Can I replace BT Home Hub with my own router?

**Damien** · 24-06-2013, 11:04

Title pretty much says it all.

As far as I am aware BT Infinity has a separate modem and then their BT Home Hub router. Can I ditch the Home Hub and connect the modem to my own router ? Is the Home Hub any good?

24-06-2013, 11:04

yes my Dad has

athol49 · 29-06-2013, 18:14

I had BT Infinity 2 installed 6 wks ago. Cable modem and HH3 installed beside master socket in bedroom (wife not happy about all flashing lights), but computer and MFC in spare bedroom. HH3 working OK, reasonable wifi in lounge but had to use homeplug (AV200) to connect PC to internet.
Cable modem to HH3 connection is Gigabyte (1000 Mb/s) ethernet and (according to engineer) slows considerably if normal (100 Mb/s) ethernet is used.
My system works ok with 56 Mb/s download and 18-20 Mb/s upload.

danielf · 29-06-2013, 18:19

Has your line quality suddenly improved dramatically, or are BT putting in a new line?

athol49 · 29-06-2013, 21:24

BT installed new line in September 2012, when I switched from Virgin (after a dispute). Infinity was a minor switch in the cabinet, 100 yds down road.

olivander · 15-07-2013, 22:34

Yes - it is very easy to replace, we replaced ours recently after a number of problems with the Home Hub. Wrote up the procedure using a Netgear WNDR4500 connected to the Openreach Modem.

http://www.reviewbunny.co.uk/review-...ce-bt-homehub/

It's very easy - takes 10-15 minutes at most.

adduxi · 19-07-2013, 15:07

Yes, I've replaced my HH3 with my old ASUS RT-N16 running Tomato firmware.

Much better interface into the router, and gives me all the control I will ever need.

Sends all event logs, traffic stats, DHCP leases etc. to my NAS via Syslog and CIFS client.

None of this was possible with the HH3, and besides the HH3 only has 1 Gigabit LAN port, the old ASUS has 4.

__spc__ · 16-11-2013, 14:21

Can I replace the HH3 with *any* router?

In the HH3 there is a 'requirement' to enter a broadband username (bthomehub@btbroadband.com) etc. How do I get around this using my old (and trusty) Linksys WRT54G running DD-WRT?

thenry · 16-11-2013, 16:50

you'll be limited using that router on speeds, i'd go as far as saying you'll most probably lose speed. If you're adamant then PPPoE is way you need to go, it'll be under WAN Setup > connection type.

Dash: CF noob · 16-11-2013, 16:53

WRt54G doesn't run DD does it?

thenry · 16-11-2013, 16:55

yes they famously do.

__spc__ · 16-11-2013, 23:22

@thenry

I removed my HH3 from my network and then connected everything to the WRT54G, including the BT Infinity modem to the WAN port of the WRT54G.

I then enabled DHCP on the WRT54G and checked that my home network was functioning correctly. (It was - my laptop could see the system web pages of the two routers plus my NAS storage, and ping across the home network worked fine.)

I next set the WRT54G to PPPoE and used the username 'bthomehub@btbroadband.com'. Without a password, clicking 'Connect' on the WRT54G's DD-WRT status page did nothing. Once I added a password (I used 'password') I got a connection - IP, domain, and two DNS server numbers.

However... No WWW pages would load, and on several attempts I went to (probably) the modem's auto-redirect 'BT HH3' page, where I got a troubleshooting page telling me I could not connect to the broadband.

So, in summary, I can use my Linksys WRT54G running DD-WRT v23 to get a connection to BT Broadband. But I cannot successfully 'connect' to the internet, and pinging various international IP numbers does not work.

Any ideas..? (I'm so close, I can feel it..!)

qasdfdsaq · 17-11-2013, 02:24

The modem shouldn't have any auto-redirect page, or any pages of any kind. The modem is (out of the box) configured as a dumb pass-through device with no interface or IP. Can you provide a pic of your setup and of your dd-wrt config pages?

__spc__ · 17-11-2013, 08:29

@qasdfdsaq

Well blow me! I reconnected everything with the WRT54G at the centre of it all, so I could take some screenshots, and everything is working great-guns!

Could even be working a little better than the HH3? (There is a 1 second pause on clicking on WWW page links, then bam! page loaded.)

EDIT: Last night I had left the HH3 connected as a WiFi AP, but this morning disconnected it from the LAN. Lo-and-behold, when I added the HH3 back onto the LAN, I get the same 'cannot connect to broadband' error. Looks like I can't use the HH3 for anything other than a doorstop....

So, in summary, I have use the WRT54G with DD-WRT firmware to replace the BT HomeHub3 on my home network.

'God bless WRT54Gs'!

Dash: CF noob · 17-11-2013, 13:39

DOH.......... mine's a WRT54GC....