Using a spare BT Home Hub 5 to extend wifi coverage?

tweedbean

tweedbean

tweedbean

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Hi all, in our previous house we had a home hub 5 with BT infinity connection. When we moved we were sent another home hub 5 for our new infinity connection so we ended up with a spare one.

I have just had a home office/cinema room built in the garden and the wifi signal is pretty rubbish in there. Our home hub is in the middle of the house and works perfectly for all rooms excluding the garden room. Is it possible to connect our spare home hub 5 to our home network via ethernet cable, as the house also has a CAT5 network, at the end of the house nearest the garden room, boosting the wifi signal at that end of the house?
 
Nope, last time I checked you can't turn off the DHCP server on the HH5, so both HH5s will start conflicting with each other.

Might be just easier to buy an access point.
 
Orcvader said:
Nope, last time I checked you can't turn off the DHCP server on the HH5, so both HH5s will start conflicting with each other.

Might be just easier to buy an access point.
Click to expand...

Not true, you can disable the DHCP server on a HH5 (I have one).

OP, all you need to do is disable the DHCP server (Advanced settings -> IP Addresses) and then connect the rest of your network to one of the HH5 LAN ports.
 
ci_newman said:
Not true, you can disable the DHCP server on a HH5 (I have one).

OP, all you need to do is disable the DHCP server (Advanced settings -> IP Addresses) and then connect the rest of your network to one of the HH5 LAN ports.
Click to expand...

Oh derp, you're right, just had a look, was getting mixed up with the HH3 :p.

However OP you will also need to change the IP address of the second HH5 (the one you'll be using to extend the wireless). The default for the HH5 is 254, so leave the main router on that, and change the second one to something like 253.

In the DHCP network range, set to "Configure manually", start address as "192.168.1.1" and end address as "192.168.1.252", that way the DHCP server will not assign 253 and 254 to any other devices.

You can set the wireless name and password to the same as the main one as well, you just need to make sure both are on different channels. So for example the main router's wireless is on channel 1, then set the second router's wireless to channel 6 or 11 so they don't interfere with each other.
 
Orcvader said:
You can set the wireless name and password to the same as the main one as well, you just need to make sure both are on different channels. So for example the main router's wireless is on channel 1, then set the second router's wireless to channel 6 or 11 so they don't interfere with each other.
Click to expand...

Would be interested to know if the HH5 is clever enough to avoid this if left on auto select.
 
So I gave this a quick try last night with no joy, Here are the steps I followed, let me know if I missed something obvious.

I plugged my spare home hub into my laptop via Ethernet cable(Thinking about it I could have done this over wifi) and amended the following:

# In the DHCP network range, set to "Configure manually", start address as "192.168.1.1" and end address as "192.168.1.252"
# I switched wifi to manual channel 6.

I then unplugged the Ethernet cable and placed the spare hub next to an Ethernet socket in the house and connected via cable to that socket, using the red WAN socket on the back of the hub. All sockets in the house feed through to a single switch which in turn is linked to our main home hub via an ethernet cable in one of the yellow sockets on the hub. I have checked the Ethernet socket on the wall and there is definitely and internet feed through to it.

When connecting via wifi to the spare hub, it connected but no internet connection was present.

Any thoughts?
 
You can't use the red WAN port, as that's for broadband only, you need to use the LAN ports on the second router.

EDIT: Just to check, you made sure to turn off the DHCP server on the second hub right? And changed its IP to 253? So it doesn't conflict with the main hub.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the fast reply.

I changed the IP but dont remember turning off the DHCP, doh.

So if I connect an ethernet cable from the wall socket to one of the yellow ports on the 2nd router, it should then pick up an internet feed that I can utilise via wifi?
 
Yes, all devices connecting to the second hub will be directed to the main hub's DHCP server, which will allow them to connect to the internet and your network.
 
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