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BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

HHGTTG — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 10:12:02 GMT

Hello there.

Sorry to bother you all again but shortly I am about to receive a BT Smart Hub (6) router/modem from ebay, opened but unused.
I propose to replace my ancient BT HH3 with the above and to this end and to enable the few peripherals I have on my network to access this new hub seamlessly, intend to go into the Hub's Manager home page and there split the two channels and name the 2.4GHz channel (my preferred one) with the same SSID as my old HH3 and also give it the same security keyword/password which, though the default one for HH3 is imbedded in my brain.

In this way i hope that I won't have any trouble in my devices, ie tablets, Roku TV streaming device and particularly my Wireless Epson printer to be able to continue without any possible tweaking.
Am I asking too much by doing what I have outlaid above? I hope you get the gist of what I am trying to explain.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 10:21:11 GMT

Yes, that should be fine. My SSIDs & passwords are still based on the Asus router I had five years ago & have had two others since.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

HHGTTG — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 10:32:50 GMT

Many thanks for that reply and moral support.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

licquorice — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 11:29:33 GMT

Yep, totally agree with @Anonymous , sensible way to do it.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

HHGTTG — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 11:37:42 GMT

Thanks guys. Will seek out new SSID after new hub is turned on and then login with password and go from there on the hub's manager.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

gg30340 — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 13:04:26 GMT

Prior to plugging the new hub in to the Internet, you can connect the hub to a PC or Laptop using an Ethernet cable and turn it on.

Log onto the management page and you can then make the changes to SSID and Password and save them.

After doing that power down the old hub and disconnect it. Replace it with the new hub and connect it up and power on.

Everthing should now just connect.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

HHGTTG — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 13:44:58 GMT

That's a good idea.

Forgive a novice but does that mean that the only connection, apart from the power line to the new hub then is the Ethernet connection to the laptop - I don't need to plug in the ADSL cable at that time? I think that is what you are saying. I then go into the Manager and make the necessary changes then 'Save' and power down and then power up again and find the 'new' SSID's as per usual and connect.

I assume without the ADSL cable plugged in the Hub's blue light won't appear though and assume that does not matter?

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

licquorice — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 13:55:01 GMT

Correct on all points.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

HHGTTG — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 13:58:58 GMT

Once again, many thanks for your help here and others as well. This Community is certainly is a useful and rapid means of getting the answers to questions and to those of us without in depth knowledge.😁

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

gg30340 — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 14:41:22 GMT

@HHGTTG wrote:

That's a good idea.

Forgive a novice but does that mean that the only connection, apart from the power line to the new hub then is the Ethernet connection to the laptop - I don't need to plug in the ADSL cable at that time? I think that is what you are saying. I then go into the Manager and make the necessary changes then 'Save' and power down and then power up again and find the 'new' SSID's as per usual and connect.

I assume without the ADSL cable plugged in the Hub's blue light won't appear though and assume that does not matter?

You make all the changes to the new hub while it is "off line" . Your old hub can still be connected to the Internet until you are ready to swap them over.

You won't need to "find the new SSID as per usual and connect" because its SSID is now the same as the old hub and any device that was connected to the old hub will now automatically connect to the new hub totally oblivious that it is a different hub.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

HHGTTG — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 15:08:45 GMT

Thanks for the extra confirmation. I'll just have to find that old ethernet cable that came with HH3 and is probably in the box that came through my letterbox 11 years ago.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

gg30340 — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 15:19:30 GMT

Any Ethernet cable will do. It doesn't need to be a BT one.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

HHGTTG — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 15:54:26 GMT

Yep I realise that it's just that I've never connected anything using ether et cables so don't have many. I'll be interested to see what comes up initially on my Windows 10 laptop screen when I plug in!

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

gg30340 — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 15:59:38 GMT

Turn off the laptop's wireless connection when you are setting up the new hub other wise when you try to open the hub management page you will probably get the old hub's page.

Remember to turn it back on when you change over the hubs.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 16:14:22 GMT

The only thing with an ethernet connection is that modern laptops don't tend to have them. If you've got one all well & good.

I would turn off the old Hub as previously suggested but connect the new Hub to the master socket & let it connect. Otherwise you'll have to find your way around the web interface complaining there's no connection. Can't remember how easy or hard that is off the top of my head but connecting the phone line will stop it happening.

Once you've made the SSID changes you can call the British Museum & see if they want the HH3!

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

HHGTTG — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 16:20:01 GMT

Thanks. I have three old-ish laptops by current standards and they all have Ethernet sockets at least my current Acer one does.
I won't turn off the old Hub but will turn of the WiFi on the laptop before connecting to the new Hub. It's what'll happen after that I will be interested to see.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

gg30340 — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 17:30:55 GMT

There is absolutely no need to turn off the old hub while you are setting up the new hub unless you want to.

All you need to do is follow the information that I have already posted by logging onto the new hubs management pages by typing 192.168.1.254 into your browser address bar.

You will be able to navigate the management pages without any problems or complaint about there being no connection and even if you were it would not stop you making the changes and saving them.

If you do disconnect the old hub before the new hub has been set up keep in mind that all your connected devices will stop being connected for as long as it takes you to connect the new hub and change the SSID and Password to that of the old hub.

Changing it prior to disconnecting the old hub means that your devices are only disconnected for as long as it takes you to disconnect the old hub and reconnect the new one which should take no more than a minute or two at the most.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

gg30340 — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 17:38:45 GMT

When you log onto the hubs management page you will need the Admin password found on the hubs label to allow you to enter the Advance Settings. Once in the Advance settings click on the wireless box and you will see the SSID (Network Name) and password (security password) that the hub presently has. Make your changes then click save and exit the management pages.

See link.

Learn about the BT Hub Manager | BT Help

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

HHGTTG — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 19:55:59 GMT

Thanks folks for all your help. The BT Smart Hub 6 arrived earlier than expected and following your advice connected my laptop to the powered up router using an Ethernet cable. I turned off the WiFi on my laptop and then using the Hub's IP address was able to go into the settings. Here I changed the Admin password, separated the two channels and named them such that the 2.4GHz on had the same SSID as my old router. I also changed the password key to my old one forever imbedded in my memory.

At each stage everything was saved of course. It is now connected to my ADSL

Initially, im noting a lower download speed ie about 15Mbps rather than 17+ I get normally.

All my equipment Inc Roku streaming device, Epson Wireless printer, laptops and tablets connected almost seamlessly. I had a slight problem with my Brennan CD Music player but a tweak to an IP Address sorted that out.

Oddly though of my two laptops currently to hand, the latest Acer one that I use almost all the time does not show The 5GHz SSID whereas two Samsung tablets and an older Acer laptop does. The one that doesn't has Qualcomm Atheros Wireless adapter which is 808.11b only.

Anyway it's early days now and this 85yr old is knackered after some hour work.

Re: BT Home Hub 3 Replacement- Again!

gg30340 — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 20:07:53 GMT

Glad it all went well for you.

When you say the The Qualcomm wireless card is 808.11b, or is it 802.11b is 2.4Ghz only so it can not see/use the 5Ghz.