BT Business Hub (for Fibre/Infinity) - Wireless speeds

[MiloBT]

Hi all

I've just signed up to upgrade my current ADSL2 connection (BT Business) to the Infinity/Fibre connection in a week or so.

I currently use a Netgear DGN2000 modem/router but that unfortunately doesn't have a WAN port to allow me to carry on using the router/Wireless access point with the new openreach VDSL modem. (For info I have a Gigabit switch plugged in to that as well - which was supposed to be a temporary solution).

I've been advised that I'll be receiving a new BT Business Hub with the order, however, the technical specs of it look a bit poor. 10/100 ethernet (no gigabit), and only 802.11b/g wireless.

Is that correct?

Surely when supplying a 40Mbit connection (which I should be able to achieve) using a 20-25Mbit wireless connection (real world speeds there, not the advertised theoretical 54Mbit) is a bit silly.

Do I need to buy myself a new router if I want 802.11n speeds again, or do I have it wrong and BT's Business Hub is really faster than specified?!

Thanks!

[MHC]

Have a look at my post on:

http://business.forums.bt.com/t5/Broadband-and-internet/BT-Business-Hub-Extending-Wireless-Range/td-...

Plug the Gigabit switch into the 2701HGV-C (the BT supplied hub) and then based on what I suggest above, configure the Netgear with a fixed IP and DHCP turned OFF and plug that into the switch (or 2701).    You will then have a Gigabit Network and 802.11n speeds.

The spec may be a little low - but

[MiloBT]

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately, the Netgear modem/router I currently have has no WAN or uplink port (no auto-sensing or dedicated WAN/uplink ports on it) - only the RJ11 ADSL modem input - so using it purely as a wireless access point (and DHCP server) is not going to happen.

Even if it could, it would mean yet another thing to plug in - which bugs me. Having a single unit for it all would be a much neater (and lower power consuming) solution.

I'm surprised that BT didn't make & supply a VDSL integrated modem/router - but I guess it's still early days in the Infinity/fibre rollout. I know that ActionTec make one, but whether it's compatible with OpenReach's setup I don't know.

[MiloBT]

I just called BT to confirm the router model and it is the 802.11g model I suspected. The woman I spoke to said "that's the only one we supply" when I asked if there were alternatives and commented on how it seemed strange.

It just strikes me as a bit daft to sell a service that's faster for the WAN connection than the wireless speeds for the router it supplies. It's also a waste of money and resources for them to send me it when I'm never going to use it.

I guess I'll just have to buy another router and perhaps use this as an excuse to upgrade the wireless to dual-band (2.4Ghz & 5Ghz).

[MHC]

It does not need a WAN port - a LAN port is required.

I have a couple of locations with Netgear ADSL routers set up in that way (with DHCP OFF) and they work fine - the BT Hub is connected through a LAN port.    You are using the internal Ethernet switch in the Netgear to move traffic between ports which is the same as it does when fed with an ADSL signal.

The internal switch will have several - one connected to the internal ADSL modem, one connected to the internal WAP and four available to the user.  

Before committing to anything else, why not try it and see.

You also comment about BT not supplying an integrated Modem & Router.     Separating them is actually a sensible way forward.   A separate modem that interfaces direct to the line ensures that BT can manage that interface and will be able to diagnose problems a lot easier and quicker than having a multitude of devices that could be on a line.    It then allows the customer to either use the ISPs own (supplied) router/hub/switch/WAP &c or to purchase their own and if that happens the device will have no direct effect on the line.

[MiloBT]

"It does not need a WAN port - a LAN port is required."

I said either a "WAN or uplink port (no auto-sensing or dedicated WAN/uplink ports on it)"

As far as I am aware (and I may be wrong on this!), on the Netgear DGN2000 that I have none of the 4 ethernet / RJ45 sockets can act as the uplink source for the internal switch, only the modem/RJ11 connection.

However, if they can be (and I can give this a try using another ADSL modem/router I have in the loft) then why use the BT Router at all? Surely the BT OpenReach modem is enough to supply the connection via ethernet? Then the Netgear in theory handles the DHCP, Wireless etc.

"Before committing to anything else, why not try it and see."

Yeah, but I guess I'll probably end up buying a new one anyway, just so I can get a single integrated Gigabit & Wireless-N router! 😉

"You also comment about BT not supplying an integrated Modem & Router.     Separating them is actually a sensible way forward.   A separate modem that interfaces direct to the line ensures that BT can manage that interface and will be able to diagnose problems a lot easier and quicker than having a multitude of devices that could be on a line.    It then allows the customer to either use the ISPs own (supplied) router/hub/switch/WAP &c or to purchase their own and if that happens the device will have no direct effect on the line."

I know what you're saying and yes it does make some sense, but personally I'd prefer it in one box for ease of use.

[michelmoura]

Hello,

I would like to share an experience I had so far with BT Infinity:

I have ordered BT Infinity Home about 6 weeks ago, it was quickly installed and on the internet speed tests I was getting 39MB download and around 7MB upload speeds.. and I was over the moon.. really happy with those results..

Then I decided I needed to have an static IP, I phoned BT and they told me I could not have static IP on the BT Infinity home.. I had to move to move to BT Infinity Business... so I did exactly that..

they sent me the BT Business Hub.. and now I am getting 14 MB Download and 5 MB Upload speeds... so.. I think you are right.. the BT business is a very poor quality equipment and is very annoying that I tried to Upgrade my account to a business account and now I am getting a much degraded service.

for the moment, I have plugged back my BT Home Hub.. and the speed is great.. but I have no possibility of configuring a fixed IP on the home Hub.. an engineer will come here next Saturday.. but I have the feeling that he wont be able to help.

How did you get on with yours?.. did you have to buy another router?... if so.. which one did you buy? and what speeds are you getting? thanks..

Regards...

Michael

[MHC]

I would suggest that you have a faulty hub ...

I have just had a hub changed out - it was giving 37Mbps speeds which suddenly dropped to 10-15 Mbps.   A replacement went straight back up to 37Mbps.

The business hub is perfectly adequate to meet the speeds and has been demonstrated at near 80Mbps.

And it may be a little clearer if you used Mb to refer to Megabits - MB means MegaBytes.

[freebetsuk]

It looks to me like you have a faulty hub too!

[OldWolf]

Hi,

One thing to always check, if your speed goes down that badly or your connection goes funny, is your username and password.

Sounds odd doesn't it?

Well the thing is they use a system that means the router comes with a default username, which then connects it to a specific server and downloads the right details to the router (which then reconnects with the new details).  The only problem is it sometimes doesn't work, so you end up left on these default details.

Now you will get some form of connection, but because the system doesn't know who you are it has no idea what speed you are on, etc.  (Thank Jonesy for this, as he had that exact problem)

If you're have a situation where the router keeps going back to the defaults then try a factory reset, and if that doesn't work then contact the Helpdesk.

Hope that helps.

Cheers.

Dave A