TalkTalk’s Wi-Fi Hub Router Now Available to Biz Customers
New customers of UK broadband ISP Talk Talk Business may be pleased to learn that they too can now access the provider’s latest “best-ever” Wi-Fi Hub (Sagemcom F@st 5364) router, which was first launched for their residential subscribers (here) all the way back in May 2018. At least it looks identical to us.
Apparently this router is “designed for businesses who need high-performing connectivity” (and ehumm.. homes) and has been “optimised for Talk Talk Business’ Superfast, Fibre network” (although it lacks any phone ports for VoIP or USB). The kit is said to be capable of 1Gbps wireless connectivity, while MU-MIMO beamforming “minimises signal interference and ensures reliable connections,” although in reality we all know how WiFi rarely ever gets close to such speeds in a real-world setting.
The router is also said to support “50 simultaneously connected devices, allowing operations to collaborate with crystal-clear video and audio conferencing while safeguarding the responsiveness of SaaS products such as Microsoft 365, Slack and Salesforce” (these days 50 isn’t actually all that big).
Jon Nowell, TTB’s Director of Small Business, said:
“As businesses turn their focus to how they bounce back, strong Fibre connectivity has never been as important. Our Wi-Fi Hub will be a significant enhancement to UK digital transformation strategies and increasing business productivity. We’ve been working incredibly hard to help keep UK businesses operational, providing round the clock support for our customers and facilitating unparalleled increases in bandwidth demand.”
We have asked if there are any differences between this model and the one that has been available to residential customers since 2018. In response TalkTalk said that the router is different on the inside due to “significant code changes and performance enhancements that support the needs of Small Businesses including Static IP’s and Network Address Translation (NAT) and Assia Cloudcheck” (i.e. software changes rather than hardware, although features like static IP addresses are ISP-side measures and all routers can handle them).
Otherwise the spec sheet certainly seems to be pretty similar and, assuming it’s truly identical to the residential model, then the theoretical peak WiFi speed should be 2.4GHz = 217Mbps and 5GHz = 1733Mbps, which is good. The new Hub is being supplied “free of charge” with all new TT Business Broadband and Fibre subscriptions.
TTB Wi-Fi Hub Router Specifications
Chipsets (Broadband & Wi-Fi)
Broadband: Broadcom 63137 & 6303
Wi-Fi: Broadcom 43602 & 4366EWi-Fi antennae (2.4GHz / 5GHz)
3×3 / 4×4Network Access
ADSL & VDSLLAN Ethernet ports
4 x 1 GbpsWAN Ethernet port
1 x 1 GbpsMemory (Flash / RAM)
512MB / 512MBLED
Single, dual colour (Orange & White)Button(s)
Power & WPSGUI (Web Interface)
Two-tier (Simple & Advanced)USB
No
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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That gigabit WiFi capability will come in really useful accessing their up to 76 Mb business broadband products.
UFO users would appreciate it though. It’s not a bad router by any means but it’s not really suitable for gigabit. Best speed I’ve seen on WiFi is 400mb ish.
Apparently TalkTalk have put a ‘stop-sell’ on ALL new UFO orders while they attempt to fix the bedlam in their offices with untrained staff. Instead they claim they will carefully select which customers shall receive UFO (Full Fibre FTTP) in their own time.
Best to nominate one of your future grandchildren to receive the UFO service as TalkTalk may take quite a while to get their house in order.
In the meantime, TalkTalk would like to offer you this router on 56K dial-up with a 60 month special contract; for their last remaining non-livid customer.
@LBB seriously do you expect engineers to do home visits given the current situation with covid ? Just be thankful it’s on its way to you. It’s fast it’s cheap what more do you want ? Your constant TT bashing on here is getting a little boring.
DaveF, well I tried signing up with TalkTalk UFO so how is that bashing them?
I can 100% confirm OpenReach are doing house visits in my street/area during June including engineers entering peoples properties. From date of order to physical install is 8 days. Pretty excellent if you ask me.
TalkTalk are in absolute melt down right now. That is my point, which you completely missed I think (?)
Covid is no longer a valid excuse for this sheer incompetence. Everyone else is managing just fine. All companies had the same 4 months to make contingency plans. Just some telco’s did exceptional work whilst other companies chose to sit on their hands and freak out.
