Is the EE hub mandatory for fibre?

[DigitalDave]

Upgrading to Fibre 150 tomorrow. Whilst the new EE hub has been delivered, can I simply continue to use my existing BT hub HH6 without losing any benefits? Will it work on Fibre? Unable to ascertain whether it's Fibre compatible.

[licquorice · Accepted solution]

If it has a red WAN port then, yes, you can use it with full fibre. If it doesn't you can't.

Either way, you won't have access to Digital Voice telephony with a hub6

[DigitalDave]

HH6 is redundant.  No Red WAN. New EE hub in place.

The set up I have with the BT fibre  upgrade to our Res connections and a TT copper Bus Line with BB was a bit complex regarding Hub routing but with the excellent Openreach engineer, we spent some time evaluating the options and for now have a working solution.

[countrypaul]

Why do you want to stay with the HH6? If it is because you have many devices connected by WiFi and don't want down time on them whist going round and updating them there are a couple of workarounds - You could set the new SH2 WiFi SSID and password to match that of your HH6 (though if you ever factory reset the SH2 you will need to change the SSID and password again), alternatively you could put an ethernet cable between the two routers (disable DHCP on the HH6 and change its ip address to one not issued by DHCP to avoid conflict with the SH2)  then migrate equipment over at your leisure.

As the new ONT and router do not necessarily need to be in the same location as the existing one (but each will require a 13A socket) you have an opportunity to move things to more convenient location - the ONT and router are just linked via ethernet so can be a long way apart if you wish and can safely run an ethernet cable. 

[DigitalDave]

My set up with copper meant the BT master and hub was a 20 metre + run from where the feed came in. This is effectively my home office/ studio with a switch box feeding 4 PCs on a network and an ethernet cable run to a WiFi hub in the lounge. The TT BB bus line and hub is in the hall where the feed comes in.

Fibre to the studio was never a practical option. The TT copper BB and hub is now where the BT hub was and is working fine, including  my network and printer, naturally with the lines switched and the Fibre is working fine in the hall. At some point I will run an ethernet cable to the studio 20 + metres but for now all is good.

Not convinced about new TV box but that needs more diligence on my part.