What is the BT Home Hub?

Get a BT Home Hub:

The BT Home Hub is available directly from BT:

• Free with BT Total Broadband - Details at www.bt.com/btbroadband
  
  
• Available for purchase from BT Shop - www.shop.bt.com.
  

Knock some cash off your bill

If you've got a BT Home Hub - that means you're with BT. With a little help from this credit card, you'll be able to knock money off your BT bill, just by using the card for day-to-day purchases.

More details at www.bt.com/creditcard.

Software updates are 'pushed' to BT Home Hubs automatically overnight whilst they're connected to BT's system. See our Home Hub FAQ page for more on firmware updates.

Version 1.5: In October 2007, BT soft-launched a revised version of their Home Hub, known as the BT Home Hub v1.5. This new hub is based on the original Hub, and appears to be using the same core software. Here are the main changes:

• New shape - A shorter, squarer, more curvy Hub
• A 'Restart' button on the side - to save having to remove and insert the power lead whenever the Hub locks (a more stable Hub would remove the need for a Restart button, of course!)
• Sockets on the back repositioned, and the hinged flap removed - for easier access to connectors (pic of rear).
• A more flexible aerial that can swivel 180 degrees, not just 90 degrees.
• No more flashing 'Data' light - and a new 'Upgrading' light
• The Hub can share it's bandwidth to other surfers, as part of BT Fon

Version 2.0: Released in July 2008 - full details in our Home Hub 2.0 review.

We've been asked if the BT Home Hub can be used on Broadband connections other than BT Total Broadband.

We've added a response to our Home Hub FAQ page

If you're a BT Total Broadband. customer and have a Home Hub, you may be able to find that you can get yourself a free high-spec digital TV recorder - the BT Vision+ Box.

This connects to your Home Hub using an Ethernet cable, and can let you watch live TV as well as downloaded movies and TV shows over Broadband.

For more, see our BT Vision page, or go to get.btvision.bt.com.

A few months ago, we asked for help via our FileSaveAs forum to work out a way of getting our BT Home Hub to work with an existing ADSL router and BT Total Broadband. This was so that could get broadband in two different parts of our office (ready for BT Vision). We found a solution in the end, and we've added it to our BT Home Hub FAQ

To make changes to your BT Home Hub setup, you need to 'log on' to the Home Hub, from where you'll be able to access settings and diagnostic screens. You can do this from a desktop or laptop that has a working connection to the Home Hub. From a connected machine, use the web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc) and from the web browser address bar, enter the address: http://bthomehub.home and press Enter. If for any reason this doesn't work, you can also enter the IP address for the Home Hub (sometimes known as the gateway IP address). The default IP address for the BT Home Hub is 192.168.1.254 .

Once connected, you will be prompted for a username and password. The default username is 'admin', and the default password is either 'admin' (for software before v6.2.6E), or for later versions, the password is your unique Home Hub serial number. Once you've logged on, you'll see the main configuration screen.

• Can't connect? If you can't connect or the browser can't find your Home Hub - make sure that there's a connection to the Hub, and that there's no firewall issue preventing you from connecting. You can try a direct connection from PC to Hub using an Ethernet lead (which removes any wireless connectivity issues). Try to 'Ping' the Home Hub to verify connectivity. To do this on Windows, go to Start > Run > enter 'CMD' and press Enter, then enter PING xxxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (the Home Hub IP address) and press Enter. If you get a timeout, you don't have a direct connection to the Hub.
• If you can connect from your browser, but can't log on as Admin, see the separate FAQ on Admin Access.

Audio Guide: More on this in our audio guide to the Home Hub - Click here

To get to some of the Hub's more advanced features, you need to log on as an Administrator. When you connect from your web browser, you see a popup asking you to enter a user name and password. The default username is 'admin'. The default password is 'admin' (for early software versions) or your Home Hub serial number (if using v6.2.6E or later). Enter these details and press OK. Then, select 'Advanced' on the left to get to the advanced features.

If you're finding that you can't log on as Admin, and you've just upgraded to Internet Explorer 7, note that this appears to be due to an incompatibility issue between the Home Hub and IE7. When we used Home Hub software version 6.1.1M, we couldn't log in as Admin, but a new firmware version, 6.1.1R was released in November 2006 to fix this. Your Home Hub should automatically pick up and download this version while connected to Broadband, although roll-out of new software updates apparently may take a few weeks to get to everyone.

Still having problems logging in? Do you have the latest version of Home Hub software? Ask for help in our Home Hub forum, including details of the error you're seeing.

The BT Home Hub has a built-in firewall, to prevent external access to devices connected to the Internet via your Home Hub. There are times though, when you need to allow external devices to get through your firewall, such as online games or file sharing applications. The BT Home Hub allows you to do this using something called port forwarding.

We get lots of requests for help with Port Forwarding on the Home Hub, so we've added some extra help:

• Audio Guide - For an audio guide on how to set up Port Forwarding, download our Home Hub Guide MP3 file
• Online instructions - See the Port forwarding section on our Hub FAQ page for a walkthrough and more information.
  
  

The Home Hub has two USB connectors. We've had a number of questions asking what they can be used for - and we've added the answers to a special section in our Home Hub FAQ.

We've been asked if the BT Home Hub works with Microsoft Windows Vista. According to BT, the BT Home Hub is compatible with Windows Vista. There's a note that, as well as connecting via Ethernet or Wi-fi, the Hub can connect via USB and this requires special Windows Vista drivers.

For more on the Home Hub and Vista, see www.bt.com/vistasupport. If you need help with the Hub and Vista, please ask in the Home Hub forum.

