BG Home 17+

Previously (below) I’ve been frustrated by this smart socket because of the difficulty in setting up and connecting.

The recent app upgrade (and possibly OTA socket firmware update) has made things considerably better. Unfortunately, it requires the AP method but at least it connected easily and first time too, which it hasn’t done before. If the automatic connection had worked I’d have awarded 5 stars.

Well done for persisting and making this better.

Pre July 22 Update comment: Still Absolute rubbish.
That’s another 45 minutes wasted and still this piece of cr@p hasn’t connected. For goodness sake buy something instead of this! With each software upgrade for me this socket gets less and less reliable. Without exaggeration, I have never in my life bought anything as frustrating to use as this. There is nothing smart about this socket nor the incompetents who have underdeveloped it. I would have been more relaxed if I’d set fire to the £20 that the socket cost and banged my head against a wall for 10 minutes. It regularly drops off the wifi (none of my other smart devices do) and re-connecting is a manual and very hit or miss affair. Today it took 10 attempts which wasted 40 minutes of my time. I strongly recommend that you ignore BG products - they’re not fit for purpose - and buy something else. This is frustrating rubbish and make a mockery of smart home control.

Hi and thanks for your updated review. The most recent update (v1.4.5) ensures compatibility with DST (Daylight Saving Time) across all firmware versions, and fixed an issue with timers and delays for some users. Due to differences in Internet routers, Smart Setup can fail for a small number of users, and that's why we have the AP Setup mode as a backup. It takes slightly longer, but is more solid in terms of the connection. If you have any feedback or feature requests you'd like to share with us, please do so by emailing technical.support@bgelectrical.co.uk and ask for the email to be passed on to the Product Manager. We're always monitoring the reviews and looking to improve the app, products and experience. We are hoping to introduce some exciting features on the next version of the app, so watch this space. Yours sincerely, the BG Electrical team.

I have just installed a double socket as a test before installing more. It took a while to get connected to the 2.4Ghz network (on my dual band BT home network). My main gripe is that the instructions for using the timer don’t make sense to me. It has taken me a long time to realise that I can simply put one event in to turn on and one event to turn off. The instructions wander off in to setting up some sort of “Recycling” events which I can’t follow. Overall, I like what I have, but the app designers could improve the timer function and the instructions for using it. It would be worth some effort / investment if you want to grow the business / sell more of your products. (Edited after feedback from the designer).

Hi and thanks for your feedback. To turn a socket on and off, you'll need to create one timer for on, and one timer for off. We'd be happy to help you further. Please email us technical.support@bgelectrical.co.uk

Ive had some BG Smart products for a few years, and I recently bought a Luceco smart bulb for my living room which works on the same app. The initial setup wasn’t smooth sailing, but once connected they’ve been sitting there working. They didn’t like the dual band network, but I was able to switch it on again once connected. The best feature by far is the “Random” mode, which makes it look like someone is gone when I’m away. I also like the fact I didn’t need a hub. Note to developer, the GUI could do with some modernisation. However I mostly use Google Home to control my stuff. One more star if you update the GUI and make setup smoother.

Hi UKViking. Thanks for your feedback! We will do our best to get that extra star from you :-)