Will this work - BT Business Hub 2701 HGV-C

[#1]

A friend had offered me this router, brand new.  I wondered if this router would work on Plus Net as it may stay up longer than my Thompson one as that seems to reboot itself every few days or it stops responding and I have to reboot it.

[#2]

It should do, with a bit of fiddling. See here http://bt2700hgv.tripod.com/ir1002700HGV.htm for all things 2700.
I've used a 2700HGV for a few years now, both at home and in the office and they are pretty good. You do see occasional power supply failures but other than that they are pretty reliable and run nice and cool ( unlike some other routers! ).
They don't have Wireless N though, unless the 2701 is vastly different to the 2700.

[#3]

Thanks for that.  I am not bothered about wireless N so It should be OK.
Hopefully I will be able to set it up so that I can do remote access to the router if ever I need to change settings and I am at work.  I know the Thompson does but not all routers allow it.

[#4]

'fraid not. the 2700 doesn't have a remote access facility.

[#5]

Is there a difference between teh 2700 and teh 2701?  I have just been looking at the manual and on page 50 it mentions remote management on page 50 for the advanced firewall settings.
http://support.2wire.com/view/765/2701HG_user_guide.pdf
Fingers crossed it does offer me this feature 

[#6]

There's a bit of a work-around for remote access to routers not offering that feature (though it has certain limitations), simply install something like 'log me in': https://secure.logmein.com/UK/ on a PC or laptop running on your home network and use that remotely to access the router  (great for checking linestats etc. but obviously 'fails' if you want to remotely reboot the router (you can generally reconnect some time after a reboot though)).  There are plenty of other remote access softwares available if you don't like Log Me In (or Windows).

[#7]

Quote

Is there a difference between teh 2700 and teh 2701?  I have just been looking at the manual and on page 50 it mentions remote management on page 50 for the advanced firewall settings.

The hardware is slightly different but AFAIK the firmware is the same, albeit the 2701s run v6.x.x.x.
As to the Remote Management, checking the box for this feature, makes the 2700HGV listen on TCP port 50001 which prompts for a password controlled via an SSL session (https://router-public-ip:50001). This is designed to allows ISP's to connect and remotely manage the router and as such AFAIK the password required is not in the public domain.

[#8]

Thanks, that makes it all the more interesting.  I wonder how hard it will be for me to crack that password   I love to sit and read through other peoples code and firmware is no different 

[#9]

Good luck there Brabus, there used to be a fairly active group on this thread http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/t22658-32.html? who tried various hacks to get into the 2700.
Bear in mind these routers were not designed to be sold to the general public, and never were. They are all customised by 2wire for the ISP who supplies them. Hence the name BT Business Hub. TBH they are good solid routers but are pretty well locked down.
A couple of things to be aware of:-
The earlier f/w v 5.x.x.x on the 2700 didn't have uPnp facilities and although I've not got a v6 myself I'm pretty sure that doesn't either.
If you need to do any Port forwarding on the 2700 it is VERY different to most routers. Other routers you have to allocate a static IP to the device to which you wish to forward, not the 2700, it lists the devices it can see ( by name or MAC address ) and you forward ports to the device. It's actually much simpler but to anyone coming from another router its alien.

[#10]

I had been reading the port forwarding section and you are right it does make more sense.