since a long time (about 1,5 years) I had some problems with my Internet connection and today my ISP send a technician with some advanced spectrum analyzing devices. After turning of the power of some rooms and devices, they found that the Smartthings Hub v2 is causing some spikes in the lower frequencies in the spectrum and some in the mid range.
These are resulting in small lags or even a complete disconnect from the internet.
I’m not sure if I have just a bad unit, but these device caused me a lot of problems with my internet connection.
PS: I’m unable to give more specific information about this, because my lack of knowledge, but it was clearly visible that the spikes in the spectrum disappeared after disconnecting the device from power.
Unfortunately, they found a scapegoat to blame. SmartThings hubs all have a radio in that range - Zigbee. It runs in the same spectrum as WiFi. But the important part, the SmartThings zigbee radio is an order of magnitude weaker than Wifi - and when interference happens, Zigbee looses. You’ll likely be calling them back on the same issue with proof that it wasn’t your hub because it’s still happening and the hub has been off…
I know it sounds unlikely, but the spikes was there everytime they connected it to power and let it boot.
We tried it a few times, and even waited like 5mins without it connected and the spikes didn’t appeared.
Only time will tell if it really solved my problem.
EDIT: I was talking about the DSL Spectrum and not the wireless / wifi spectrum.
Um, I’m beginning to wonder about that ISP “technician”, if that is what he or she told you. DSL is a dated Internet technology where the Internet connection comes in over copper wire. It’s not wireless, so the concept of a “DSL spectrum” makes no sense, at least to me.
The farther away from the ISPs central office you are, the worse your Internet connection sucks. If you’re on DSL, it may simply be your location and distance from the CO.
More than likely, if the tech was using a spectrum analyzer, he was analyzing wifi performance.
Yes, I’m talking about DSL. Here in germany Internet over Copper wire is the standard.
No, he was talking about the DSL Spectrum: Here is a example how it can look. The picture is a random example and from the same device, but it should make everything more understandable:
Ah OK. I’ve encountered DSL interference in the home caused by Powerline adapters being in too close, but I wonder what the source would be for a SmartThings hub. Is it in close to the incoming DSL? In the UK an integrated wi-fi/router/modem is pretty bog standard for DSL so the tendency is to keep the hub away from it a bit.
What do you mean by “close to the incoming DSL”? The smartthings hub is connected on another power plug so there is a distance between modem/router. But there are similarities between the Powerline adapters you mentioned.
On a earlier meeting with the technician, he did a test with a less advanced spectrum analyser and found that my neighbor uses a PowerLan device, but he couldn’t see the the interferences of the Smartthings. With the more advanced device from today , he saw the interferences caused by the smartthings hub.
In the UK the typical ISP supplied router/modem comes with a relatively short multi-core cable (say 1m or 2m) to connect it to a phone socket. So it is typical for the router/modem to be placed very near to a phone socket, however inconveniently located. And then when the SmartThings hub comes along it has a short ethernet cable so it ends up very close to the router. So instead of being a few metres apart, as would be preferable, everything tends to end up very close together in a tangle of cables. So the potential for interference is definitely there.
If, on the other hand, your SmartThings hub is a few metres away it is not so easy to imagine any interference coming from the hub. That is all I was really getting at.
Yes, I’m talking about DSL. Here in germany Internet over Copper wire is the standard.