I would rather pay my money and have my UFO than complain about their CS being clueless.
Perhaps TalkTalk should update their website with some realistic expectations rather than blanket disappointing everyone who asks for the service.
I lent one of these to a small business, it performed way better than the Nighthawk they had. The odd thing, one of the directors got one for his home address and brought it in to replace mine, but it didn’t work very well at work, but worked well at my home, very odd!
I would like to know how much it will cost me to get reconnected because I have got one of your whif boxes.
How about IPv6 support?
Oh, wait, TalkTalk don’t know that exists
How about you telling us what the ordinary user can do over IPv6 what can’t be done over IPv4? Oh wait, you can’t.
Jed – it’s not supposed to be visible to the end user, and the fact that BT and Sky have managed to deploy v6 to virtually all of their customers without noticing is a testament to their respective network and CPE teams.
There’s simply nothing to argue against here – IPv6 is necessary for the long term health and stability of the internet. We have run out of v4 addresses and hacks like NAT only prolong the pain for those ISPs that didn’t exist 20 years ago, back when it was more of a free for all. Any ISP that refuses to deploy it is being negligent.
We’re now at the point where companies are having to fudge their IPv6 internal networks to allow IPv4 connections, i.e. it is simpler for them to accept IPv6 users. IPv6 denialism is just mad.
Mark, any details on why it’s only 50 devices? Is it hardware limited or software? I imagine with this aimed at businesses, there will be a some that this won’t cater for?
The router will theoretically support 255 however it has become common for the manufacturers to restrict the number to 50 in firmware to ensure expectation, reputation and reliability. Some used to allow you to set it. All these devices are backwards compatible and old slower devices can reduce the number of concurrent devices further.
However this should be plenty in a consumer/SME environment, if your devices increase above this (or possibly over 25) my view would be that due to the overall design compromises in the router that additional APs or a mesh should be considered for the number/type of devices and coverage.
Headline specifications assume a lot. WIFI speeds are becoming increasingly dependent on the capability of the connecting devices and them interfering with each other.
This is a good router and the WAN port means it has longer and more versatile life. Why BT make it complicated with multiple Smart Hub versions I don’t know.
The router that doesn’t work due to compatibility issues software to hardware interface. I’ve had three and had massive issues with drop out and connectivity. Had to go back to original router. Wouldn’t touch with a bark pole for business I’d be bankrupt in a week using one.
TTB is pathetic- I’m meant to be getting a guaranteed minimum 62 gb and am lucky to get 20gb, regularly dropping to 4gb and freezing any streaming services – and yes / all with this super router ! Pants!
My heart really bleeds for you, getting ‘only’ 4 Gbps when most of us are on speeds of 1 Gbps or less.
By the way, the latest TalkTalk router is in fact the Huawei Router DG8041W-2.T5 (2020 model).
The packaging and router design looks 100% identical to the Sagemcom F@st 5364!
TalkTalk voluntarily offered to send me this latest Huawei router because of my complaint on their forum with the Sagemcom F@st 5364 rebooting every 30 days. Having been a TalkTalk FTTC customer last 4 months, I can confirm that on 3 occasions the Sagemcom router supplied by TalkTalk rebooted at exactly the 30th day system and connection up-time.
This is despite latest firmware update SG4K10002808t —–> SG4K10002810t.
Now, bizarrely nobody else seems to have experienced this issue. I know it is not DLM because the connection is syncing at exactly 80/20Mbps nor is it related to any technical fault, power loss or noise margin related issue. It seems to be programmed for whatever reason, but anyway I no longer consider it as a problem anymore since I am aware of the timing.
I have not tried the latest Huawei Router DG8041W-2.T5 yet. Apparently the specifications appear to be very similar to the Sagemcom F@st 5364.
I have the DG8041W-2.T5, works fine apart from two issues:
1) Currently you cannot set a custom DNS provider on the router, you’re stuck with TT unless you set it on your client.
2) A laptop with an Intel 6200 centrino card (5100n cards fine) cannot see the 5ghz spectrum on this router but can on the previous HG633. I suspect this may be more to do with the 6200n and the windows driver, I’ve yet to test this theory using Linux.
I was given one of these after issues with another TalkTalk router. It went back as I couldn’t pick up a wifi signal in a room 3m away. Hopeless.