Non Target reader:
If you currently use a BT home hub or smart hub device as the only device used to access the internet then this guidance can be ignored.
You replace your existing home hub or smart hub with the smart hub 2 (if you are not already using one). Connect it to the phone socket the same way as your current BT kit. And once notified that your land line has been migrated to digital voice, plug your existing phone into the green phone socket at the back of the smart hub 2 or connect any supplied digital phone handsets provided by BT using the instructions provided. Configuration options covering digital voice such as voice mail is readily available on the internet.
The smart hub 2 is a perfectly good internet router for general use and one of the best “free” ones provided by internet service providers (ISPs). The target audience are those that already have historically used their own 3rd party router instead of BT provided ones to get additional functionality that ISP routers don’t provide.
Target reader:
You are a home user, already have a 3rd party router that you have been using successfully with the BT internet service and don’t want to lose functionality of have to re-configure the likes of WiFi network address settings used in your home etc. But do want to retain your BT landline service.
To date you have the router connected to a BT internet connection device for FTTC or FTTP connections. In my case I am limited to FTTC and used a white Huawei modem that plugs into the internet socket of the BT Master socket and into the internet port of the modem. If you have FTTP then you will have a BT/Openreach provided ONT fitted when they installed the FTTP line to your property. Which will probably have an ethernet cable plugged into the ONT and the WAN ethernet port of your router.
To be perfectly clear. By flawed design, there is only one device on planet earth that allows you to connect a phone to the BT voice mail. These pages are full of threads covering the debate but any argument against is fruitless. You are stuck with having to use a BT Smart Hub 2 plugged into your master phone socket or ONT which your phone handsets (standard phone jack or BT digital voice supplied digital handsets) connect to provide your land line. This needs to be the first device on your network with any other devices running off it. Unlike many ISP provided routers the home hub 2’s don’t have the ability to run in “modem only/Bridge mode”. The business version ironically does. But even if you bought one on eBay. I don’t believe these are compatible with home user connections (happy to be proven wrong).
Not the smartest decision of BT to coral a large percentage of the UK population to have to use a single device to provide a land line and optionally access the internet. But it is what it is, albeit a security risk in the making.
So, the following basically does as much as it can with a Smart Hub 2 to emulate an internet modem/bridge device and pass all traffic up and down to your existing router. In the way that you currently use it. The Hub additionally providing Digital Voice service access to allow you to retain your land line.
Note that depending on your own router configuration it should retain most if not all functionality, but any such workaround might remove some existing capability. If so you will need to decide if you can live without it.
I have not seen any issues with my setup, but the nature of the beast is that any such workaround cannot cover all eventualities.
I do have a games console but don’t tend to play online or be a heavy user so can’t address common concerns over this type of workaround, but I see absolutely no reason that the following will cause any issues or alter your existing router port routing settings if you have ones set up.
Rather than enable upnp support on the router (which introduces a security risk) I would use port forward settings to manually enter a port forwarding rule for any applicable games console settings. These settings are readily available from an internet search.
Whilst this workaround performs double IP forwarding and by definition introduces double nating. As much as possible has been done to mitigate against double nating conflicts. As the hub is solely connected to a single network device, the router, and is passing all traffic from and to the router. With the router then performing all network management duties as it was before. See:
The instructions are based on my own kit; A smart Hub 2 and an Asus router (RT-AX58U). Whilst the range of 3rd party routers in use is vast hopefully the following will translate to your own router settings and help workaround BT’s failure to recognise users that want more sophisticated router options than those available from general ISP provided routers.
Note, that as part of the work disables Wi-Fi on the Smart Hub 2. To access the smart hub after doing so will require you connecting an ethernet cable between a PC/laptop and a LAN ethernet port on the back of the hub. So, you will need an ethernet cable.
Post setup, you should be able to connect to the router via Wi-Fi by using a browser to hit 192.168.1.254. But during the process you will probably need to rely on a direct ethernet cable connection between device and PC/Laptop.
Owing to size limits on post and only the ability to attach image files the following are a set of 15 image files making up this full article
Credits:
Thanks to the following community contributors whose earlier posts helped me on my own journey for this workaround:
