EE SmartHub misbehaves on a x.x.x.1 IP address

If i set my ee smarthub to be 10.0.0.1 it runs really slowly, but it doesn't on 10.0.0.254. Why?

There’s a surprisingly common reason for this, and it has nothing to do with “speed” in the broadband sense — it’s about how consumer routers handle their own management IP address and the subnet they expect.

Here’s the short version: Many ISP‑supplied routers (including EE Smart Hubs) are internally optimized for being at the end of the subnet (e.g., 192.168.1.254 or 10.0.0.254). When you move them to .1, some internal services, NAT tables, or DHCP assumptions don’t behave efficiently, which can cause slow UI, laggy routing, or odd performance.

Let me break down the likely causes so it actually makes sense.

Why .254 works better than .1 on an EE Smart Hub

1. The firmware is designed around .254

EE’s Smart Hub firmware (like BT’s Home Hub, which it’s based on) is built with the assumption that the router’s LAN IP is the highest usable address in the subnet.

That means:

• Internal services bind to .254

• Diagnostics expect .254

• DHCP defaults assume .254 as the gateway

• Some processes don’t fully reconfigure when you change it

When you force it to .1, the router technically accepts it, but parts of the firmware still behave as if .254 is the “natural” home.

This leads to:

• Slow web interface

• Delayed routing decisions

• Occasional packet loss or stalls

• DHCP clients taking longer to get leases

2. ARP and routing tables get bigger or slower

On some hubs, .1 is treated as a “special” address (because many enterprise routers use it). The Smart Hub isn’t designed for that pattern, so:

• ARP caching becomes less efficient

• Internal routing tables may rebuild more often

• The CPU ends up doing extra work

It’s subtle, but it shows up as sluggishness.

3. DHCP gateway assignment can become inconsistent

Even if you change the router IP to 10.0.0.1, some EE Smart Hub models still try to hand out .254 as the gateway until you reboot them twice or reset DHCP.

If clients get mixed gateway addresses, you get:

• Slow browsing

• Timeouts

• Devices “hanging” while trying to reach the router

When the router is at .254, everything lines up with the defaults.

4. Some ISP‑specific services assume .254

EE’s remote management, TR‑069, and diagnostic tools are inherited from BT’s ecosystem. These expect:

• LAN gateway = .254

• Management interface = .254

Changing it doesn’t break the connection, but it can cause:

• Slower UI

• Slower NAT table updates

• Occasional CPU spikes

So what’s the bottom line?

Your Smart Hub isn’t truly designed to run as .1. It allows it, but it doesn’t fully reconfigure all internal services, so performance suffers.

Running it at .254 keeps everything aligned with the firmware’s expectations, which is why it feels faster and more stable.

If you want, I can help you:

• choose a better LAN addressing scheme

• set up a cleaner 10.x.x.x network

• avoid the Smart Hub’s quirks entirely by using a third‑party router

Just tell me how deep you want to go.

Slow first page loads on Chrome

 I was experiencing frequent - but seemingly random - slow page loads on opening new sites in Chrome. The wait was up to 10 seconds, but a refresh mid-wait appeared to cause it to load quickly.

Copilot gave the following explanation. 

The chrome://net-internals/#dns and clear net cache seemed to yield good results, but time will tell.

What you’re describing — first navigation in a new tab taking ~10s, then a refresh becoming fast (even during the wait) — can be DNS-related, but it’s often not “basic DNS resolution”. It’s usually one of: 

• Chrome’s own host-resolution behavior (async resolver / internal cache / DoH) behaving differently to your terminal tools 

• Connection establishment delays (TCP/TLS/HTTP3/QUIC, certificate validation/OCSP/CRL, proxy/PAC, AV inspection) 

• Happy Eyeballs / IPv6 fallback weirdness 

• Chrome preconnect / preloading / service-worker / HSTS interactions that make “refresh” take a different (faster) path 

Below is a practical way to narrow it down. 

 

1) Is it DNS? (And yes: Chrome can behave differently than Terminal) 

Chrome does not always behave like nslookup 

• nslookup queries DNS servers directly and reports what it gets back; it doesn’t necessarily mimic how applications resolve names. 

• Chrome/Chromium has its own host resolution stack (including caching and support for different resolution sources) rather than being a thin wrapper around the OS resolver. Chromium’s own docs describe Chrome’s host resolution implementation, including DNS/host caching and interaction with system settings. 1 

• Chrome also maintains a separate DNS/host cache that you can inspect and flush independently. 2 

Chrome may use Secure DNS (DoH) depending on settings/policy 

Chrome has a “Use secure DNS” setting that can cause Chrome to use DNS-over-HTTPS (or opportunistically upgrade to it), which can differ from what your OS / terminal uses. 3 

So yes: Chrome can use a different mechanism/caching/transport than nslookup, and you can see “DNS is instant” in terminal while Chrome still stalls for reasons that look DNS-ish. 

 

2) Why “refresh” is fast even during the wait 

A refresh being fast strongly suggests the slow part is something that becomes satisfied/cached/unstuck after the first attempt starts: 

• DNS answer cached (browser cache, OS cache, router cache) 

• TCP/TLS handshake completes and is then reused (keep-alive / session resumption) 

• QUIC/HTTP3 path negotiation completes (subsequent request reuses state) 

• Certificate validation or revocation check completes (OCSP/CRL) 

• Proxy auto-detection (PAC / WPAD) finishes 

• Extension/AV scanning delays only the first request 

Chrome DevTools “Initial connection” time includes time to establish the connection (TCP) and negotiate TLS where applicable. 4 

 

3) A focused diagnostic flow (quick to do, high signal) 

Step A — Use Chrome’s own network/DNS diagnostics 

1. Open: chrome://net-internals/#dns (or in newer Chrome, use NetLog export via chrome://net-export) 

2. Click Clear host cache 

3. Try loading a site that shows the 10s delay 

4. Re-open the page and inspect whether host entries appear / how they change 

Chromium maintains its own host resolution stack and tooling around it. 5 

What you’re looking for: 

• Do you see slow resolution attempts? 

