BT Home Hub - Working with a Second Router

Want to use the Home Hub with a second router? Or looking to use the Hub as a secondary hub to extend your wi-fi range? Here's some hints.

Using the BT Home Hub as the main router

We've been asked to help with the following: "I'm considering moving to BT Total Broadband but want to keep my existing D-Link Wireless-N wireless router and gigabit Ethernet switch. Is it possible to disable the wireless access on the BT Home Hub, using it only as an initial entry modem/router+ IP Phone device?"

The answer is "yes", provided your other router can work as a switch. Here's what you need to do

Connect from one of the Home Hub's Ethernet ports to the main port on your other router/switch
Disable wi-fi on the Home Hub - details
Log in to the Home Hub interface and turn off DHCP. On the Hub v1, go to 'Advanced > Configuration > IP Addresses'. On the Hub v2m go to 'Settings > Advanced > Home Network > IP addresses' and deselect the "Use DHCP Server" option.

Doing this should make your other router responsible for assigning IP addresses and wireless connectivity (so you'll need to enable DHCP and wireless on the other router).

Using the Home Hub as a secondary router

We wanted to find 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). Our second router is a Netgear DG834PN.

We found a solution in the end, as follows:

First, we turned off the Belkin router's DHCP service, by accessing the Belkin Router's configuration software
There didn't seem to be a way of using the Belkin router as a wi-fi receiver (to get a wireless signal from the BT Home Hub) - it was able to advertise itself as a wireless access point, but not able to make use of another router's wireless signal for Internet access. The way around this for us was to make use of a wi-fi Game Adapter (the Belkin G Wireless Network Adapter F5D7330). This has an Ethernet port and is meant to be used for connecting a games console that doesn't have wifi, to a wireless network. At the time of writing, this Network Adapter is available at Misco and PC World.
We configured the Game Adapter for wireless Internet access by connecting directly to a PC and using the Belkin configuration software. We had to make sure the Adapter was using an IP address and subnet in the range expected by the Home Hub. We then connected the adapter into the first port of our Belkin Router using an RJ45 Ethernet cable.
The router recognised the connection, and other devices plugged into the other ports on the Belkin router were able to make use of the Game Adapter's Internet connection.
This solution works a treat for us, but we were surprised there wasn't an easier way. See the thread at FileSaveAs forum to discuss this.

Using a second BT Home Hub

A question from Graham: "I currently have my BT Home Hub in a room upstairs connected to a PC and I am considering getting BT Vision. If I purchased a second hub for downstairs, would both hubs work?"

You can't have two BT Home Hubs directly connected to a broadband-enabled phone line at the same time - you can only have one Broadband modem in use on any one line. The best option is to site your Home Hub close to your TV (for Vision), then use a USB wi-fi adapter for your PC upstairs.

Thanks to Darren for adding the following: "You can have two BT home hubs, (or a second router), one as a repeater. All you do is select the repeater option on both, and on your main one, configure the address of the second one to use as a repeater, just that the second one has no ADSL line going into it".

There's more on this process on the jarviser.co.uk site, although note that it seems that this process isn't possible with the BT Home Hub v2.0

Need more Home Hub help?

We have a number of other pages offering help and advice on the Home Hub:

If you've got any questions we've not covered, or need help and advice, please ask in our Home Hub forum - Sign up and post a new message.

When posting - please make sure you include details of your computer's operating system (XP, Vista, etc), which Service Packs have been applied, the software version your Hub's running, and how you're connecting (Ethernet, wi-fi or USB)

Go to Home Hub Forum

Other Home Hub resources:

Hub Information: BT Home Hub Basics
Common Questions: Home Hub FAQ , Home Hub Audio Guide
BT Fon Help: BT Fon Information
Internet on the move? Mobile Broadband help
Home Hub Chat: Home Hub Forum
Help with wireless? wi-fi Networking Advice

PODCAST FEATURE: The "Unofficial Guide to the Home Hub" is a free downloadable audio file, helping with many setup and config issues.
Listen to the show online, or download it to your MP3 player.
Listen to Home Hub Guide | What is FrequencyCast? | Add us to iTunes

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