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Peripherals Trying to replace my awful BT Home Hub

Discussion in 'Tech Support' started by Parge, 11 Oct 2021.

  1. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    So, I bought a Huawei AX3 Quad core router to try and replace my terrible BT Home Hub, that despite being replaced, decides to reboot itself randomly.

    However, when I pop the old school phone style cable into the Huawei WAN port, it simply won't recognise that its plugged in and just says "no cable detected"

    When I pop it back in the Home Hub again, no problems.

    Any ideas?
     
  2. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    What internet have you got? FTTC or FTTP? Does the new router's modem tech match what's required for your connection?

    For FTTC, have you thought about getting a dedicated modem?
     
  3. noizdaemon666

    noizdaemon666 I'm Od, Therefore I Pwn

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    Unfortunately as far as I can tell the Huawei is just a router, which would mean it'd need a separate modem. Something the BT Hub has built in. You can buy modems separately if you want - example :)
     
  4. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Are you plugging an RJ11 (telephone) cable into an RJ45 (Ethernet) socket? If so, that won't work. I mean, it'll fit, but it won't work.

    The AX3 has no internal modem: it won't talk to an ADSL/VDSL/xDSL line. You'll need a modem between the two - possibly your old BT Home Hub, although that won't fix the problem of the Home Hub rebooting randomly.

    Otherwise, you'll have to buy a dedicated xDSL modem with Ethernet, or a different new router and send the AX3 back.

    EDIT: Ninja'd by noizdaemon666!
     
  5. sandys

    sandys Multimodder

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    As others have said, you need a modem, best thing to do is get BT to provide a new hub, they provide it as part of their service, they should send out a replacement after going through diagnostics, you can get alternate modems like the Draytek but you need to know what type of internet service you have, is it G fast etc.

    If you have an AX3 as a replacement for you home hub alone, it is the wrong thing, if you have them for a cheap mesh setup then you would need to feed them internet from the Homehub into the WAN port. I have been using these all year and have proven to be very reliable.
     
  6. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I am so dumb.

    Basically I didn't research it because I got given it ages ago, and just assumed it was a modem/router when I thought "oh I should use that AX3 I have in the box in the cupboard"

    It is hard to tell if the modem is rebooting - but basically I lose all internet connectivity.

    I might try using the AX3 for WIFI and see if its just the Home Hubs Wifi router that is terrible, rather than the modem.
     
  7. deathtaker27

    deathtaker27 Modder

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  8. Arboreal

    Arboreal Keeper of the Electric Currants

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    This seems to be the case generally with hardware provided by the telco.
    The Virgin HH3 for example, (I have one...), is notorious for flaky and inconsistent WiFi
     
  9. .//TuNdRa

    .//TuNdRa Resident Bulldozer Guru

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    At least, on the bright side - You can replace the BT ones. Virgin's DOCSIS setup means replacing the router is a nightmare.

    When BT first did their inital FTTC rollout - They reused the existing HH3 (I think? This is going back a bit) and threw on a Modem to the back. Those modems, so far as I'm aware, still work, although they are a little rare now. Might be worth seeing if you can pick one of those up.

    Alternatively, for the grand cost of £0: See if the Homehub stops faffing about if you throw it into Modem Mode, since it should then have much lower load; if it's something temp related (Again - HH3's had a real bad habit of melting Wifi out from heat); that should help stop it misbehaving.
     
  10. sandys

    sandys Multimodder

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    That's backwards isn't it, VM can go into modem mode and you use your own router solution, the BT FTTC modems don't typically offer this functionality, the FTTP ones do.
     

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