Thanks to Tom for helping us out on this one. He says:

"Home Hub works perfectly with a Mac, and with a mixed Mac/ Windows network. It's advisable to use both Firefox and Safari when browsing the hub admin panel, BT sometimes write terrible code that only one or the other browser will digest correctly. The latest Firmware updates seem to have sorted most of this out."

The BT Hub Phone is voice-over-Internet phone that will let you make voice calls over your Broadband account. Voice-over-Internet calls using BT Broadband Talk are cheaper than standard voice calls, as they're routed over the Internet.

For full details, see our Home Hub FAQ page

We've been asked if you can share files between two Windows machines connected using a BT Home Hub within the same house. Yes - it's possible - The trick is to get all of the computers to be in the same IP address range, to make sure the Hub and all PCs use the same subnet address, and to get the PCs to use the router's Gateway IP address. You also need to enable Windows XP file sharing. The Windows XP Networking tool can be very helpful with setting up file sharing and connectivity between machines.

If you need more help, try asking in our Home Hub forum.

The Home Hub is designed to be left on all the time, as without it, you won't get able to get always-on Broadband, voice-over-Internet or TV-on-demand services.

Page 43 of the Home Hub manual under 'Please save energy' states: "Please disconnect the Hub from its power supply when not in use for an extended period, but remember when you do so, all connected devices (and any other devices that uses the hub to connect to your broadband line) will lose Internet access and BT Broadband Talk won't work"

We've had a couple of questions asking about how to connect a device to the Internet, wirelessly. To help out, we have two resources for you:

• Audio Guide - For an audio guide on how to connect a laptop to the Home Hub wirelessly, download our Home Hub Guide MP3 file
  
  
• Online instructions - See the Wireless section on our Hub FAQ page for a walkthrough and more information.
  
  

If you need more help, best to ask in our Home Hub forum.

We've been asked by a site visitor for help getting his PC to connect via the BT Home Hub. It's important to make sure that the PC has an IP address in a range that the BT Home Hub can cope with. Here's a few things to check if you're having problems:

• Log onto the Home Hub as Admin, go into 'Configuration' > 'IP addresses', and here you'll find the IP address range that the Home Hub is set to use. It's common to enable DHCP, so that a PC will be assigned a suitable IP address when it tries to connect
• On your PC, go Start > Settings > Network Connections, then the icon for your connection to the Hub. Click on the Support tab, and see what IP address, subnet mask and gateway address you have. The IP address must be in the range supported by the Hub, the subnet mask must be the same on PC and Hub, and the default gateway should be the IP address of the Hub
• There's a chance that another device in your home (such as an AV sender for transmitting video to another telly) could be clashing with the standard BT Home Hub wi-fi channel. There are 13 wi-fi channels available. Perhaps change the default channel. (Advanced > Wireless > Configure > "Channel Selection:" )

Network, IP and router problems can be complex, and if you need setup help, it's probably best to ask in our Home Hub forum.

If you're looking to connect your PC to your Home Hub, you have two options:

• You can make a physical, wired connection, by connecting an Ethernet cable from the PC to one of the Ethernet sockets on the Home Hub
• Add Wi-fi to your PC (if it doesn't already have a wireless connection). If you want to connect your PC to the BT Home Hub wirelessly, the cheapest and easiest way is to get yourself a USB Wi-fi adaptor.
  
  

Moved to our Home Hub FAQ page

Moved to our Home Hub FAQ page

The BT Home Hub acts as a wireless access point, and to prevent other users accessing your wireless connection, you need to enable a level of security and encryption.

The Hub supports the following wi-fi security types: WEP (64 or 128bit), WPA-PSK or WPA/WPA2. The security encryption type you use can be set from the 'Advanced' > 'Configuration' > 'Wireless' > 'Security' menu. WPA is generally regarded as a better option over WEP encryption - When you select WPA, a pulldown menu appears, "WPA Version", offering WPA or WPA2 (the more complete version of the WPA protocol). With encryption, you'll need to enter a key phrase into the appropriate dialog on the Hub.

All equipment that connects to your Hub wirelessly will need to be set to the same encryption type, and you'll need to enter same key phrase into the security settings of the devices that you want to connect to the Hub.

Audio Guide: More on this in our audio guide to the Home Hub - Click here

Moved to our Home Hub FAQ page

Thanks to site visitor johnny20whales for the following:

One of the problems with the BT HomeHub is that the only apparent way to reset back to factory settings is via the browser interface (192.168.1.254) or the HubManager app. Here one logs in as the admin user and simply uses the soft Factory Reset (System > Reset). However this doesn't do a proper reset - it seems to leave some tables unchanged. In my case I kept coming against static addressing that I wanted to switch off which were unaffected by a software reset.

BT Support advises that a full and proper hardware reset can be done by:

1. Push and hold the Wireless Association button (on the back panel) for 15 seconds, until all the lights light up - then release it.
2. The reset process may then take several minutes.
3. The Hub is reset and ready for use when the Broadband and Internet lights are steady green.

The BT Home Hub is supplied with a software installation disk. We've been asked where to get hold of a copy of this CD, by a user looking to reinstall the Home Hub onto a PC.

The good news is, that you don't actually need to install software onto your PC or Mac to allow you to set up the Home Hub. The Home Hub is pre-loaded with software, and all you need to do is use a web browser on a machine connected to the Home Hub, and enter the address of the Home Hub to get access to the setup screen - more info

If you'd be happier with a CD - give BT a call on 0800 800 150 for a replacement.

We've been asked if the Home Hub supports remote access - so that you can connect to your Hub from outside the network - perhaps from work, over the Internet, maybe to change port forwarding. Click here for our answer.

Moved to our Home Hub FAQ page

Moved to our Home Hub FAQ page