• Are there repeated failed queries followed by success? 

• Does it prefer IPv6 first then fallback? 

If you want the most precise view: create a NetLog (chrome://net-export), reproduce the issue once, then stop logging. The NetLog will show whether the delay is DNS, proxy resolution, TLS handshake, QUIC, etc. 

 

Step B — Check whether it’s Secure DNS / DoH related 

Go to: Chrome Settings → Privacy and security → Security → “Use secure DNS” 

• Toggle it off temporarily, or set it to a known provider explicitly. This setting controls Chrome’s DoH behavior. 6 

Then reproduce the issue. 

If disabling Secure DNS fixes it, the problem could be: 

• DoH endpoint latency/reachability 

• middlebox interference 

• IPv6/IPv4 path differences to the DoH resolver 

 

Step C — Rule out proxy auto-detection (a classic “first request takes ~10s” cause) 

This is very common on Windows and sometimes macOS in managed environments: 

• Windows: Settings → Network → Proxy → “Automatically detect settings” 

• Also check whether a PAC script is configured. 

Proxy/WPAD delays often show up exactly like “first request after opening browser/tab is slow”. 

 

Step D — Check IPv6 vs IPv4 weirdness 

Even with fast internet, a broken/partial IPv6 path can cause a stall until fallback occurs. 

Test quickly: 

• In terminal, resolve both A and AAAA: 

• nslookup -type=A example.com 

• nslookup -type=AAAA example.com 

• If AAAA exists, try temporarily disabling IPv6 on your adapter (for a test), or test a browser that you know prefers different behavior. 

If disabling IPv6 makes it disappear → it’s not “DNS speed”, it’s “first connection attempt over IPv6 stalls”. 

 

Step E — QUIC / HTTP3 negotiation 

Chrome may attempt HTTP/3 (QUIC) first on some sites; if your network blocks/impairs UDP/443, you can see delays before fallback. 

Quick test: 

• Go to chrome://flags and temporarily disable Experimental QUIC protocol (or equivalent flag if present), relaunch, retry. 

If fixed: your router/firewall/ISP path may be interfering with UDP/443 or QUIC. 

 

Step F — Certificate validation / OCSP / security software 

Another common “10s on first connect” culprit: 

• OCSP/CRL checks stalling 

• Antivirus “HTTPS scanning” / corporate TLS interception 

• Extension doing blocking work on first navigation 

Chrome’s own help guidance explicitly calls out that firewall/antivirus and extensions can cause connection/loading issues. 7 

Quick isolation: 

• Try Incognito (extensions often disabled) 

• Or start Chrome with all extensions disabled 

• Temporarily disable “HTTPS scanning” in AV (if you have it) just to test 

If Incognito is fine → extension is likely involved. 

 

4) How to tell exactly what part is slow (DNS vs TLS vs server) 

Use DevTools Network timings 

Open DevTools → Network → load a site → click the first request → Timing tab. 

If the delay is mostly: 

• “DNS Lookup” → name resolution/DoH/system resolver interactions 

• “Initial connection / SSL” → TCP/TLS handshake, packet loss, inspection, certificate validation 

• “Waiting (TTFB)” → server/app delay (less likely if it happens across many unrelated sites) 

Remember: “Initial connection” is handshake setup and (where applicable) SSL/TLS negotiation. 8 

 

5) Why your 1.6Gbps speed doesn’t rule this out 

Bandwidth ≠ latency. These 10s stalls are typically: 

• a timeout/fallback interval 

• a blocked protocol (UDP/443, IPv6) 

• a proxy discovery timeout 

• a security product doing synchronous inspection 

They can happen on a gigabit link just as easily. 

 

6) Most likely culprits given your symptoms (ranked) 

Based on “first request slow; refresh fast; nslookup instant”: 

1. Proxy auto-detect / PAC delay (especially on Windows, corporate setups) 

2. IPv6 first attempt stalls then fallback to IPv4 

3. Secure DNS / DoH path issue (Chrome differs from terminal) 9 10 

4. QUIC/HTTP3 attempt blocked → fallback 

5. AV/Firewall HTTPS inspection or an extension 11 

6. Certificate revocation checks stalling (OCSP/CRL) 

 

7) Two super-quick “tell me the answer” tests 

If you want the fastest route to a root cause, do these two: 

Test 1 — Disable Secure DNS in Chrome (1 minute) 

Settings → Privacy & security → Security → Use secure DNS → Off 12 
Retry. 

Test 2 — Disable proxy auto-detect (1 minute) 

Disable “Automatically detect settings” (Windows proxy settings) 
Retry. 

If either fixes it, you’ve basically found the class of issue. 

 

A couple of questions (so I can narrow it to one or two likely causes) 

1. What OS are you on (Windows 11 / macOS / Linux)? 

2. Does it happen on all sites (e.g., google.com, bbc.co.uk) or mostly new/less-visited sites? 

3. If you open the same URL in Edge (Chromium) or Firefox, do you see the same first-load stall? 

If you tell me those, I’ll suggest the most likely root cause and the shortest path to confirm it (and fix it).