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Smart Hub 2 + Black and White Discs

khehrag — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 14:22:04 GMT

Hi, I have a Black SmartHub 2 with a couple of Black discs connected wirelessly in my house.

I would now like to add a hard wired (Ethernet cable) BT Mini Whole Home Wi-fi white disc to the router, but before I buy the white disc, will this all work?

I understand hard wiring the white disc should work, however will the router intelligence prevent Black/wireless and white/hardwire working together like this.

The need for the white disc is purely aesthetics. Thoughts very much welcome.

Re: Smart Hub 2 + Black and White Discs

Les-Gibson — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 09:42:19 GMT

That's not an easy question to answer which probably explains why you have received no replies.

First of all, you are aware that you can have a maximum of 3 black discs aren't you? It strikes me that this would be the easiest answer to your problem,

The black discs only work with the SH2 and operate differently to the white discs which can be used with any router, therefore the two won't mesh together.

The normal mode of operation for the white discs is to have more than one of them and to disable the hub Wi-Fi, but that will kill both of your black discs.

So now you see why I pointed you towards getting another black disc

Re: Smart Hub 2 + Black and White Discs

khehrag — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 10:29:13 GMT

Hi Les,

Thanks for the response. I can provide more detail, thus:

The white disc will be hardwired by Cat5 cable running from SH2/house out to a garden room 50 metres away, so no mesh requirement necessarily sought.

If someone (BT Engineer) has the wherewithal to test this scenario out (not the 50m length necessary of course but hardwire) , I would be very grateful, else I can just take a punt and buy the disc and get the answer.

Re: Smart Hub 2 + Black and White Discs

licquorice — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 10:36:44 GMT

Why not just buy a cheap Wireless Access Point rather than a disc for the garden room.

This is a customer to customer self help forum, the only test will be by somebody in the unlikely same situation.

Re: Smart Hub 2 + Black and White Discs

Les-Gibson — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 10:40:40 GMT

The easiest solution in those circumstances would be to re-purpose an old router if you have one, it doesn't need to be a BT one and it's remarkably easy to do.

Re: Smart Hub 2 + Black and White Discs

khehrag — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 11:18:50 GMT

Thank you, its purely for aesthetics, I like the look of the white disc, also goes well with the new decor but appreciate another WAP product would suffice.

Re: Smart Hub 2 + Black and White Discs

Les-Gibson — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 12:29:25 GMT

Understood but what price aesthetics?

My personal thoughts are that the system you describe would not work but I stand to be corrected.

That leaves you with a number of alternatives which include getting rid of the black disks altogether and buying a 3 white disc system (expensive) or buying something like the below which could be plugged directly into a mains socket say behind a desk and out of site which would be much more affordable.

See: Mini Wi-Fi Home Hotspot 600 | BT Help