Adding another BT hub to act as a repeater

[Smith680]

Hello,  I have recently moved to BT and I’m enjoying the fibre to the cabinet and the Smart Hub 2 device at home. 

I have an office (out of WiFi range) that has Cat5 laid to it and I would like to get a second device to act as a WiFi repeater in the office. I have a couple of BT devices that I have tried to plug in but I’m not having any success with a connection.

I would really appreciate some help or direction on this please, if anyone can assist.

Kind regards, Alex

[Keith_Beddoe]

@Smith680 

This would be a better option, and designed for that purpose.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/access-point/tl-wa901n/

[licquorice]

A second hub can simply be re-purposed by giving it an address outside of the DHCP range of the main hub, for example 192.168.1 .20 and turning off DHCP on the secondary hub. Connect the 2 hubs LAN port to LAN port withe the Ethernet cable.

[Smith680]

Thanks for the help.

Will this prove to be more like “plug and play”?

im trying without success to amend the IP address of the second router... 

[licquorice]

What version of hub is the second device?  You can change the IP address from the standard 192.168.1.254 to the new address in advanced settings. Make sure you haven't connected it the first hub though, you need to connect to the second hub whilst it is standalone. Don't forget that once you have changed the address you will have sawn off the branch you are sitting on so to speak and will need to log back in using the new address. 

[Smith680]

I have at my disposal a BT Hub 5 & 6.

If they are compatible for the change of IP address could I do that wirelessly?

[licquorice]

Yes, they both are, you should be able to do it wirelessly, but might be better to connect via Ethernet.