Cannot connect to Wi Fi Hotspots

Question

Hi, I'm new to BT Infinity, not totally techical, but not a total novice either.  
My problem is I can't easily connect to BT wi fi hotspots.  I have Infinity 2, with a home hib 5, and I'm using an iPhone 6. Here's what happens;
- if I locate a wi fi hotspot when I'm away from home, I can only log into it with the web page method, where I enter my email address and password.  That works fine.  But only for that hotspot.  What doesn't work, is the BT wi fi app which should connect me automatically to hot spots when I'm out and about.  But mine doesn't connevct like that.
- With the app on my phone, I can't log into any hot spot at all.  If I go into my Settings instead, and select the hot spot from the list of available networks, I get the spinning Apple wheel, then the wi fi hotspot becomes selected with the Apple tick, but within a second or two, the tick disappears, and the previously-selected hotspot drops back down into the list of available hotspots.  At no point using this method, do I get the wi fi symbol at the top of my screen.
- If I try instead to connect using the App, it won't let me, and tells me that the wi fi symbol needs to be visible at the top of my screen, which as I say, doesn't happen at all during the ticking/unticking process described above.
Technical help last night advised me to uninstall the app, "forget" my own home network, and then log onto a hotspot again using the webpage login method.  Once that was done, I was online, and able to download the app again.  But the success was very temporary.
But the problem comes when I leave that hotspot and want to connect at another, and I can't, so the whole process has to start over again.
I've spoken to technical help again this evening, and it didn't help matters.  The techie's final view was that the issue lies with the app, and he suggested leaving feedback, but while that may be doable, a) I'm not convinced it's the problem, and b) I'm less convinced that it would help matters any.
Anther issue that I seem to have is that my home hub 5 does not appear to be broadcasting a hotspot of its own.  On the list of available networks when I'm at home, I can see my router and my neighbours' routers (they're on Sky), but I can't see my own hotspot, which I should ordinarrily be able to do.  The techie said that didn't matter, because I was opted in to the wi fi community.  He said that he had set my router "to be queued" for a firmware upgrade, but that could take up to 28 days, and that although it appeared that there was a glitch with my hub in that it couldn't be queued previously, again, that would not stop me from connecting to hot spots.
So my questions are;
1. Has anybody else had this hot spot problem, and if so, how did you fix it?
2. Does anyone know how to turn (or if it's possible to turn) the wi fi hot spot setting on and off from within my router settings - I've looked but can't see this option anywhere, and
3. Is there a way to force a firmware upgrade?  Again, I couldn't see that there was, but I may have missed something.
If anyone is thinking of suggesting checking my status using the following link, 
https://www.bt.com/wifi/secure/status.do?s_cid=con​_FURL_btfon/status
this doesn't work because it's not compatible with my new router.  Besides, it asks for a 2btinternet.com email address, which `i don't have, and when I tried logging in with my @btopenworld.com address, I got an error message stating "Customer product is not on allowed product list".  The techie saidf that was because that link was for the older systems.
Any help or suggestions gratefully received, so thank you in advance.

Answer 1

I don't understand the bit about the status link not being compatible with your new router. It is just a link to a web page.
Try this one
https://www.bt.com/wifi/secure/status.do;jsessioni​d=btrmJ1pF94mcf1pC1GBxTVWrZJnJxGS4zRsTglDGVXh7RB0n​...
Are you able to log onto MyBT? If you can you will be using your BTID to do this. Your BTID should be the same as your email address and password. This is also your log on for BTWifi.
Is BTWifi showing in MyExtras in your MyBT?
If your BTID is not the same as your email address it can cause problems accessing BTWifi and BTSport.
You can not force an update of the Homehub. You need to leave it on 24/7 and it will eventually update.
If you log onto the Homehub management pages http://bthomehub.home/  you will see if BTWifi is active or not.