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  • [OT] BT Smart Hub

    From TimH@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jun 1 18:57:11 2022
    I know I know, ridiculously OT this, but there are some clued-up networking people here... I've intercepted a BT Smart Hub (type A, if that's relevant) on its way to the tip, and wondered if there's any way to flash the BT-ness out
    of it, or whether it'll work anyway on a non-BT connection?

    --
    TimH
    pull tooth to reply by email

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  • From Theo@21:1/5 to TimH on Wed Jun 1 21:10:50 2022
    TimH <thnews@poboxmolar.com.invalid> wrote:
    I know I know, ridiculously OT this, but there are some clued-up
    networking people here... I've intercepted a BT Smart Hub (type A, if
    that's relevant) on its way to the tip, and wondered if there's any way to flash the BT-ness out of it, or whether it'll work anyway on a non-BT connection?

    Otherwise known as a Homehub 6A.

    You can flash OpenWRT (it's a Broadcom BCM63137 chip, similar to many other routers), but there are no drivers for the DSL or the wifi. Which makes it
    not very useful.

    DD-WRT has an arrangement with Broadcom that gets better access to drivers,
    but I haven't seen anyone has ported it to the HH6.

    The Homehub 5A is much better supported with OpenWRT. The 6B is a Lantiq
    chip which is better than the 6A, but seems nobody has done a port[1].

    There may be a way to 'jailbreak' it to run on another ISP without
    reflashing, but I haven't looked for one.

    Theo

    [1] https://forum.openwrt.org/t/bt-smart-hub-home-hub-6-type-b/35490/21

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  • From David Kennedy@21:1/5 to TimH on Thu Jun 2 08:36:23 2022
    On 01/06/2022 19:57, TimH wrote:
    I know I know, ridiculously OT this, but there are some clued-up networking people here... I've intercepted a BT Smart Hub (type A, if that's relevant) on
    its way to the tip, and wondered if there's any way to flash the BT-ness out of it, or whether it'll work anyway on a non-BT connection?

    TBH I'd put it back in the rubbish. It's fairly dated and AFAIK there's no way to flash it. The performance isn't great either.

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  • From Graeme Wall@21:1/5 to David Kennedy on Thu Jun 2 09:36:01 2022
    On 02/06/2022 08:36, David Kennedy wrote:
    On 01/06/2022 19:57, TimH wrote:
    I know I know, ridiculously OT this, but there are some clued-up
    networking
    people here... I've intercepted a BT Smart Hub (type A, if that's
    relevant) on
    its way to the tip, and wondered if there's any way to flash the
    BT-ness out
    of it, or whether it'll work anyway on a non-BT connection?

    TBH I'd put it back in the rubbish. It's fairly dated and AFAIK there's
    no way to flash it. The performance isn't great either.

    At least put it in the electrical recycling.

    --
    Graeme Wall
    This account not read.

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  • From TimH@21:1/5 to TimH on Thu Jun 2 10:40:33 2022
    On 1 Jun 2022 at 7:57:11 pm BST, "TimH" <thnews@poboxmolar.com.invalid> wrote:

    I know I know, ridiculously OT this, but there are some clued-up networking people here... I've intercepted a BT Smart Hub (type A, if that's relevant) on
    its way to the tip, and wondered if there's any way to flash the BT-ness out of it, or whether it'll work anyway on a non-BT connection?

    Thanks for the helpful replies. Shame about the limitations on OpenWRT drivers - you had my hopes up there Theo.

    Looks like it's resuming its journey to electronic heaven then - but
    definitely in the electrical recycling bin!

