[Lancaster] BT Home Hub

[Ken Hough]

I've had a BT broadband account for some time. This was recently
upgraded to a "BT Total Broadband" account. All went well and my Netgear
DG834GT router connected with the new higher speed (ca 3Mb) link without
any problems. I'm some distance from my local exchange, so 3Mb is pretty
good.

BT insisted on sending me one of their shiny new BT Home Hubs, so I just
had to try it out. I thought perhaps my experiences might be of interest
to other Linux users.

At first, I couldn't figure how to get into the admin/setup bit of the
hub. I couldn't find any info on this point in the instructions other
than to use the standard MS Windows based setup disc.

Eventually, I found an article in the Micro Mart magazine (Issue 964,
pages 112/113) which gave the IP address of the hub (192.168.1.254), so
I was able to play with it. The article also mentioned that pressing the
'Wireless Association' button at the back of the hub for 15 seconds
causes the hub to reset to factory default conditions and to download
the latest firmware.

I didn't try out the wifi or USB ports, but the two ethernet ports
worked OK.

BTW, the BT Home Hub doesn't come with the telephone that's shown in
those nice glossy adverts. It's extra!

BT Home Hub seemed to take ages to boot up. My Netgear router is MUCH
quicker. The Netgear admin pages give more information than does the BT
unit.

I won't be dumping my Netgear router anytime soon.

Ken Hough