topic Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub in My Router

Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 15:09:49 GMT

Hi All,

im just switching to John Lewis who are white-labelled Plusnet. Following the great advice of @baldrick and others, I am using my Bt home hub as my main router and the Plusnet 2704n as an access point to extend the signal into another area of the house.
1. What settings will I need to change when the switch to John Lewis happens?

2. John Lewis are providing a new 2704n router. Will I need to connect this initially on switching or could I just continue with my existing hardware setup?

thanks!

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

MisterW — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 15:45:34 GMT

@Prologica you should be able to continue with your existing setup. Just change the broadband username & password in the BT home hub. You should get the Johnlewis ones in an email

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 17:35:41 GMT

Thanks @MisterW, nice and easy!

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

RealAleMadrid — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 18:51:47 GMT

@Prologica I am not sure what syntax a John Lewis username and password have but it may not be compatible with the BT Home Hub which I believe is restricted to BT and Plusnet login parameters. ( possibly EE also ?) So you may have to use the John Lewis router.

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

dvorak — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 19:09:17 GMT

@MisterW wrote:

Just change the broadband username & password in the BT home hub. You should get the Johnlewis ones in an email

Aren't the BT hubs tied to certain domains? Certainly in some older hubs the '-' stops it working.

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

MisterW — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 20:11:07 GMT

Oops, hadn't thought about the locked to BT/plusnet realms🙄

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 20:23:38 GMT

I thought the fact that John Lewis uses the Plusnet network, and Plusnet can be used with the BT home hub, would mean it was compatible?

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 21:48:16 GMT

@MisterW @Baldrick1 @RealAleMadrid

If the BT Home Hub really can’t accept a hyphenated John Lewis broadband username and there’s no solution for that, presumably I could switch the routers around and use the 2704n as the main router and the HH as a WAP connected by AVPlug. I assume this would mean 2.4 GHz only throughout the house? (I currently have split bands on the HH but most usage is on 2.4). The main router is in a ‘remote’ part of the house where the master socket is. Do you think that the switch around will give reduced coverage in the house given the more basic 2704n? I also have a 2.4 TPLink range extender which isn’t currently in use if that might help? (I already have two pairs of AV plugs in play - one pair serve the TV, the other pair the WAP).

thanks

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Anoush — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 23:45:49 GMT

From a staff point of view, we can’t provide support with John Lewis Broadband on the Plusnet forums but to confirm though, our Hub One is locked down to BT & Plusnet usernames and doesn’t work with JLB, so I’d imagine the BT Homehub is the same depending on the model as the Hub One is based on the 5A.

I’m sure others will be able to help you with your other questions though

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Baldrick1 — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 07:52:41 GMT

@Prologica

Are yiu sure that JL are still giving oit the 2704N hubs? Even Plusnet now supply Hub Ones on ADSL contracts.

Presumably you are connecting your WAP over an Ethernet cable? I also assume from your initial post that what you call a Home Hub is a Smarthub?

If so I would try it but also note my attampts to use one as a WAP. This was nearly 4 years ago and since then there have been numerous firmware updates that might well have fixed the problem I had back then. I have not tried since. Set it up as per the first post, I went off half [-Censored-] suggesting double NATing in my attempted work around. Read the complete thread through to the point where I decided to give up on it. https://community.plus.net/t5/Everything-else/Configuring-a-BT-SmartHub-6A-as-an-Etherner-Switch-Router/m-p/1518128#M18806

If you have a go and this problem no longer exists then please advise us.

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 12:50:08 GMT

Hi @Baldrick1

yes it seems JL are still providing 2704ns. I’ve asked if I could get a better modem from them.

thanks for the steer to the WAP thread for the HH. I will give it a try once I have the JL kit. If they insist on a 2704n, I assume it might be possible to continue to use the PN 2704N as a WAP but without 5ghz and probably more limited range. I didn’t realise that hyphen would cause these issues!

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 12:53:00 GMT

….and yes it’s a Smarthub (HH6) I have

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Baldrick1 — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 12:58:03 GMT

@Prologica

Yes, the 2704n configured as a WAP will work when connected to any Ethernet LAN.

Apart from sounding posher, something I suspect you pay for as JL will want a cut, what is the attraction of going to JL?

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 13:26:49 GMT

@Baldrick1 PN hiked the price as I’m out of contract. I didn’t want to go fibre as I don’t truly need it and didn’t want the install on my just repainted house and we plan to move house next year. As it’s a Plusnet service I figured no change in performance, £14 a month cheaper, £40 gift card and £42 Cashback making it only around £13 a month with just a 12 month contract.

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 13:34:43 GMT

Is the Hub One a much better router in terms of range etc than the 2704n? Looks like Zytels can be picked up on EBay daily cheaply.

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Baldrick1 — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 13:42:13 GMT

@Prologica

Fair enough. However I'm guessing that you missed the trick of looking up the cheapest competitors deal for a 12 month contract then ringing the customer options team and haggling. It is unlikely to have saved you the cashback and gift card but should have eliminated the extra rental cost.

Are you sure that you will be getting both a gift card and cashback for a 12 month ADSL service? That's impressive!

However the wireless performance of a 2704N is dire. This review from 2015 (yes 2015, we're nearly in to 2022), says it all. Especially this bit:

The router's 2.4GHz performance was lacklustre at best. With our test laptop’s built-in 802.11n wireless adaptor we saw speeds of just 3.9Mbit/s at 10m, dropping to a positively crawling 2Mbit/s at 25m. These are some of the worst speeds we’ve seen from any router.

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/plusnet/1403635/plusnet-hub-zero-2704n-review

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 13:58:03 GMT

@Baldrick1

yes I should get both but as we all know the cashbacks not guaranteed till you get it.
re performance, I’m currently getting 18mbps to the HH6 router and 14 wirelessly from the 2704n WAP so unless the JL 2704N router really knocks that back, I should still get similar speed at the WAP I assume. The issue will be if the WAP signal carries far enough into other areas of the ground floor and if the router (upstairs) penetrates to all the bedrooms. I could I guess swap out the router, add another WAP or bring my range extender back into use, experimenting with what works best. Not forgetting retrying the HH6 as WAP if that now works. I’m not due to be switched till the 18th so will check this all then.

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 14:21:40 GMT

@Baldrick1
wow! That’s encouraging!… I just switched off wireless on the HH6 through the admin panel, then did speedtests in every room and consistently saw 14 mbps! Unless I’m missing something that means my 2704n WAP is reaching all parts of the house even without the wireless signal from the router! It is positioned pretty centrally on the ground floor though it does have some substantial chimney breasts to get through.

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Baldrick1 — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 14:38:29 GMT

@Prologica

If it works for you then that's great. It should be no different with the JL hub. For many of us 14Mbps would be totally unacceptable.

Re: Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

Prologica — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 14:53:00 GMT

I guess I haven’t yet been spoiled by high fibre speeds! My wife and I can both surf the web and stream catch up TV at the same time wot buffering, internet radio too. The only frustration I’ve ever had is on the odd occasion I’ve had to upload a large video file but part of that problem was browser related.