0BT Home Hub 5 as a modem, or best modem to connect to BT Infinity in the UK
Hi,
I am trying to replace my BT Home Hub 5 with a new Eero Mesh. When I bought the Eero I didn't realize it was just a WiFi router and doesn't include a modem. I have tried to configure my BT Home Hub 5 as a modem by turning off it's WiFi and just connecting the Eero to the Ethernet port.
I found devices were dropping off the Eero network and disappearing, and after lots of investigation I discovered it's is because the BT Home Hub has DHCP enabled and is still doing NAT, so the BT Hub sometimes grabs devices using it's own DHCP and then Eero can't see them any more on its network.
I have tried turning off DHCP on my BT Home Hub, but the hub cannot work purely as a modem / bridge, so I lose internet connection and nothing works.
Does anyone know how to configure the BT Home Hub 5 as a modem/bridge for use with Eero? Has anyone got it working by turning off DHCP on the BT Home Hub?
If that's not possible what modems are people using with Eero to connect to BT in the UK? I do not have an Openreach modem, just a router. Has anyone got any recommendations for modems that work with BT Infinity 2?
Thanks in advance
Simon
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I have a TP link VR2800 as my modem, and I'm about to replace the wiress part with the eero mesh.
So I think I will have the same topology as you. I assume that you have
BT Wifi completely disabled
BT WAN connected to VDSL
leave the BT DHCP on
plug the eero into one of the LAN connections on the BT hub
plug _nothing_ else into the BT hub
run the eero with bridging mode switched off
connect all your devices either
- wireless to eero
- wired to eero
I assume that all devices have IPs that came from the DHCP server in the eero?
When the devices dropped off the eero network, how were they acquiring their network connect? i.e. eero wired, eero wireless or _something else_? -
Hi,
All your assumptions are correct. I now have the BT Homehub working as a modem by switching off WiFi and only plugging in the Eero. DHCP is still enabled on the BT Homehub but it only provides the IP address for the Eero. The Eero DHCP server provides the IP addresses of all other devices, wired and wifi connected.This configuration has been working great for 2 months.
When I had the problem I was plugging each Eero in to a separate port on the BT Homehub. The problem was because the BT DHCP service was grabbing some devices and allocating IP address, which meant the Eero lost track of them.
I have attached my current network design which has worked without issue for 2 months. I hope this helps...
Simon
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ok great thanks for confirming.
I suspect your problem with having multiple eeros plugged separately into the BT router was in fact that the eero networks were sort of separated, each with its own DHCP server, and devices from one eero network might have struggled to see each other. or something like that.
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For the benefit of anyone with a similar query. There are several solutions you can utilise.
- The simplest solution in most cases is to turn off the WiFi in the ISP provided router. Even though routers provided by ISPs often have locked down and semi-crippled feature sets this is usually possible.
- Acquire an OpenReach modem (there are also a few 3rd party ones). At the beginning of the rollout of BT Infinity it was standard that an Openreach VDSL modem was used along side an Ethernet router as routers with built-in VDSL modems did not exist. This approach can still be used. See https://edspencer.me.uk/posts/2015-01-18-using-your-own-router-with-bt-infinity/
- Get your own router (with built-in VDSL modem) but no built-in WiFi, I use a Draytek Vigor 2860. This being your own router will not be semi-crippled like an ISP provided one. As an example it includes a proper VPN server and fully supports IPv6 including using via tunnels if your ISP is one of the many that still does not provide an IPv6 connection. These days thankfully most ISPs will let you use your own router.
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Hi jelockwood
I am having similar problems with my eero setup as explained above. Can you explain how your proposed solution can work with BT as it requires PPPoE which eero does not support. So the Openreach modem cannot work in this setup without an additional router?
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Andyp28
- If you turn the WiFi off on the BT HomeHub it would still act as both the router and modem, you would merely use the Eero in bridging mode for WiFi and leave everything else to the BT HomeHub.
- It looks like the OpenReach modem does not do PPPoE itself and you have indicated that Eero do not do so either. (I am used to the fact that Apple's old AirPort devices did.) So skip this or you would have to get another router which supports PPPoE - see below.
- If you get your own router with built-in VDSL modem like the Draytek Vigor 2860 then the Draytek would be your modem, router and DHCP server. You would configure the Eero to run in bridging mode. It is possible if desired to configure the Draytek to only do the modem side of things and PPPoE and then again the Eero would do the NAT and DHCP.
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Hello, did this resolve your issue? I am moving to a new home where BT is my only option and I currently have eero on a Virgin connection.
what are the switches in your picture of your setup?
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Meerkat23
Hi, yes it did fix the problem. Everything was very unstable until I changed it to the above configuration. It has been brilliant since with no major problems.
The switch are just simple low energy dumb network switches. The ones I bought are no longer in production, but you can use something like this from Amazon:
TP-Link LS108G 8-Port Desktop/Wallmount Gigabit Ethernet Switch/Hub
I hope this helps, and good luck!!
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Simon are the switches necessary? I currently have the eero in use without them.
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Meerkat23
no, you don’t need the switches. I have lots of devices so I prefer to hardwire them to the eero rather than putting everything on wifi but you don’t need them if you’re happy to just use Wi-fi.
the important thing is to turn off Wi-fi on your BT router and don’t plug anything in to it other than the eero. If you do those two things you should be fine...
I hope this helps!!
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Simon Yeah that helps loads, thank you!
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