rmluglist2--- via Hampshire wrote on 2025-11-22 06:43:
> This is such a weird problem, it’s going to take me a while to
> explain it but if anyone is willing to offer a solution, I’d love to
> hear.
Great explanation of the problem.
I'll toss out some vaccine-haze induced thoughts on the off chance it'll
be helpful.
> The problem: All of a sudden, our wifi has become really bad –
> disconnecting 2-3 times every 10 seconds. As it came on so quickly
> (about 6 weeks ago)
Since you've done quite a bit of investigation and it appears you'd know
if you'd changed anything around that time, let's make note of this
sudden change.
> But now, as a result of a lot of testing
> yesterday, I’ve determined that it’s to do with the cabled side of
> the LAN.
As James mentioned, maybe start swapping cables one by one to see if one
got pinched / damaged.
> One of the 2 routers I have is a BT Home Hub 5. It’s required to
> have a DHCP server enabled as, without it, our BT Vision box won’t
> work.
This relates back to the first point about the suddenly appearing issue.
The BT device is vendor supplied?
Is it possible they've pushed out an OTA update?
Also, I feel it would be worth digging into why only DHCP from the Home
Hub 5 works with the Vision box. Seems to me that an IP is an IP, so
what else is going on with the DHCP between these two?
> Mindful of this, I’ve disabled DHCP on my other router.
Does enabling DHCP on the other router, perhaps with static reservation
for the Vision (and no Hub) work? Is there an admin panel on the Hub for
DHCP where some specific options can be found - and duplicated to the
other router?
> Now, with thanks for reading this far, if I allow the BT router to
> be on at the same time as the other router, our WiFi is awful.
Could it be that a remote, OTA update for the BT router has enabled WiFi
internally somehow?
i.e. Some telecom companies provision their customer equipment to
provide free WiFi to any other customer on a separate subnet.
Is that a possibility here? With the BT router on, and a mobile device
at hand, are any unusual APs appearing with unusually strong signal?
> Why would the existence of a wired router (remember its wifi is
> disabled) cause such disconnects to devices connecting to _/all/_ of
> my WiFi access points when it’s switched on? It has to be the BT
> router at the (pardon the pun) root of this doesn’t it?
Sure seems like it. Only thing I can think of is that it's providing
WiFi outside your control.
> the BT router has to
> have DHCP enabled for the BT vision box
Again, one wonders, "Why?" (Not doubting you, just proposing an area of
investigation.)
> Anything I could usefully try would be very welcome. It’s driving
> my kids mad!
Certainly is a weird situation.
Hopefully something I've written might trigger something that leads to a
solution.
Good luck
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