Topic: BT Home Hub

[Clive]

I've acquired a BT Home Hub.  I say acquired because you don't actually have to purchase these things as BT give them away with a free Internet phone.  My only reason for getting it is that my broadband subscription will fall by £2 a month but the catch is that I'm locked into BT for another decade or something.

At present I have a Draytek wireless router that connects 2 PC's via ethernet and a Mac laptop via wireless.  I'm reasonably confident about connecting the new router (the BT Home Hub) and getting it to work on PC1 and also the laptop.  But will PC2 (which is properly networked into the system) understand what's going on?  Will it just connect to the Internet as normal without me having to give it fresh instructions?

[TR]

Hi Clive

I have the same as you, BT option 3 (I think) from what I remember, everything picked up automatically as did my daughters laptop. but I can't remember for my life if I set hers up before hand or not.


Sorry

T

[Clive]

Is the Internet phone any good Terry?  It seems quite a good deal to have free weekend and evening calls. 

I'm not worried about the laptop because all I have to do is type in the number on the Home Hub which will enable the wireless to work.  My concern is the 2nd PC.   

[TR]

The phone is excellent Clive, keep forgetting it's there though lol............ with the hub phone you get a brand new number starting 0500 

[Clive]

Thanks Terry.  That's useful to know!   

[Sandra]

If the BT Hub has ethernet ports as well as Wi Fi, like a normal Wi Fi ADSL Router then you shouldnt have any problems Clive.
It will just assign a new LAN IP address for each pc connected to it, either wirelessly or by ethernet.

[Clive]

Yes, it's exactly the same as a wireless router with 4 ethernet ports.  It also has an Internet phone attached to it to make free off peak phone calls.  Presumably the included software will knock my existing router on the head and install the BT drivers?  What I am
worried about is will my old router still work if I had to swap back over again? 

[Sandra]

A router doesnt need any software for the pcs connected to it via ethernet or Wi Fi to connect to the net or to network to each other Clive.
Only any USB drivers for a printer server, if it has it or maybe the internet phone connects via USB, will need installing.

The only problem you would possibly have when switching routers is that the routers LAN IP address range and username and password may be different.
Some start with 10, 192 or 198 etc.
So when you access the router via the web browser you need to know the LAN IP and the username and password of whichever router you are using.

When you come to switch the router to the BT hub and/or vice versa, shut down all the pcs that are connected to it.
Power up the router or BT hub before switching the pcs on so that the new router can assign a new LAN IP to each pc as they start up.

[Clive]

Ah!  That explains a lot!  Thanks very much for the clarification Sandra.

[Clive]

Finally plucked up the courage to make the switch this evening.  It picked up all three computers without any problem at all.  Not even one heart-stopping moment!    The internet phone works well too although the quality isn't quite as good as a normal phone.  But it's free national and local calls after 6 pm and weekends so I'm not complaining.  International calls are very cheap too for listed countries.

[Simon]

Believe it or not, having found one fault or other with just about every other ISP I have researched, I am now swaying towards the Option 3 package myself.  I particularly like the sexy black hub!  A couple of things that are still putting me off at the moment, is the comparatively small amount of webspace they give you (just 15Mb), and that fact that everything seems to somehow be connected to Yahoo!  Do you still get a proper 'xxx@btinternet' email address, and do they give you more than one email address, or can you add aliases?  Apart from that, the package is the same price as I am currently paying Pipex (soon to be Tippex!), and appears to be 'unlimited'. 

Clive, Terry, and anyone else who's on it, how are you finding it?  How are speeds, and do they throttle at peak times?  How much does Yahoo! branding figure in the deal?

[Clive]

The webspace doesn't bother me, especially since Google and others are happy to provide you with more.

Yes, you get proper @btinternet or @btopenworld addresses in abundance and aliases are no problem either.  I used to attain just over 4Mb with my old router but the hub claims to be much faster. 

My broadband connection 
 
Your broadband line is connected.
 
 
Broadband connection details:
 
 
Downstream  6,976 Kbps
 
 
Upstream  448 Kbps
 
 
Connection time  5 days, 6:58:13 
 
 
 
Data transmitted  126.22 MB 
 
 
Data received  597.50 MB

I don't know if they throttle since I am primarily a surfer, not a downloader.

The amount of Yahoo branding is entirely down to the user Simon.  Left to its own devices Yahoo would take over completely!  But it's very easy to knock all that on the head and revert to Google search as opposed to Yahoo search etc.  The only time I see the Yahoo brand is when I check my e-mails on the server before downloading them into Outlook Express. 

I have never been a fan of BT because I believe they have held the Internet back in the UK.  They never lead the way and only react because of competition. 
 
 
 
 

[Simon]

Thanks for that, Clive.  I am also looking at a Virgin Media broadband only deal, which appears to be cheaper than BT.

[TR]

Si,

I will post later as I'm now of to generate some more power for you lot      but with option 3 I find is very very good, will show speeds etc.

Home about 5 ish tonight, going to be  along day me thinks.

Terry

[TR]

Ok here is the data & graph todate? hope this helps.


Broadband connection details:
 
Downstream  8,128 Kbps
 
Upstream  448 Kbps
 
Connection time  6 days, 2:18:59 
 
 
Data transmitted  103.55 MB 
 
 
 
Data received  410.68 MB