BT Homehub 2.0 - Setting up as a repeater.

jordanroch

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Hey guys,

Im trying to set up a repeater with two BT Homehub 2.0's, because I get extremely low signal, i.e the furthest point in my home gives me approx. 20% signal, although there are some large supporting brick walls on the way there..

If you have a look at the image i have included (click to enlarge) then thats the setup that i'm looking for. I currently have everything plugged in the same way as shown, except for the slave router i wish to install, and any other wifi devices are being connected straight to the main homehub, but as i said im lacking signal throughout one side of my house.



I don't want to move my infinity hub, as when i have on previous occasions i've suffered extreme loss of internet speed and failure to maintain a steady connection.

I don't want to go to currys or wherever to buy a set of homeplug adapters because i'm trying to utilise all of the things i already have, however if there is no available method of making this work then i'm prepared to buy a wireless switch of some sort to use instead of the 2nd HH. - If this has to be done, then please recommend one - not after anything fancy, just something that'll boost the signal through the upstairs floor.

I've included everything I can think of but if you need any add. info then please ask.

thanks for the help in advance,

~Jordan
 
Connect to the non-Infinity HH via an Ethernet cable. Go into it's Advanced Settings (192.168.1.254 and follow your nose). Switch off the DHCP Server and give the HH a new IP address. (So that you can talk to it in future.) 192.168.1.60 should be a good one. BTW, that turns it into and Ethernet Switch and a Wireless Access Point - not a "slave router"

Now wire up as per your diagram. BTW2, if those powerline adapters came from BT they are NOT HomePlugs.

Can some one else help out with how to configure the WiFi for best performance please? (I have limited knowledge of multiple Access Points.
 
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For best wifi, set each HH to each use one radio channel from the set 1,6,11.

If you want your client devices to be able to automatically "roam" between HH's, set the security, passphrase, SSID and everything else so they are the same.

If you want to be able to choose which HH you are connecting, give them different SSID names. (And passphrases if you like.)

It would also be a good idea to survey your locale using something like InSSIDer to determine which radio channels offer's least interference from any neighbour's wifi. Lot's of threads here describe how.
 
I logged into the non-infinity hub, changed the hub ip to 192.168.1.100 with dhcp off. wired up my setup and it worked straight away. took me about 10 minutes at the most. kudos to beerhunter!

Haven't quite got as far as setting the pair of them up to roam as of yet, if i do set them up to 'roam' i have to:
1) Change SSID to BTHomeHub2-F8TS
2)Change wpa key to the same as HH-F8TS

with changing everything else so that they're matching, does that include turning dhcp off?

Thanks
 
DHCP is nothing to do with wifi, so leave that turned off on the "secondary" HH whatever you do or wierd stuff will start to happen.

In the sort of wifi you have at home, "roaming" is not a feature implemented in the Access Points (HH's in your case) it's implemented in the client devices. Basically, if a client can see two wifi AP's advertising the same wifi service, they can thence "choose" which one to associate with and swap between them as they see fit.

To avail roaming, all your Wifi Access Points (HH) need to advertise the same wifi service, hence, you need to set the same SSID, security type and passphrase in each. Basically, everything "wifi" needs to be the same, though it's possible (in fact preferable) to have each AP use a different radio channel so that the two coverage areas don't "interfere" with each other and thus you'll get the best throughput for the system as whole.

How and when to roam is a decision made in you client devices. Some will constantly hunt for the best signal, some will doggedly have on to the AP they are in session with until they feel they have to move, some have a control in the network drivers called "roaming agreesiveness" or something similar to allow you a degree of control.

There's pro's and cons to constant roaming - you'll probably get a "blip" of a second or two as a device roams. That's fine if your web surfing, but could be a pain if you'll streaming media such as TV or radio. The choice as they say, is yours.

And of course, if you don't want roaming at all and want to pick whcih HH you are talking to, give each HH a different SSID and passphrase.

BTW - For ease of use, I'd change the SSID in both your HH's to something easily recognisable by youself. SSID names can be anything, the "BTHomeHub2-F8TS" is just a "default" psudo-random name pre-configured into your HomeHub. Hardly memorable, especially if all your neighbours have also got HH's with similar names. I would make up some funky new name of my own. Remember - anyone passing by can see it, so keep it clean and don't include any personal data.
 
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I have DHCP disabled in the second HH, but when I tried in previous attempts I had left it on and it caused an IP conflict or something with the Infinity HH rendering it useless!

I know that the HH's don't support 'Roaming' but what I've done in my Blackberry settings is enable 'Allow inter-access point handover' and I've noticed when I walk from one room to another that the network switches from 'Home' to 'Bedroom'.

I have left my channel selection in both of the HH's to Auto and whilst doing a site survey my Infinity HH is at channel 11 and the second one is on channel 6 whilst other networks (my neighbours) are all scattered on different networks so I'm quite happy knowing that I'm not going to receive any interference in crossing wifi zones.

I've left the SSID's as the defaults, but as I said previously on my Blackberry, I've allowed it to switch over when needed, but things like my families PS3's are always stationary, so I done a site survey on them and found that the secondary HH that you and beerhunter has helped me set up today shows at 87% signal at the furthest room away and only 20-30% on the Infinity HH, which proves how much effect a pesky brick wall has on your ability to use a wifi network!

Remember - anyone passing by can see it, so keep it clean and don't include any personal data.

A neighbour of mine used to have an unsecured network and I went into his router and let's say went over the top with his SSID a week later it was locked with WPA haha!

I thank you both again for the help and would recommend this method to anyone who has a spare HH or similar laying around and was experiencing the same problems as I was!
 
DHCP MUST be disabled in the second Home Hub.

BTW, I recommended 192.168.1.60 for the second HH because that address is not within the BT HH's default DHCP Pool (64 - 269) and thus unlikely to cause any IP Address conflicts. However the address that you have chosen 192.168.1.100 is within the Pool and thus is!
 
This is brilliant! I had my BT HH 2.0 set up as an access point to my Netgear DGN3500 in about 10 mins!!
Great stuff.

Shame that the BT HH can't be used as a wireless repeater though.
 
Sorry to bring an old thread back but does anyone know if the following is possible:

Instead of using ethernet to join the hubs, do it like this:

[INTERNET]----{HUB} - - wifi - - (Laptop) -- ethernet -- {HUB2}


{HUB2} -- ethernet -- (PC)
-- ethernet -- (PC)
-- ethernet -- (PC)

So HUB is the DHCP server, and the laptop/PC's all have internet connection and can ping each other on the network.

Sorry if this isnt well explained, been scratching my head for a while now, Im using Ubuntu on all the Laptops/PC's btw, this this would be difficult in windows but linux hasnt let me down so far!
 
Yes that should be fine. You'll need to "bridge" the NIC's in your laptop but Windows can do that. Alternatively you could use the laptop as a router and have each NIC bound to a separate subnet and route between the two.

I've done both over the years, bridging if probably the "cleanest" way.

Of course, downstream device will have no connection while the laptop is off.
 

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