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BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

sub101uk — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 15:12:15 GMT

For many years I have used my DrayTec 2862Ln with my Analog phone line however my area is soon to change over to digital . I have found over the years that my Draytec router works allot better than the BT Hub on WiFi signal is far better .

So I would like to keep a DrayTec router if not the 2862Ln some other Draytec router that has VOIP port that is compatible with BT or is it mandatory to use the BT Hub and there adapter .

So I fully understand that the BT hub with its bt adapter only works with the BT Hub so what other opitions are there

I have seen many Digital adapters which ones will work with a DrayTek router , If I use a DrayTec router with VOIP do I keep my same landline number .

Sorry if some of these question sound a bit silly but I was brought up with analog gear like Strowger and Crossbar gear .

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

licquorice — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 15:21:10 GMT

To use BT Digital Voice it is necessary to use the Smart Hub2 as the first device connected to line. BT DV is proprietary and will not work with third party routers.

You can, however, opt to not have BT DV and use a third party VoIP provider with your Draytek.

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

imjolly — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 15:24:18 GMT

@sub101uk

this has been covered numerous times on the forum try the FAQ

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Digital-Voice-FAQs/td-p/2207485

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

pippincp — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 17:26:18 GMT

Just port your number to another VOIP provide that doesn't need a dedicated router.

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

WSH — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 18:08:37 GMT

It is possible to use both the Smart Hub 2 for Digital Voice and your Draytek together. I use a 2762 in the following configuration. Has worked fine for 18 months now.

The SH2 needs to be directly connected to the phone socket/ONT for digital voice. I did mine this way:

Smart Hub 2 (SH2) router settings:

Turn IPv4 DHCP off. (The addresses here are best set as static addresses but you can use dynamic addressing if you really want).

Set IPv6 DHCP to ‘Stateless’.

Set the router itself to a static IP of 192.168.1.254 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 or /24. (These settings are its defaults, so you may not need to change anything).

Set the DMZ host to 192.168.1.2 (This helps with double NAT problems or at least it takes care of the port forwarding on the SH2. There is still address translation happening, however, so you may still have problems with multiplayer games, UPnP etc. In fact, you only really need this if you allow unsolicited incoming external connections for a server or remote access etc. Personally, I’ve never found double NAT to be an issue and I don’t use the DMZ setting. If you do use it, note that that it weakens your security slightly by allowing a lot of traffic to effectively bypass the SH2 firewall, so you are relying on your own router’s firewall for security, just as if it was directly connected to the internet).

Turn off the Wi-Fi in favour of your own router. (This may also be a good security move if you do enable the DMZ host. I would still expect Wi-Fi traffic on the SH2 to go through its firewall but I can’t be sure how they’ve set it up internally).

Connect the DSL port to the phone socket on the wall or the WAN port, (port 4), to the ONT, whichever is applicable. If the latter, don’t forget to also enable FTTP Mode on the SH2. (Again, this is usually on by default).

The DV phone/extension then plugs into the green phone socket on the SH2.

Own router settings:

Turn the IPv4 DHCP on. Set the range to 192.168.0.2 - 192.168.0.200 (Note the 0 in the third position, making this a separate network to the SH2. This is deliberate, not a typo. You can use another number if you want but not 1).

Set IPv6 to DHCPv6 Client.

Set the router itself is on a static IP of 192.168.0.1 and subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 or /24, (if using static addresses. If dynamic, set it to get an address automatically).

Enable the (E)WAN port and set it to a fixed IP of 192.168.1.2 (This makes your router’s WAN port part of the SH2 network).

Set the gateway to 192.168.1.254 (Again, pointing to the SH2).

And also set DNS to 192.168.1.254, (or whatever you usually use).

The EWAN socket on your own router, (probably no.4), then connects to a LAN port on the SH2. (NB. This will not work if you use the DSL port on your own router).

Any static addresses on devices in your own network will also need to match the network address of 192.168.0.x If you’ve used the range I suggested above, that means the x will need to be 201 or above.

(Lastly, if your own network already uses 192.168.1.x, it might be less work to set the SH2 to 192.168.0.254. Of course, this effectively reverses the use of 192.168.1.x and 192.168.0.x throughout the above).

The DMZ host setting just tells the SH2 firewall to forward any traffic to that host unfiltered. There is still address translation going on, (because it has to translate from the external address to the internal one). Effectively, it’s taking care of the port forwarding for you. The point is it does weaken your security slightly and you only need it if you have unsolicited incoming connections for things like remote access, an externally accessible server or multiplayer games etc. A lot of home users don’t, so they don’t need to use the DMZ host.

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

sub101uk — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 22:32:22 GMT

Many thanks for your input , I will look into doing mods so I can fit my external aerials .

Cheers for now

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

TimCurtis — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 09:53:10 GMT

@sub101uk

You mention fitting external aerials , presumably to the SmartHub 2.

If that's what you meant then bear in mind that any device issued to you by BT/EE is on loan and will need to be returned eventually.

You could always buy one off of ebay or similar sites and mod that one.

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

sub101uk — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 22:19:29 GMT

Well I would not have to make mods to the route if it worked ok but . I am not going to use my own Hub 6 I am going to buy one . But I am sure with external aerials fitted it should work . But I will let you know how I get on .

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

licquorice — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 22:45:24 GMT

Don't buy a Hub6, it won't work with DV. You need a Smart Hub2

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

sub101uk — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 22:08:25 GMT

Thanks for the feed back Why a Smart Hub2 ?

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

WSH — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 22:26:41 GMT

The one you need for DV.

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

chrisjp — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 23:17:07 GMT

"Thanks for the feed back Why a Smart Hub2 ?"

Because the SH2 is the only one that provides for BT's proprietary digital voice

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

LozC — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 19:53:34 GMT

I'm just about to get mine and was extremely miffed. I'd delayed the date to May 22nd , and you can guess....BT completely cocked it up and turned my phone off beginning of April. After waiting an eternity I managed to get hold of somebody and will be getting the hub in a couple of days. Now, I won't be using their **bleep** router but my Asus which has a guest setting for our b&b. Currently I'm using a Draytek as the passthrough modem to the Asus. My question is can I just put the BT SH2 into passthrough mode, connect my phone to it and let the Asus handle the broadband? There was talk about keeping wifi on the BT hub until the phone is 'registered' then I can turn off?
I've seen complicated and confusing wan/lan settings but can I just simply pop it in passthrough?

Re: BT Digital upgrade to landline will third party routers work with BT broardband

licquorice — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 20:25:50 GMT

No, but you can turn off the Wifi and DHCP and connect your router's WAN port to one of the SH2's LAN ports so your router provides the WiFi and DHCP. There are many tutorials on the web to explain how to connect 2 routers together.

Digital Voice doesn't use Wifi, the Hub is a DECT base station.