diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index de0cdea3ec..4dce45af00 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 2. Create a new branch for the release, for example `release/1.2.3`
 3. Update the CHANGELOG.md with any customer-affecting changes since the last release and add this to the git index
 4. Run `npm version <VERSION_NUMBER> --no-git-tag-version` with the new version and add the changes to the git index
-5. Update the version number to the new version in `src/platform/react-hooks/src/AblyProvider.tsx`
+5. Update the version number to the new version in `src/platform/react-hooks/src/AblyReactHooks.ts`
 6. Create a PR for the release branch
 7. Once the release PR is landed to the `main` branch, checkout the `main` branch locally (remember to pull the remote changes) and run `npm run build`
 8. Run `git tag <VERSION_NUMBER>` with the new version and push the tag to git
diff --git a/src/common/lib/client/realtimechannel.ts b/src/common/lib/client/realtimechannel.ts
index ce6f50d687..615ab6a686 100644
--- a/src/common/lib/client/realtimechannel.ts
+++ b/src/common/lib/client/realtimechannel.ts
@@ -185,7 +185,20 @@ class RealtimeChannel extends Channel {
   }
 
   _shouldReattachToSetOptions(options?: API.Types.ChannelOptions) {
-    return (this.state === 'attached' || this.state === 'attaching') && (options?.params || options?.modes);
+    if (!(this.state === 'attached' || this.state === 'attaching')) {
+      return false;
+    }
+    if (options?.params) {
+      if (!this.params || !Utils.shallowEquals(this.params, options.params)) {
+        return true;
+      }
+    }
+    if (options?.modes) {
+      if (!this.modes || !Utils.arrEquals(options.modes, this.modes)) {
+        return true;
+      }
+    }
+    return false;
   }
 
   publish(...args: any[]): void | Promise<void> {
diff --git a/src/common/lib/util/utils.ts b/src/common/lib/util/utils.ts
index 533daef412..cbd1214fd6 100644
--- a/src/common/lib/util/utils.ts
+++ b/src/common/lib/util/utils.ts
@@ -318,10 +318,10 @@ export const arrFilter = (Array.prototype.filter as unknown)
     };
 
 export const arrEvery = (Array.prototype.every as unknown)
-  ? function <T>(arr: Array<T>, fn: (value: T, index?: number, arr?: Array<T>) => boolean) {
+  ? function <T>(arr: Array<T>, fn: (value: T, index: number, arr: Array<T>) => boolean) {
       return arr.every(fn);
     }
-  : function <T>(arr: Array<T>, fn: (value: T, index?: number, arr?: Array<T>) => boolean) {
+  : function <T>(arr: Array<T>, fn: (value: T, index: number, arr: Array<T>) => boolean) {
       const len = arr.length;
       for (let i = 0; i < len; i++) {
         if (!fn(arr[i], i, arr)) {
@@ -604,3 +604,12 @@ export function toBase64(str: string) {
   }
   return stringifyBase64(parseUtf8(str));
 }
+
+export function arrEquals(a: any[], b: any[]) {
+  return (
+    a.length === b.length &&
+    arrEvery(a, function (val, i) {
+      return val === b[i];
+    })
+  );
+}
diff --git a/src/platform/react-hooks/src/AblyProvider.tsx b/src/platform/react-hooks/src/AblyProvider.tsx
index b6995c5f0e..c26f8e12a4 100644
--- a/src/platform/react-hooks/src/AblyProvider.tsx
+++ b/src/platform/react-hooks/src/AblyProvider.tsx
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ import * as Ably from 'ably';
 import { Types } from '../../../../ably.js';
 import React, { useMemo } from 'react';
 
-const version = '1.2.45';
-
 const canUseSymbol = typeof Symbol === 'function' && typeof Symbol.for === 'function';
 
 interface AblyProviderProps {
@@ -28,8 +26,6 @@ export function getContext(ctxId = 'default'): AblyContextType {
   return ctxMap[ctxId];
 }
 
-let hasSentAgent = false;
-
 export const AblyProvider = ({ client, children, id = 'default' }: AblyProviderProps) => {
   if (!client) {
     throw new Error('AblyProvider: the `client` prop is required');
@@ -46,14 +42,5 @@ export const AblyProvider = ({ client, children, id = 'default' }: AblyProviderP
     context = ctxMap[id] = React.createContext(realtime ?? 1);
   }
 
