Bt smart hub as modem to connect to mesh system

monkeytassle

Striker
Right we've been here before but I switched from virgin to BT as the stability was awful. Have a new smart hub 2 but tryun to run an orbi mesh off it.

A) can I do that

B) if I cant can I get a modem that syncs with the fttp that I can then use my orbi router
 


I don’t think you can run smart hub in modem only mode unless anything has changed on newer ones.

I suspect you’ll either need just a modem to connect to fibre and use orbi as a router or maybe use bt hub without wifi enabled and setup orbi router as an access point only if thats possible?
 
I’m pretty sure if the router has a WAN port on the back it can be used as the router is just used for connectivity to your devices, the bit on the wall is what syncs with the fibre.
 
I had the same issue. BT Home Hub doesn’t have modem only mode. I bought a secondhand openreach modem off eBay and connected my Google mesh Wi-fi to it.
 
I’m pretty sure if the router has a WAN port on the back it can be used as the router is just used for connectivity to your devices, the bit on the wall is what syncs with the fibre.
It does but it doesn't. The Nokia modem seems shite.

BT are about as much help as a cling film spoon. Same as virgin. f***ing rubbish
I had the same issue. BT Home Hub doesn’t have modem only mode. I bought a secondhand openreach modem off eBay and connected my Google mesh Wi-fi to it.
The business hub does apparently. I'll call them and ask for a free one of those as some numpty told me I'd be able to use the hub 2 as a modem
 
I had the same issue. BT Home Hub doesn’t have modem only mode. I bought a secondhand openreach modem off eBay and connected my Google mesh Wi-fi to it.

Why would you need it to be modem only mode? Surely the mesh wifi could be connected to a NAT router?
 
Why would you need it to be modem only mode? Surely the mesh wifi could be connected to a NAT router?

I think the main orbi is a router as well, so you’d have that & bt hub doing routing etc. Unless its just an access point or can be changed to be an access point
 
I think the main orbi is a router as well, so you’d have that & bt hub doing routing etc. Unless its just an access point or can be changed to be an access point


Ah right, so not just a simple wifi mesh.

It should still work for normal internet access though. The only problem would be if you had devices connected directly to the BT hub and wanted them to access devices on the Orbi Wifi Mesh.
I am fairly sure you won't be able to turn off the "router/NAT" element of the BT Hub, but in reality you won't need to.
 
Ah right, so not just a simple wifi mesh.

It should still work for normal internet access though. The only problem would be if you had devices connected directly to the BT hub and wanted them to access devices on the Orbi Wifi Mesh.
I am fairly sure you won't be able to turn off the "router/NAT" element of the BT Hub, but in reality you won't need to.

Fairly sure you’re right on the BT hub, i think the Orbi stuff can be put into access point only without router/NAT though
 
No reason why not.

Just turn off the wifi on the smart-hub and plug the master unit of the Mesh into a LAN Ethernet port on it.
I did this on a Deco mesh. Works fine. Named it the same as the BT WiFi and same password, so no need to reconnect a host of devices to a new network
 
It does but it doesn't. The Nokia modem seems shite.

BT are about as much help as a cling film spoon. Same as virgin. f***ing rubbish

The business hub does apparently. I'll call them and ask for a free one of those as some numpty told me I'd be able to use the hub 2 as a modem

The business hub definitely does.

You can use the normal ones as a modem, kind of. Just have to disable things like wifi and dhcp, can be a chew on though. So if you aren’t comfortable with it, just get the business hub if it’s free. If they are gonna charge you, go with one of these instead:

 
I did this on a Deco mesh. Works fine. Named it the same as the BT WiFi and same password, so no need to reconnect a host of devices to a new network
We have a virgin router and a BT whole home mesh. We left the Wi-Fi on the virgin hub as it was a fart on switching it off, and just got the mesh to broadcast a new Wi-Fi ssid and connected everything to that. It was a pain reconnecting all our devices to the new Wi-Fi network but it works fine now.

(Disclaimer: apart from my other current thread on this).
 
I've switched off the WiFi on the hub and the orbi seems to be OK as a router but it isn't being picked up on the app. Need to sit down and suss this properly or go with different router in modem mode.
Moving back to virgin. Can't deal with bt.
 
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