Use your spare home hub as a wireless dongle!

Your PC not got a wireless card? But you have a spare Home Hub?
Look no further.
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The basis of the above setup is a simple case of the Wireless repeater connection article.

The disadvantages are that the wireless can only be WEP encrypted (BT hub's default)


The significant requirements are:

Ethernet card and cable required for the PC to be enabled with wireless.

Dongle hub to have DHCP and firewall disabled.

Dongle hub to have its own fixed IP address within the master hub's private pool range.

Dongle hub is connected by WDS to the master.

Any ADSL router moem, noo just Home Hub, can be used as master if it supports WDS, but the IP settings on the dongle hub would need to be changed from the text below, to suit the master in use.

Detailed Procedure

For more details of troubleshooting etc see main article.

The process is much easier if you have two PCs, one connected to the master and one connected to the dongle hub being set up.
If you have only one PC you will have to disconnect, re-connect and reboot the PC to each hub in turn.
The master hub is connected to the PC by ethernet during setup, and is also connected to the ADSL filter and the BT Internet system.
The dongle hub is connected to a PC by ethernet during the setup and no other connections. I would strongly recommend against trying to set up any hub wirelessly as it causes major headaches. Always use Ethernet cable to set up initially.

Reset all hubs to start

If you have many complex settings already in the master hub you may not want to do this, but some settings may prevent repeating successfully. so I recommend starting from a clean slate by doing a "hard reset".
On the original V1 hub do this by holding in the wireless association button on the back for 15 seconds or so, until all lights come on and a click is heard, then release the button and wait for the lights to come back as they were (about 5 minutes)

On the V1.5 hubs press in the recessed Reset button for 2-3 seconds and wait for the lights tp come back on steady as they were (about 5 minutes).

On the master hub which is connected to a PC by ethernet cable and connected to the ADSL wait for the Broadband, Internet and Data lights to come back on steady. The phone light will only come back if you have Broadband Voice and also you reactivate it at www.bt.com/bbv.
On the dongle hub which is connected to a PC by ethernet but no ADSL connection wait for the data light to come back steady.
In either hub of either type the wireless light may also come back.

You may have to reboot the PC to regain access to the hub after a reset. N.B. Despite some web postings, NEVER turn off the power to the hub during a reset, or indeed at any time whilst the lights are flashing!

Set up Master hub

Connect a PC to the Master hub by ethernet cable. (if necessary disable wireless on PC).
Go to http://192.168.1.254 to get into hub manager home page.
With firmware 6.2.6.E onwards you will be presented by a serial number screen
Click on “advanced”, then “Continue to Advanced”
User Name is admin and Password is whatever you changed it to after the serial number window. If you are on 6.2.2.6 the password will be admin.
In Configuration/.wireless/ Configure
Change the SSID from BTHomeHub-xxxx to masterhub
Set wireless channel to manual then when the table appears select channel 6 (for example)
hit "apply"
in Configuration/.wireless/Security
change WEP Encryption Key to 5544332211 (for example)
hit "apply"

If you have older firmware like 6.2.2.6, go to System
In Admin Access change admin password to your own password.
You will then be asked for your name and new password - enter these to continue. This will help protect your hub from neighbourhood hackers.

Set up Dongle Hub

Connect to the dongle hub by ethernet (if necessary disable wireless on PC you are using for the setup)
Go to http://192.168.1.254 to get into hub manager. You may get a screen saying that the hub is not connected to the internet. Do NOT hit the "Try Again" button, but re-enter the IP address, or refresh the browser, to get the hub's Home Page.
Click on “advanced”, then “Continue to Advanced”
Again if on 6.2.6.E or later you will be asked for serial number, and change to a new password.

In Configuration/Wireless/ Configure change SSID from BTHomeHub-xxxx to dongle-hub and Set wireless to manual, then when the table appears select channel 6 (same as master hub), then hit "apply"
In Configuration/.Wireless/Security change WEP Encryption key to 5544332211 (i.e. the same as the master hub's key) and hit “apply”

In Firewall, turn off the firewall by selecting "Disable" radio button, and hit “next”

We now need to set a fixed IP address in the dongle hub within the range of the master hub's private IP address pool.

Click on Configuration/.IP addresses
Uncheck DHCP box, and hit "Apply"
You will see two blank boxes for adding IP addresses.
Type 192.168.1.75 in the first box and 255.255.255.0 in the next box and hit “Add”

Now we need to access the dongle hub using its new IP address.
Enter http://192.168.1.75 in the browser address bar and hit enter or click Go
You may get a screen saying that the hub is not connected to the internet. Do NOT hit the "Try Again" button, but re-enter http://192.168.1.75 to get the dongle hub's Home Page.
Now click on “advanced”, then “Continue to Advanced”
User Name is admin and Password is whatever you changed it to.
Go to IP Addresses.
You will now have a stack of 4 static IP addresses with the new one you just added at the bottom of the stack.
Delete the top 3 working from the top deleting 192.168.1.254 last of all.
You will get a warning that you will lose connectivity - hit “OK” (You will not lose connectivity because you are using the new IP address!)
In Configuration/.wireless/repeater section scan for wireless access points. (OK the warning message about losing connectivity). Wait a few minutes for it to scan.
In the list tick the masterhub then hit "apply"

Last step

Reconnect PC to Master hub
Go to http://192.168.1.254 to get into hub manager
Click on “advanced”, then “Continue to Advanced”
User Name is admin and Password is your new password.
in Configuration/.wireless/repeater section scan for wireless access points.(OK the warning message)
In the list tick dongle-hub then hit "apply"

Now start using it!

Disconnect, reonnect and Reboot the PCs you wish to be connected to the master or the dongle.
The master hub will issue the IP address to your PC directly or via the dongle hub.
Use http://192.168.1.75 to get into dongle hub manager if required
use http://192.168.1.254 to get into master hub manager if required

Notes

You can connect to any hub, either wirelessly or by cable as convenient, and where the strongest signal can be found.
You can use any wireless channel so long as all hubs are on the same channel. However some channels may not repeat properly depending on the hub and the firmware.
You can use any SSIDs and encryption key but encryption method must use WEP. WPA will not work in a repeater situation. There are other ways to stealth your network. The WEP encryption keys MUST be the same on all hubs.

Using two home hubs may mean that each has 192.168.1.253 assigned to their USB-A socket and you may not be able to successfully mount a drive on the USB-A without more work, because the PC may be confused as to which is which.

I suggest using different admin passwords as above, as it's easy to lose track of which hub you are logged into.
If you have Firefox or similar,I suggest bookmarking the two hub addresses on the Bookmarks Toolbar.
Advanced: If you need to connect directly to the non networked dongle hub after switching off DHCP you may have to set a fixed IP on the PC, but if connecting to the dongle hub as networked above the master should issue an IP address to the PC as normal.


Don't ask me - experiment!