What is the BT Home Hub?

BT has a plan - and that's to get one of their Home Hubs into everyone's house. The FrequencyCast podcast team thought we'd fill you in on what the BT Home Hub is all about.

Essentially, the BT Home Hub is intended to be the main connection point between BT's network and your home. The Hub is intended to be the central point for communication - home phone, mobile phone, wireless networking, broadband Internet and television services.

In a nutshell, here's what the BT Home Hub is:

• A Broadband router: Allowing high-speed broadband connection to the Internet from home computers, laptops, mobile phones and games consoles (such as the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox or Sony's PS2 / PS3). Intended for use only with BT Total Broadband
• A Wi-fi access point: Supporting the connection of equipment that has wireless capability. This includes some PDAs, mobile phones, laptops and wi-fi webcams.
• Internet calls: The Hub supports phone calls made over the Internet, for cheaper calling with BT Broadband Talk
• Cordless phone: Connects with the BT Hub Phone digital cordless DECT phone (From BT Shop)
• Digital TV: The Hub is designed for use with BT's digital TV service, BT Vision

Need help with your BT Home Hub? Go to hubhelp.co.uk

Different Versions of BT Home Hub:

The original Home Hub

Home Hub v1.5, released Oct 2007

Home Hub v2.0, released July 2008

Full comparision on the Home Hub models at helphelp.co.uk

REVIEW: Listen to a review of the Hub 2.0 in our July 2008 update: AUDIO GUIDE: Got a BT Home Hub and need help or advice? Listen to our Unofficial Guide to the Home Hub

BT Home Hub Review

We reviewed the original v1 BT Home Hub in Show 9 of our online radio show. You can listen online, or download the show to your MP3 player.

The first version of the BT Home Hub is actually a re-branded version of the Thomson Speedtouch 7G broadband router. Those with experience of broadband routers will be quick to acknowledge that BT's Hub is not the best router on the market and lacks some of the more advanced features found on other routers. However, for the majority of BT's target home users that want a free Broadband modem with their Internet connection.

If you want to read our review of the v2 Hub, see our Home Hub v2 Reviewed page. In summary, the Home Hub is usable, functional and free. It's pre-configured for use with BT's BT Total Broadband, voice-over-Internet and TV services, making it easy to use out-of-the-box for the less technically-savvy.

BT Home Hub is supplied with:

• Broadband cable
• Ethernet cable (RJ45)
• Power adapter
• 2 x ADSL microfilters
• User Guide and CD

BT Home Hub - Box contents

BT Home Hub 2.0 Specifications:

• Modem: ADSL (Broadband).
• Wifi: 802.11b / 802.11g / 802.11n (Supports WEP, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK)
• Dimensions: Width: 175mm , depth: 88mm , height: 182mm
• Main features: Pre-configured to work on BT Total Broadband lines
• Connectors: 4 x 10/100 Mbps Ethernet sockets (RJ45), 1 x USB, Broadband In (RJ11), telephone socket

Home Hub 2.0 rear connectors

Sockets on the rear of the BT Home Hub v1.5

Sockets on the rear of the BT Home Hub v1.0

Connecting the BT Home Hub:

Here's a quick summary of how to get connected to BT Total Broadband using a BT Home Hub:

• First off, each telephone in the house will have to be connected to the phone socket via a special filter once Broadband is enabled. Other devices that have to connect to your phone line, such as answerphones and set-top boxes (including the Sky digibox), will also need to be connected via a microfilter.
• Plug the broadband lead into the ADSL socket on the filter into the Broadband line socket on the Home Hub
• Plug the Home Hub into the mains, using the supplied power adapter
• After a few minutes, the 'Wireless' , 'Broadband' and 'Internet' lights should be on (The BT guide advises you to wait an hour while the line optimises and gains the fastest speed).
• Next off, you're meant to install the BT Total Broadband software, supplied on CD. HOWEVER, you don't need to. If your PC is running XP or Vista, you won't need to use the supplied BT software CD, as when you connect your Home Hub to the PC, Windows has all of the software you need. By not using the CD, you won't get lots of unneeded software installed, including: BT Broadband Desktop Help, BT Yahoo Internet Software, Hub Manager and BT Broadband Talk Setup. You can manage your Home Hub via a standard web browser, so don't need BT's software to clutter your PC.
• Then, plug in an Ethernet lead from your PC's network port to the Home Hub Ethernet port.
• As if by magic, it should all work. The Home Hub is set for DHCP, and BT Total Broadband doesn't require a username or password to log on (as they use your phone number to authenticate)

Configuring the BT Home Hub:

We thought that some of our visitors might like a little more detail on what configuration options are supported by the Home Hub, so we've had a stroll through the user interface:

You can connect to your Home Hub to check status and alter settings via your PC's web browser - Go to http://bthomehub.home/. Once you've logged in to the BT Home Hub, you need to go to the 'Advanced' section. Here, you'll find the following sections:

Configuration: Contains the following:

• Wireless - Set up the Hub's wireless settings : SSID , speed, channel, encryption (WEP, WPA-PSK or WPA)
• Telephony - BT Broadband Talk settings
• Internet - Info on your Internet connectivity. This includes your username and password - note that be default this is "bthomehub@btbroadband.com" (with no password) - these details aren't actually needed as authentication is done using your phone number
• IP Addresses - Here you can enable/disable DHCP, define a DHCP pool, and set the Hub's IP addresses and subnet mask.
• Devices - Shows the status of connected devices
• Application sharing - Allows you to assign port mappings (translation of incoming packets for a port range, to a local port range). Port Forwarding help
• Firewall - Allows you to select levels of protection. More
• Dynamic DNS - Allows you to use a service such as DYNDNS so that machines outside your network can get your IP address

System: Allows a reset, restart, and the option to set the Home Hub to get the time automatically (Enter up to 5 NTP servers). Also has the 'Remote assistance' option, which allows BT's Support team to access your Hub.

Status: Info and access to a access to a number of event logs, including a call log and intrusion detection log

Screenshot of wi-fi setup on a BT Home Hub

If you're looking for general help with your Home Hub, check out Home Hub Help. You might also like to take a listen to our Unofficial Audio Guide to the BT Home Hub.

If you need technical help with the Home Hub, we recommend you ask in the FileSaveAs Home Hub forum

BT Home Hub FAQ

Need help with your BT Home Hub? On our sister site, hubhelp.co.uk, you'll find pages of help and advice on how to set-up. configure and use the Hub. Below, you'll find a small sample of what's covered at hubhelp.co.uk

REVIEW: Listen to our Home Hub review in Show 09: AUDIO GUIDE: Got a BT Home Hub and need help or advice? Listen to our Unofficial Guide to the Home Hub

We featured the BT Home Hub in Show 09 of our online radio show, and we've covered accessories, including video phones, DECT cordless phones and the BT Vision TV-over-Internet service, in other shows.

We've also created a special Unofficial Guide to the Home Hub, which walks through some common Home Hub features.

See our Show Listings for details of what we've covered in our podcasts. Also, consider signing to our Mailing list for updates.

Need more help?

• If you need an answer to a Home Hub question, try the BT Home Hub Help site.
  
  
• We've created an audio guide on how to complete some of common tasks on the Home Hub, such as how to set up wi-fi, improve reception, set the clock and forward ports. See our Unofficial Home Hub Guide.
  
  
• If you have a technical question about setting up the Hub, networking, voice-over-IP calling or wi-fi, ask in the unofficial BT Home Hub forum or our Network forum
  
  
• If you have a question about setting up the Hub for BT Vision, try asking in the BT Vision forum.
  
  
  

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