 2) Your BT Vision HD Service does NOT work either Now considering BT/EE work together to provide a fail-over solution, selling it and charging me for something that doesn't work is absurd. I had a BT Engineer and he confirmed my findings, and he organised a BT Openreach to confirm my network/connection coming is is up to speed and fine which they did, HOWEVER, the service WILL NOT work when EE Hybrid kicks in
This is extremely useful to know as I did not test the landline when the Hybrid Hub kicked in. Would have thought BT would at least have covered this aspect. Maybe a future version might fix this.
You will have to decide if it is worth for you based on convenience, cost of other backup options available and price at which you’re prepared to pay. It was advertised at £7 pm extra but with current market rates I don’t think BT can be blamed for putting their prices up.
Did it give you a new external IP or the same one as on the main WAN? If it's different that's not really "unbreakable"? I mean its not "unbreakable" the amount of time it takes to fail over anyway. Also why isn't it POE powered from the hybrid hub?? Poor design there.
Yes, the hybrid hub utilises the Smart Hub 2 to maintain an internet connection, which is probably why they put “hybrid” in the name as it is not a standalone device.
@@Dafoxx-1 The BT engineer did tell me that plugged directly into the PC it's much quicker. We power everything down when not in use and I find it's slow to connect. The PC is up and running and the booster is still flashing whilst it sorts itself out.
No, what they are providing is a backup, albeit possibly limited in speed, service in case the main broadband connection goes down. The Smart Hub 2 they provide is not actually that bad as it is a device that has been designed to be as easy to use as possible bearing in mind that this will be used by millions of customers. It is not the latest and greatest device but it is very good. There are rumours on the horizon of a newer Smart Hub 3 that is to be released, which I assume would have Wi-Fi 6 capabilities. BT’s service has been reliable with my connection and I’ve not experienced any issues but this all depends on the type of service one has, the quality of the connection etc etc.
You have a strange definition of 'unbreakable connection'. It appears to take several minutes to detect a broadband outage and start to serve Wi-Fi via 4G. This is not a seamless transition.
6G will be round the corner too…but yes, BT need a bit of catching up to do. Although, I have heard rumours about their next generation hybrid hub offering may take into account 5G.
Thaks very much for this video. i have the same Hub Halo 3+ and over 2 years contract and i thought i had an issue as it dropped to 5 to 20 Meg /Sec and when the EE its working. kicks in.
Great video!! Funnily enough, I just had a conversation with BT: my fibre connx. is broken (I can see it, passing through a tree. And this isn't the first time!). So, what about a backup? I asked about this device, and they said (even "checked with a colleague") it DOESN'T backup ethernet connected devices. Their understanding of their own products is woeful. Thanks for confirming that it DOES do what I want 🙂
Thank you. Agree, some BT staff could do with a little more training/knowledge updates.
Great video thanks,
You’re welcome!
This Hybrid Connect is essentially very similar to the 4G Assure device that I used to have with them in that it provides atrocious download and upload speeds that are more inline with what you would get with a 3G service. I'm surprised that it is also marketed as unbreakable WI-FI; it doesn't matter if the WI-FI connection is good if its still taking time for the Hybrid Connect to provide a service via a cellular backup connection.
EE mini hub?
It's only £3 extra a month to go from halo 3 to halo 3+
And I will get a free upgrade to Fibre 100 when it's available.
It seems like a good deal, what do you think?
We've just signed up for this for our office at work, although we haven't received the new hub and hybrid unit yet. We currently get a download speed of 9 Mbps through the copper cable BT phone line, but I've noticed that I can get 38 to 50 Mbps on my smartphone through the EE 4G network when I put it in the window, in the position where we're intending to put the hybrid connect device. Hopefully this will translate to faster internet speeds. The increased reliability that this device offers is also useful.
Having received and installed the new hub and hybrid unit, and used it for the last two months or so, I'm happy to confirm that our new download speed is in the region of 40 Mbps. If you can't get a coaxial cable, or fibre optic, connection into your property this is definitely worthwhile.
The unit will act as a failover, which means you won’t get the faster mobile WiFi speeds compared to your current connection unless there is a fault/disconnected on the line.
@@thetechreviewchannel247 I understand what you're saying and logically that makes sense. However, that is not my experience:
When the signal strength meter at the bottom of the front face of the hybrid unit glows white, which is most of the time, which indicates that the unit is utilising 4G data, I do get an internet speed of around 40Mbps. I have confirmed this numerous times using a broadband speed checker app. I am not aware of any line faults at these times, again the majority of the time, since the telephone that also utilises this line continues to work.
When the signal strength indicator glows blue, indicating that the unit is connected to the 4G signal but unable to utilise 4G data, I only get something like 9Mbps. Once again this is proved by testing with a speed checker app.
@@alexistarr That's strange as it's definitely meant to be a failsafe sort of device...
@@leebeeskee Indeed, but good for us as we're benefiting from faster speeds.
Anybody using Hybrid Connect (business) with another router that is not BT? I have an Asus RT-AX82U.Does the BT sim only become active when BT FTTP is down?
If the fibre hub fails thru fibre does this take over from the main hub and switch to mobile
The one i had sent recently on a bt900 package was at least half the size of that and is just a plug in and play device. No leads or connection options at all , just wifi. You just plug it in and it sends out strong wifi around the house. Also i have house built in the 1800 that traditional routers struggle with, but this little guy performs great.
i was really curious if you could actually use it as a travel modem /router away from the home address. i see no logical reason why not.