-  React.useEffect(() => {
-    if (!hasSentAgent) {
-      hasSentAgent = true;
-      realtime.request('GET', '/time', null, null, {
-        'Ably-Agent': `react-hooks-time-ping/${version}`,
-      });
-    }
-  });
-
   return <context.Provider value={realtime}>{children}</context.Provider>;
 };
diff --git a/src/platform/react-hooks/src/AblyReactHooks.ts b/src/platform/react-hooks/src/AblyReactHooks.ts
index 0d190a818d..fac2c4c7b4 100644
--- a/src/platform/react-hooks/src/AblyReactHooks.ts
+++ b/src/platform/react-hooks/src/AblyReactHooks.ts
@@ -16,3 +16,15 @@ export type ChannelNameAndId = {
   id?: string;
 };
 export type ChannelParameters = string | ChannelNameAndOptions;
+
+export const version = '1.2.45';
+
+export function channelOptionsWithAgent(options?: Types.ChannelOptions) {
+  return {
+    ...options,
+    params: {
+      ...options?.params,
+      agent: `react-hooks/${version}`,
+    },
+  };
+}
diff --git a/src/platform/react-hooks/src/hooks/useChannel.ts b/src/platform/react-hooks/src/hooks/useChannel.ts
index 49aae48e6a..d747281a7d 100644
--- a/src/platform/react-hooks/src/hooks/useChannel.ts
+++ b/src/platform/react-hooks/src/hooks/useChannel.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { Types } from '../../../../../ably.js';
 import { useEffect, useMemo, useRef } from 'react';
-import { ChannelParameters } from '../AblyReactHooks.js';
+import { channelOptionsWithAgent, ChannelParameters } from '../AblyReactHooks.js';
 import { useAbly } from './useAbly.js';
 import { useStateErrors } from './useStateErrors.js';
 
@@ -45,13 +45,16 @@ export function useChannel(
   const channelOptionsRef = useRef(channelOptions);
   const ablyMessageCallbackRef = useRef(ablyMessageCallback);
 
-  const channel = useMemo(() => ably.channels.get(channelName, channelOptionsRef.current), [ably, channelName]);
+  const channel = useMemo(
+    () => ably.channels.get(channelName, channelOptionsWithAgent(channelOptionsRef.current)),
+    [ably, channelName]
+  );
 
   const { connectionError, channelError } = useStateErrors(channelHookOptions);
 
   useEffect(() => {
     if (channelOptionsRef.current !== channelOptions && channelOptions) {
-      channel.setOptions(channelOptions);
+      channel.setOptions(channelOptionsWithAgent(channelOptions));
     }
     channelOptionsRef.current = channelOptions;
   }, [channel, channelOptions]);
diff --git a/src/platform/react-hooks/src/hooks/usePresence.ts b/src/platform/react-hooks/src/hooks/usePresence.ts
index e56bcdd248..c328a6055b 100644
--- a/src/platform/react-hooks/src/hooks/usePresence.ts
+++ b/src/platform/react-hooks/src/hooks/usePresence.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { Types } from '../../../../../ably.js';
-import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from 'react';
-import { ChannelParameters } from '../AblyReactHooks.js';
+import { useCallback, useEffect, useMemo, useRef, useState } from 'react';
+import { channelOptionsWithAgent, ChannelParameters } from '../AblyReactHooks.js';
 import { useAbly } from './useAbly.js';
 import { useStateErrors } from './useStateErrors.js';
 
@@ -28,11 +28,24 @@ export function usePresence<T = any>(
 
   const subscribeOnly = typeof channelNameOrNameAndOptions === 'string' ? false : params.subscribeOnly;
 
-  const channel = ably.channels.get(params.channelName, params.options);
+  const channelOptions = params.options;
+  const channelOptionsRef = useRef(channelOptions);
+
+  const channel = useMemo(
+    () => ably.channels.get(params.channelName, channelOptionsWithAgent(channelOptionsRef.current)),
+    [ably, params.channelName]
+  );
   const skip = params.skip;
 
   const { connectionError, channelError } = useStateErrors(params);
 
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (channelOptionsRef.current !== channelOptions && channelOptions) {
+      channel.setOptions(channelOptionsWithAgent(channelOptions));
+    }
+    channelOptionsRef.current = channelOptions;
+  }, [channel, channelOptions]);
+
   const [presenceData, updatePresenceData] = useState<Array<PresenceMessage<T>>>([]);
 
   const updatePresence = async (message?: Types.PresenceMessage) => {
diff --git a/test/realtime/channel.test.js b/test/realtime/channel.test.js
index 252a9b1ef6..a079b64062 100644
--- a/test/realtime/channel.test.js
+++ b/test/realtime/channel.test.js
@@ -647,7 +647,9 @@ define(['ably', 'shared_helper', 'async', 'chai'], function (Ably, helper, async
 
             try {
               realtime.channels.get(testName, {
-                params: params,
+                params: {
+                  modes: 'subscribe',
+                },
               });
             } catch (err) {
               try {
@@ -714,7 +716,9 @@ define(['ably', 'shared_helper', 'async', 'chai'], function (Ably, helper, async
                   var setOptionsReturned = false;
                   channel.setOptions(
                     {
-                      params: params,
+                      params: {
+                        modes: 'publish',
+                      },
                     },
                     function () {
                       /* Wait a tick so we don' depend on whether the update event runs the
@@ -743,7 +747,7 @@ define(['ably', 'shared_helper', 'async', 'chai'], function (Ably, helper, async
                   var setOptionsReturned = false;
                   channel.setOptions(
                     {
-                      modes: modes,
+                      modes: ['subscribe'],
                     },
                     function () {
                       Ably.Realtime.Platform.Config.nextTick(function () {