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BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

mtoher1 — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 07:21:31 GMT

Hi,

Just switched to BT Broadband and have the BT Smart Hub 2. The wi-fi coverage doesn't cover the house so thought rather that paying £20 a month extra for the complete Wi-Fi I would attempt at setting up an old Netgear Router as an Access Point. Followed a couple of guides and gave it a static IP, turned off DHCP and disabled NAT. Also changed the ISP to PPPoE and put bthomehub@btbroadband.com as the Login. I've not changed channels or the SSID yet.

Thought I'd cracked it when my smart phone connected to the AP happily. Problem I have is that when I connect a laptop (I've tried two), I can get on to the AP wi-fi ok but there is no internet access?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

Les-Gibson — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 08:47:21 GMT

You don't need a password as you won't be connecting the old Netgear router to the WAN.

On the Negear:-

Simply set a static IP of anything you please in the range of 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.63 (the DHCP pool starts at 64).

Turn the DHCP server off.

Connect the two routers together LAN to LAN.

Job done.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

mtoher1 — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 14:18:03 GMT

Thanks Les-Gibson for the reply. Issue is that I only get internet access though the first device to connect to the AP? Multiple devices connect to the AP over Wi-Fi but only first connected gets the internet access? Any thoughts?

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

licquorice — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 14:31:48 GMT

Factory reset the Netgear and then just give it an IP address outside of the range of the DHCP pool of the hub, gateway address 192.168.1.254 and turn off DHCP. That should be all you have to do.

Edit: Try using a different LAN port on the Netgear.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

Les-Gibson — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 15:23:43 GMT

@mtoher1

Did you turn the DHCP server off on the Netgear? If not then you have one network with 2 DHCP servers running, better known as a recipe for disaster with a risk of IP address clashes

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

mtoher1 — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 18:21:20 GMT

Hi, yes DHCP off on the Netgear. Thanks.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

mtoher1 — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 18:23:34 GMT

@licquorice big improvement with that - thanks. Still a lot of instability on with the internet access through the the AP but getting there. I've turned of Smart Setup on the Smart Hub (thought that might help). Would you recommend any other setting amendments at that end?

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

licquorice — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 18:33:15 GMT

Set the wireless channels manually on both devices and make they are on different non overlapping channels.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

Les-Gibson — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 19:22:54 GMT

Have you any other devices working on a static IP address? if so, check the SH2 device table to make sure that the address you allocated to the Netgear isn't in use by another device. http://192.168.1.254/my_network.htm

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

mtoher1 — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 21:58:55 GMT

@licquorice channels set to non overlap. Changed powerline adaptors just in case. Still problems.

Log onto wifi ok at either wireless router or AP and have internet access.

Move from wireless router to AP - all good

Move back from AP to wireless routes and wifi connection maintains but internet connection drops.

Device cannot reconnect to internet (wifi connection maintains)

Thanks for the response @licquorice and @Les-Gibson

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

licquorice — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 22:05:59 GMT

Sounds like a problem with the device somehow not changing to the different wifi source. I assume the hub and Netgear have different SSIDs

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

mtoher1 — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 22:11:43 GMT

No, I've given them the same SSIDs. I'm going to start over with a hard reset with the Netgear direct to BT SH2.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

licquorice — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 22:17:09 GMT

Try giving the Netgear a different SSID, never a good idea to have multiple devices with the same SSID.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

mtoher1 — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 08:22:21 GMT

Hi @licquorice ,

Different SSIDs assigned but still same issue. The Netgear router is listed on the SH2 as;

Does this look right at the SH2 end? I was expecting to see the IP address I've assigned to the Netgear router there?

Thanks!

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

licquorice — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 08:29:04 GMT

The SH2 network map is a complete dogs breakfast and can't be relied upon for accurate information.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

Les-Gibson — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 09:57:36 GMT

Log on to a PC or laptop which is connected directly to the SH2, open a command prompt (Win+R then type CMD), and then type in ping followed by a space and the IP Address you gave the Netgear. If you don't get a reply then the connection hasn't worked. e.g. ping 192. etc

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

mtoher1 — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 07:13:27 GMT

@licquorice @Les-Gibson after trying a number of different tweaks, I decided to have a go with an old D-Link router. Changed IP and disabled DHCP and it worked a treat! Not sure why the Netgear wouldn't play. I even discovered that it had an AP setting but that still didn't work. Anyway, all good now. Thanks for the responses!

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

licquorice — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 08:17:21 GMT

Strange, but pleased to hear you got a solution.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 and DiY Access Point

Les-Gibson — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 11:09:32 GMT

No problem, was the netgear OK the last time you used it?