Full Fibre and Digital Voice

[p11rar]

Hi all. After an hour on the phone to BT they have modified my order to include digital voice and my Full Fibre as I've been outvoted on losing the landline capability (despite us all having mobile phones...) The engineer install is happening end of November. I informed the advisor that I intend to use my own router (more flexibility in features and customisations on my network) and he told me it should work and they're throwing in a digital voice adapter to make this happen.

As I'm reading online, I'm seeing the Smart Hub still needs to be connected directly to the ONT for voice to work. I have already purchased a better router for when this setup is installed. Am I screwed? Is it possible to turn off DHCP on the Smart Hub and connect it via the 3rd party router and have voice work that way?

Alternatively, could I put the 3rd party router in the Smart Hub DMZ and run my network off of that? Would that cause problems? My initial concern is I won't be able to utilize my VPN capabilities I have set up with my new router.

[jac_95]

Hi p11rar,

Thanks for the post and welcome to the Community.

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[WSH]

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

Smart Hub 2 (SH2) router settings:

DHCP off.  (The addresses here are best set as static addresses).

Router itself set to a static IP of 192.168.1.254, (the default).

Subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 or /24, (also the default).

DMZ host set to 192.168.1.2  (This should stop double NAT problems but you only really need it if you run a server etc.  Note, this setting allows a lot of traffic to bypass the SH2 firewall, so you are relying on your own router’s firewall for security).

Turn off both Wi-Fi bands 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 to the ONT, if on FTTP).

DV phone/extension then plugs into the phone socket on the Smart Hub 2.

Own router settings:

DHCP on, range 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).

Router itself is on a static IP of 192.168.0.1

Subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 or /24

Enable the EWAN port and set it to a fixed IP of 192.168.1.2, (so it is part of the SH2 network).

Gateway set to 192.168.1.254, (again, pointing to the SH2).

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

The EWAN socket on your own router (probably 4) connects to a LAN port on the SH2.  (NB. This will not work if you use the DSL port on your own router).