How to do even more simple things in your Home Hub

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June 2008
Some common problems and fixes in the BT Home Hub, in association with the guys at the
Home Hub Forum.

1. How to register a Hub phone without using the Cradle.
2. How to access a WebCam externally
3. How to set up a Windows Network on Home Hub
4. How to use a 1010 hub phone on V2 hub
5. How to use a 2.1 hub phone on an old hub

More How-to's
Even more How-to's

Other Links

Hub Simple Troubleshooting

Home Hub (V1) Manual
New Home Hub (V1.5) Manual

1. How to register a hub phone without using the cradle.

Suitable for 1010, 1020 and 2.1 phones.

First: de-register the 1010 or 1020 phone if it's been used... NOTE I have NOT tried this on a 2.1 phone!!
On the handset take a look at which button is the "Menu" button.
Take off the battery cover and remove one battery.
Hold in the Menu button while reinserting the battery.
After a few seconds the display will show "TEST MODE"
Do NOT press OK, but press "5"
The display will change to show "CLEAR SUB"
Hit OK and the handset will deregister, but the phone book will be retained.

Next:
Whether or not you have de-registered the phone, when it's switched on the handset will say "Please register the handset to the BT Homehub"
Do NOT press OK! - Instead press the Back (RH) button
Press Menu (LH) button
Register Handset should be highlighted so click on OK
Select Base 1 (which should be free as you just de-registered the handset) and then hit OK.

The handset asks you to put the Home Hub into registration mode by pressing the Wireless association key on the side of your Hub for three seconds until lights start to flash.
Hit OK on the phone.
Handset then says System Pin - enter 0000 and hit OK
Handset says registering Handset Please Wait, or similar.
The handset will say 'Handset registered' when successfully registered.

If using 1010 phone on V2 hub, reboot the phone handset by removing a battery again, count 5 and re-insert the battery without pressing any buttons this time.

Resetting to defaults: On 1010 handset menu "Base Settings" there is a reset to "Defaults Settings". I have done this twice now and the phonebook is NOT lost, so you can precede the above with a full reset if you wish and not lose the phonebook.

2. How to access a web cam externally

Following many requests to access a webcam from the internet, that is connected by ethernet to the Home Hub, Contributor "Ned Ludd" on the Home Hub Forum has written this sequence for V1 and V1.5 hubs on 6.2.x.x firmwares.
V2 hub has a different app sharing routine but just follow the same principles - I will publish a V2 writeup here if someone can email me one!


IP cameras all seem to rely on the same methodology to be seen outside the LAN. They need a permant IP address. To us mere home users, that is not normally available so we have to resort to work-arounds.

So, get yerself a free WEB address from the likes of www.dnsalias.com and that problem is solved. The Hub has a facility for informing DynDns when your IP address changes.

Now, you will have to open ports to the web for the IP camera so that incoming traffic can be directed to the camera only and not all your PC's. On the Hub, you will have to open the Web Server port 80 so that the camera can send data and a specified port for the data to be sent by.

The specified port may be fixed on the camera, or you may have to nominate it. If you can choose the port then pick something easy to remember like 22222 or 55555! Theses are high enough up the range so should not be already used by existing items.

The important thing here is that you tell the Hub the same port number that the camera is set for.
On the Hub, your camera will be discovered and, if the camera firmware has one, it's name will appear on the list of devices on the Hub home page. It may just appear as an Unknown device in which case you alter it to something meaningful e.g. IP camera! Also, be sure to tick that box that ensures that the LAN IP address does not change.

If your camera already has a fixed IP address (see camera documentation) then you MUST add that to the Hub. Go to the 'IP Addresses' on the Hub and add the IP address into the top section marked 'IP Addresses'.

Now comes the touchy part. Within the Advanced section of the Hub you will find 'Application Sharing' and 'Create a new game or application'. Open that bit and change the name from 'New_entry' to something like IP-Camera2 (no spaces allowed) and select 'Manual Entry of Port Maps' at the botton. Then click on next. Select the Protocol TCP, enter the port range 22222 - 22222 then click add. Do the same for port 80.

Then do it all again but with the protocol set to UDP (not port 80 as that is TCP only).

You will have 3 entries TCP 22222; UDP 22222; and TCP 80; The pic shows the 3 lines. Click on Save (or whatever comes next). That's it! You've setup the port openings.

Now, click on 'Application Sharing again. This time select your entry from the 'Game or Application' drop down and select your device from the 'Device' drop down. Click on whatever it wants for confirmation.

Now, you've 'opened' the ports to the device. Be aware, the ports will only be open when the device is powered up and connected to your LAN.

Now, here comes the last bit - click on Dynamic DNS and enter in your details. (It may take a couple of hours to be recognised)

Congratulations! You've done it. If it doesn't work, please, please go through all these instructions with a fine toothcomb because they do work. Also, some have found that rebooting the Hub followed by rebooting the camera has cleared any blockage for them.

Here is a pic of the Hub V2 settings for a similar setup (Thanks Ned!)

3. How to set up a Windows Network on the Home Hub

This is really a Windows subject and is documented in many places (Google is your friend!) but here is an extract of what I have posted on the Home Hub Forum. It should work for a mix of Vista and XP, or all Vista or all XP:

First thing if you have a third party Firewall (like Kaspersky Internet Suite, Norton 360 or even ZoneAlarm, is to set up the Home Hub connection, or the subnet 192.168.1.1 thru to .254 as a Trusted Domain. This will vary with the various firewalls, but ensure the setting includes all the used IP addresses.