    Oh - for anyone else wondering: apparently it'll work unmodified with any Openreach wholesale connection, e.g. Plusnet.
    --
    TimH
    pull tooth to reply by email

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  • From Andy Hewitt@21:1/5 to TimH on Thu Jun 2 14:56:04 2022
    On 02/06/2022 11:40, TimH wrote:
    On 1 Jun 2022 at 7:57:11 pm BST, "TimH" <thnews@poboxmolar.com.invalid> wrote:

    I know I know, ridiculously OT this, but there are some clued-up networking >> people here... I've intercepted a BT Smart Hub (type A, if that's relevant) on
    its way to the tip, and wondered if there's any way to flash the BT-ness out >> of it, or whether it'll work anyway on a non-BT connection?

    Thanks for the helpful replies. Shame about the limitations on OpenWRT drivers
    - you had my hopes up there Theo.

    Looks like it's resuming its journey to electronic heaven then - but definitely in the electrical recycling bin!

    Oh - for anyone else wondering: apparently it'll work unmodified with any Openreach wholesale connection, e.g. Plusnet.

    A lot of Plusnet users buy the BT Hubs as they can be put into Bridge
    mode (I *think* it applies to all of the BT Hubs). The Plusnet Hub One
    is a rebadged BT Smart Hub 6 I believe, but is on different firmware,
    and can't be put into Bridge mode.

    I bought a BT Home Smart Hub Enterprise version for this purpose (simply because it's much easier to switch these into Bridge mode - just a
    button to click, where the domestic version is a little fiddlier).

    I then set my Mercusys Halo S12 (made by TP-Link) Mesh boxes as the
    router (there was no way to avoid a double-NAT setup with the Plusnet Hub).

    Works a treat here, I have stable Internet at 70Mbps download, with
    867Mbps WiFi at my iMac on the third of the Mesh boxes.

    --
    Andy H

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  • From David Kennedy@21:1/5 to Graeme Wall on Thu Jun 2 18:49:40 2022
    On 02/06/2022 09:36, Graeme Wall wrote:
    On 02/06/2022 08:36, David Kennedy wrote:
    On 01/06/2022 19:57, TimH wrote:
    I know I know, ridiculously OT this, but there are some clued-up networking >>> people here... I've intercepted a BT Smart Hub (type A, if that's relevant) on
    its way to the tip, and wondered if there's any way to flash the BT-ness out
    of it, or whether it'll work anyway on a non-BT connection?

    TBH I'd put it back in the rubbish. It's fairly dated and AFAIK there's no >> way to flash it. The performance isn't great either.

    At least put it in the electrical recycling.


    ;-)

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  • From Theo@21:1/5 to David Kennedy on Sat Jun 4 10:38:03 2022
    David Kennedy <davidkennedygm@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 01/06/2022 19:57, TimH wrote:
    I know I know, ridiculously OT this, but there are some clued-up networking people here... I've intercepted a BT Smart Hub (type A, if that's relevant) on
    its way to the tip, and wondered if there's any way to flash the BT-ness out
    of it, or whether it'll work anyway on a non-BT connection?

    TBH I'd put it back in the rubbish. It's fairly dated and AFAIK there's no way
    to flash it. The performance isn't great either.

    It's actually a pretty respectable router: the wifi (4x4 802.11ac aka Wifi
    5) is decent and there's a modern CPU on it (roughly budget mobile phone
    level of performance, rather than some 300MHz thing out of the 90s). If
    there was a decent open source distro for it it would be great for DIY
    routers, like the older Homehub 5a is. It's just sad that Broadcom are
    hostile to open source.

    Theo

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  • From TimH@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 5 15:54:10 2022
    On 4 Jun 2022 at 10:38:03 am BST, "Theo" <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

    It's actually a pretty respectable router: the wifi (4x4 802.11ac aka Wifi
    5) is decent and there's a modern CPU on it (roughly budget mobile phone level of performance, rather than some 300MHz thing out of the 90s). If there was a decent open source distro for it it would be great for DIY routers, like the older Homehub 5a is. It's just sad that Broadcom are hostile to open source.

    Yep. They could save a lot of e-waste...
    --
    TimH
    pull tooth to reply by email

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