Using a 2nd Plusnet Hub1 as a Wireless Access point

[#1]

You need one device to be a dhcp server and decide what devices on your network get what ip addresses.

If you have no server or 2 servers then devices will either get no address or conflicts where 2devices get the same lp address and won't work. Most people set the gateway device (the one the phone line goes to) as the dhcp server to keep it simple and everything to keep working if the slave ever gets dropped from the network. Hope that helps.

[#2]

Thanks for these instructions they worked fine first time for me and it does now plug a hole in the wifi coverage in my house. But the Hub 1 Access Point is in a bedroom and the lights aren't exactly subdued.  Is there anyway of switching them off?? Or is it case of sticking something over them to reduce the brightness?

Thanks

[#3]

Hi, This has worked well for me and I have an old Sky router set-up as the slave.

I have an issue though, as I have tried to add another old Sky router to serve my garden office and it seems to cause issues with browsing the internet. The first Sky router is on 192.168.1.10 the second on 192.168.1.15 but the second seems to have some sort of conflict when it is switched on (DNS or IP?). I have now unplugged it and browsing via the main Plusnet Hub One is fine again.

Does anyone know what the cause could be, or if I should be using a different IP address for the second router?

Thanks,

T23

[#4]

Hi I suspect your router has already allocated 15 to something else. I used to have that issue with a printer which I’d allocated a static IP address, every time I switched the printer on it caused chaos until I changed it to get IP by DHCP and reserved the IP address on the router. Also it’s worthwhile switching EVERYTHING off including the router and then switching it on again one by one starting with the router. 

I’ve now set up everything on my network to get its IP address by DHCP and used the router to reserve IP addresses where needed - it seems to make it less prone to problems.

Hope this helps

David

[#5]

Thank-you for this useful guide, it ha worked very well for using 192.168.1.10 for a wireless access point to a our bedroom. I now have tried adding another old router to our garden office, giving it 192.168.1.15, however this is causing connection issues to the whole network now and so I have turned the router off.

I can't see that the Plusnet Hub One is using 192.168.1.15 for any other device, yet if I power on the second old router, it definitely causes issues, particularly meaning that websites do not load or a DNS error is reported, before the page eventually loads. Can you advise how to fix this, or if there is another IP address I should try?

Thanks,

T23

[#6]

Thanks David for your reply. I can't see that the router has allocated that IP to a device, but perhaps it is and I just can't see it. I have just emailed the person who wrote the original guide, so will see if they can offer any advice. I will try some other IP addresses later today and see if that works, but it seems like pot luck!

As far as I understand it, DHCP needs to be turned off on the old router in order to work.

Best regards,

T23

[#7]

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@tekton23 wrote:

Thank-you for this useful guide, it ha worked very well for using 192.168.1.10 for a wireless access point to a our bedroom. I now have tried adding another old router to our garden office, giving it 192.168.1.15, however this is causing connection issues to the whole network now and so I have turned the router off.

I can't see that the Plusnet Hub One is using 192.168.1.15 for any other device, yet if I power on the second old router, it definitely causes issues, particularly meaning that websites do not load or a DNS error is reported, before the page eventually loads. Can you advise how to fix this, or if there is another IP address I should try?

Thanks,

T23

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Only one router on a network should be able to dish out IP's and it should not be able to dish out IP's allocated to another router, or a device using a fixed IP. Each router should have its IP preset - You can limit the range of IP's which are able to be dished out, so set this to exclude a range used for equipment's fixed IP's. 

I have several printers and three routers, all using fixed IP's which my main router excludes from those able to be dished out, plus several devices requesting IP's when they are powered up. All works well. It becomes a mess, when two devices try to use the same IP, or two devices try to dish out IP's. 

[#8]

things  to check on the latest router you are adding.

The gateway is set as the ip of router connected to the phone line.

The dhcp server is set as the ip of the router you have decided is handling that job. only 1 dhcp server in the network

The dns servers are set to ones that work or are the gateway router.

The static ip address is outside the range given out by the dhcp server just in case.

Some routers have the ability to have a usb storage device connected as a nas and they reserve an ip address for that.

You could have a conflict  because of that. I would pick another ip and see if that cures it if You have checked everything else is correct. 

[#9]

This is excelent, thank you. However, when I configured my Hub 1 as directed, although it works perfectly, I see an orange light and red flashing broadband light on the router. I assume the router does not know that the modem has been bypassed so is indicating these error lights. My question is; can I persuade it to show steady blue light to show all is working correctly? Or do I need to invest in some masking tape?

[#10]

You'll need the masking tape unfortunately.

[#11]

Thanks Browni, I’m on my way to Wilco’s...  🙂

[#12]

Hi Mate,

Your example is probably great, I am probably just dumb with this:

main router is 192.168.1.254 then the others would all be 192.168.1.* --- does this have to be below 254 Ie: 253 or 252?

also can you give me an example of what is outside DHCP.

Thanks. 

[#13]

@dudz

Welcome to the forum. No you cannot go above 254. As 254 is used for your router you can't use that either. In your router advanced settings you should have a page that looks a bit like this extract from my BT Business Smarthub:

In this example 192.168.1.1 up t0 192.168.1.63 can be allocated to fixed IP addresses. 192.168.1.64 up to 192.168.1.253 is the range of addresses handed out by DHCP. Ideally you should not this end of the range for the fixed IP address allocated to the router configured as an access point. However I have never ended up with a conflict after doing so with the odd device but maybe that's just luck.

[#14]

Thanks mate, Before your response I set it up with IP within subnet mask and it worked. Only thing is if the access point router is switched off at mains than it does not work until primary router is also re-started. But your response is clear now, I know what to do. Again, thanks

[#15]

For Plusnet Hub One and Home Hub 5A, it is normal for the broadband LED to be Red in colour, and Power/status LED to be Orange when there is no broadband connection.   The normally blue Wireless LED stays OFF too even though there is a wifi signal broadcasting from the hub.

If the red/orange lights bother you and you don't fancy sticking bits of tape over the front of the hub, a more drastic option is to open the hub and carefully cut a few tracks on the circuit board to turn off the lights permanently.

Warning: This will invalidate any remainder of the limited guarantee that comes with the Plusnet Hub One router.   

Perform these modifications at your own risk !!

To open the hub, some instructions can be found in this guide:

https://www.instructables.com/id/BT-HomeHub-5A-Router-UART-Access-Hack/

Tri-colour LEDs are fitted to the circuit board.

To permanently turn off the annoying flashing Red light on the Broadband LED, use a fine craft knife to cut and scrape away the track shown below.

The Power/Status LED is Orange and is made from mixing Red and Green colours.

I've only gone as far as turning off the Red LED by cutting the track as shown below.  This leaves a shimmering Green light to give me an indication there is power to the hub (Green = 'OK').  If you wish to kill the green LED too, then you would need to cut the appropriate track.

Once the circuit board tracks have been cut, it will be very difficult to reinstate normal operation of the LEDs without fine soldering iron etc.