So if I was going on holiday could I take this and the smart hub 2 and get internet on holiday in the UK?
Thanks in advance.
Hi. Not sure if it would work. There could be restrictions in place to prevent overseas roaming of the device.
If your wired or cabled internet drops then you naturally reset your modem. If this doesn't work then its a local outage, which means that everyone who wasn't already using the local mast for wireless then jumps onto it which causes super slow internet for all.
I live 1.5miles away from a mast and can get 4G via it. At 1am it provides 16mbit, at 3pm at the weekend it's less than 100kbit, so completely useless and so is the gimmick of unbreakable internet connections when everyone is using wireless via masts.
@@thetechreviewchannel247 Probably smoke signals and some flag signalling if it was raining
Could the Hub just be used with the sim card? if you are not with BT
no
Hi there I'm got a dec but it as broken off and it won't stand up
?
So I know for sure, if main BT broadband goes down and I'm in the middle of something, say a video game, does this device kick in immediately and my other devices know to connect to it straight away? Or would there be a temp loss of internet in the process?
There will be a temporary loss of internet while the main router will try for a few mins to reconnect. Once that doesn’t happen then the Hybrid Hub kicks in. Reconnection back to main broadband is a similar process but can take up to 15 mins.
@@thetechreviewchannel247 Ok - and do my devices know to connect to it automatically? Say, my Nest, my mobile etc?
@@HaydnG266 Yes, they should as Hybrid Hub provides a backbone internet connection to the Smart Router 2. Therefore, as far as other devices are concerned, they are reconnecting to the main router where the internet connection has come back up, albeit now provided by the Hybrid Hub.
From my testing it seems to change over to 4g about 2-2.5 minutes after the broadband connection is lost.
So the wi-fi is not unbreakable
Can you recommend a good outdoor antenna for this ? In the house l am only getting 1 light on that 4G device ☹️
Wouldn’t be able to tell. Suggest you contact BT for advice.
Just to let you know, I have had Halo 3+ with EE Hybrid solution, if for any reason your broadband line goes down, the EE Hybrid 4G service kicks in and whilst is connected to the BT Hub 2 it provides Internet service to your home.
BUT....
1) Your Digital Voice line does NOT work any longer and
2) Your BT Vision HD Service does NOT work either
Now considering BT/EE work together to provide a fail-over solution, selling it and charging me for something that doesn't work is absurd. I had a BT Engineer and he confirmed my findings, and he organised a BT Openreach to confirm my network/connection coming is is up to speed and fine which they did, HOWEVER, the service WILL NOT work when EE Hybrid kicks in
This is extremely useful to know as I did not test the landline when the Hybrid Hub kicked in. Would have thought BT would at least have covered this aspect. Maybe a future version might fix this.
does it use a EE sim card or BT sim card?
Just checked. BT mobile SIM card! Not surprised as BT owns EE and BT’s mobile network runs off EE’s network.
So is it worth the extra £12 pm?
You will have to decide if it is worth for you based on convenience, cost of other backup options available and price at which you’re prepared to pay. It was advertised at £7 pm extra but with current market rates I don’t think BT can be blamed for putting their prices up.
Did it give you a new external IP or the same one as on the main WAN? If it's different that's not really "unbreakable"? I mean its not "unbreakable" the amount of time it takes to fail over anyway. Also why isn't it POE powered from the hybrid hub?? Poor design there.
Same as main WAN. PoE would have been a nice touch to avoid having to plug it in.
@@thetechreviewchannel247 good news on the IP thanks.
@@demiquadfpv3333 I stand corrected. IP address changes when failover kicks in.
So it's basically bthe same as tethering your phone when the DSL fails. Not so useful...
@@demiquadfpv3333 Correct!
The 4G connection still utilises the Hub so if there's a fault with that no internet!
Yes, the hybrid hub utilises the Smart Hub 2 to maintain an internet connection, which is probably why they put “hybrid” in the name as it is not a standalone device.
I was advised if you plug in the Hybrid box you can connect it as mobile hotspot anywhere
@@Dafoxx-1 The BT engineer did tell me that plugged directly into the PC it's much quicker. We power everything down when not in use and I find it's slow to connect. The PC is up and running and the booster is still flashing whilst it sorts itself out.
So are BT acknowledging that their service is so terrible they have to have a cellular backup
No, what they are providing is a backup, albeit possibly limited in speed, service in case the main broadband connection goes down. The Smart Hub 2 they provide is not actually that bad as it is a device that has been designed to be as easy to use as possible bearing in mind that this will be used by millions of customers. It is not the latest and greatest device but it is very good. There are rumours on the horizon of a newer Smart Hub 3 that is to be released, which I assume would have Wi-Fi 6 capabilities.
BT’s service has been reliable with my connection and I’ve not experienced any issues but this all depends on the type of service one has, the quality of the connection etc etc.
It's not unbreakable if there's a power cut 😎
That is true unless you have the devices connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or similar power backup device.
@@thetechreviewchannel247 😂😅
You have a strange definition of 'unbreakable connection'. It appears to take several minutes to detect a broadband outage and start to serve Wi-Fi via 4G. This is not a seamless transition.
BT’s definition!
4G ??? the country is using 5G
6G will be round the corner too…but yes, BT need a bit of catching up to do. Although, I have heard rumours about their next generation hybrid hub offering may take into account 5G.