Then:
In Vista
in Network and Sharing Center / Sharing and Discovery you should set the network to type of "Private" which opens up all the options to those below, or manually set them as:

Network Discovery On File Sharing On
Public Folder Sharing On
Printer Sharing On
Password Protected sharing Off **
Media Sharing Off
Workgroup left as WORKGROUP.

In the XP machine
Run the Small Office Network wizard - with both machines connected to the internet the wizard should recognise the connection and recommended a configuration option.
Change the XP machine workgroup to match the others, i.e. WORKGROUP as per the Vista one.

Sharing Files.
On XP PCs you need to declare certain folders as shared by right-clicking on the selected folders in Explorer and setting them as shared.

On Vista you can simply move files to the Public folder for anyone to share, or you can right click on any folder, as with XP, and nominate users.

IP Addresses:
Both machines should have IP addresses set on automatic, or else in the range 192.168.1.64 thru .237
with subnet mask of 255.255.255.0
and gateway and DNS both set at 192.168.1.254.



For Windows XP perform the below steps:

Start
Run
ncpa.cpl

For Windows Vista perform the below steps:
Start
Search
ncpa.cpl

In either Vista or XP, Right Click on the desired connection.





That will bring up the following screen. (Example shows wireless connection on a Vista machine)



Then highlight the TCP/IP line (Or as shown here in Vista the IPv4 line) and hit Properties.

The following screen allows you to click on automatic, or to type in suitable addresses.




Select the automatic IP option as a preference!
With Version 2 Home Hubs any devices with a fixed IP may not appear on the list of connected items.

The network and file sharing should now work.

Note: If you have XP Home and Vista, you will not be able to "see" the XP machine on Vista's network map without running the patch from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120 on the XP machines.

And the only way I could "see" the XP machine on the Vista network, despite having run the XP patch on the XP machine, was to Map Network Drive on Drive Z: against \\PCNAME then using Browse selecting the shared drive.

** It also helps with Vista if you set up all machines to force logon with a password. If you have any PCs set up with no password, or set for automatic logon without the password screen, you may have problems getting onto Vista files from an XP machine.


If it still does not work write to Bill Gates not me.

4. How to use an old hub phone on V2 hub

If you have 1010 or 1020 hubphones from V1 or V1.5 hubs you can use them on a V2 hub for basic calls with reasonable call quality, but no fancy features. This is covered in the BT online help but there are a few additional action that should help.

First de-register the handset back to factory settings. On the handset take a look at which button is the "Menu" button.
Take off the battery cover and remove one battery.
Hold in the Menu button while reinserting the battery.
After a few seconds the display will show "TEST MODE"
Do NOT press OK, but press "5"
The display will change to show "CLEAR SUB"
Hit OK and the handset will deregister, but the phone book will be retained.

The handset will now say "Please register the handset to the BT Homehub"
Do NOT press OK! - Press the Back (RH) button
Press Menu (LH) button
Register Handset should be highlighted so click on OK
Select Base 1 unless it has an asterisk next to it, in which case select the next free base then hit OK.

The handset asks you to put the Home Hub into registration mode by pressing the Wireless association key on the side of your Hub version for three seconds.
Actually 3 seconds is not required on the V2 hub, simply press it briefly, then when the light is flashing Hit OK on the phone.
Handset then says System Pin - enter 0000 and hit OK
Handset says registering Handset Please Wait, or similar.
The handset will say 'Handset registered' when successfully registered.

Now reboot the phone handset by removing a battery again, count 5 and re-insert the battery without pressing any buttons this time.

The above actions should leave the best available sound quality, but you will not get Hi-Ds sound when you call another hubphone user.

You will be able to use the intercom between two old type hub phones, and can call a 2.1 phone from an old phone, but the 2.1 phone will not call an old hub phone 1010 on intercom.

If you want to keep the old hub you could always try the method of getting phone to work on a slave hub which should retain Hi-Ds.

5. How to use a 2.1 hub phone on an old home hub

The only thing you need to do in addition to normal registration is to find a version 2.0 home hub, register the handset to it, then in Contacts menu change the phone book location from "Shared" to "Handset" and add at least one contact. If you do not do this the Contacts feature will not work at all and you just get "Not Available". However if you use a new v2 hub temporarily to set the memory to Handset and add one contact it will work when you re-register to your older V1 or V1.5 hub.

As soon as you switch it on, the handset asks you to register it (Hit OK) and then asks you to press the Wireless association button on your Hub. As you have an old home hub you actually need to hold in the wireless association button (on back of V1 or on side of V1.5) for three seconds until the light(s) start to flash. Don't hold in the button too long or you will go into MAC Address filter mode!
When the lights start to flash, hit OK again on the handset. If the Handset says System Pin - enter 0000 and hit OK
Handset says registering Handset Please Wait, or similar.
The handset will say 'Handset registered' when successfully registered.
Two type 2.1 phones will work as intercom, but Hi-Ds will not work when calling another Hub user.

Warning: If you ever do a Full Reset of the handset, the contacts feature will disappear and you will have to find another V2 hub and start again.