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Forum Discussion
Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2
Hi. I recently got connected on BT's fibre to the premises. I had told them I wanted to continue using my recently acquired Netgear router, and right now that's what's in place. However, we cannot use our landline because BT have trashed our PSTN copper connection and only offer their Digital Voice phone which can only function through the BT Smarthub. In the BT forum I found someone who has worked around this, as in the notes below. (The details stretch my knowledge somewhat.) I would very much like to replicate what he has done with his Netduma router with my R7000. So I am hoping someone can review these notes, tell me they understand it all, and that I should be able to replicate the configuration using my R7000. I had intended to ask for help from Netgear but it's been too long since I bought the Nighthawk to qualify for the free support.
So this is what the other guy said.
"On the Smart hub disable, DHCP, Firewall, UPNP, Wifi and smart setup (everything disabled) - only connect the digital voice phone first.
Connect the Netduma to the Ethernet Port1 of the Smart Hub, then to the WAN of the Netduma. Create a static IP on the WAN setup in the Netduma, i.e 192.168.1.1, Gateway 192.168.1.254 and both DNS as 192.168.1.254 and then add that static IP to the Smart Hub 2 (192.168.1.1) place this in DMZ and also add a port fowarding Rule 1:65535 (BOTH) TCP and UDP to the static IP of the Netduma (192.168.1.1).
My Netduma then manages DHCP under 192.168.88.1
Save
Turn everything off
Turn on the Smart Hub 2 let it connect, check the phone is connected, then boot up the Netduma, this should then connect and allow internet access.
Any 3rd Party router should work so long as you can create a static WAN ip on that router, and then add this to the smart hub 2.
My setup has been like this for months and is working faultlessly."
So folks, given that I'm not expert on ports etc etc but can follow instructions, can I do this with the R7000? I really don't want to ditch the R7000 and become totally reliant on BT's hardware.
If I can do this I will put a massive plug for the Netgear Community in the BT Forum!!
Cheers.
14 Replies
Have BT installed a box like the one in the following link?:
If not, just what have they installed?
Your R7000, is it a model with built in modem? My R7000 is the AC1900 model, so I have to use a separate modem, in my case, a Draytek Vigor 130k.
I myself am in the UK but I'm a Plusnet customer and I'm on FTTC, so not really able to help much.
Bear in mind too, this appears to be very much a US centric forum. Hopefully though, someone might have enough knowledge to help you out.
As for the landline, do you really need to have the landline working as an actual go to telephony option? I appreciate we all have different needs, but I haven't used an actual plug in telephone thingy for years lol! I thought desktop telephones had died a quiet death!
Good luck with finding a solution though. I look forward to seeing if you can sort it out.
Portwey84 Hello, I was also a Plusnet customer, but the nearest cabinet was two miles away, the copper connection up to here is very poor so FTTC would have been a waste of time, and Plusnet didn't offer FTTC on that cabinet anyway. So we had to move to BT's fibre, which came to the post outside the house in September. When I bought the R7000 AC1900 earlier in the year I also bought a Draytek Vigor 130 to provide the modem connection to the copper, hoping to get better performance than with our ancient Netgear RangeMax. It worked fine except when it got windy... Now I have fibre coming in through the wall, connected into the OPTIC on the ONT which you gave the link for, and my R7000 plugs into PORT on the ONT. With the R7000 configured with the BT connection details I must say it's worked flawlessly since installation.
We didn't use the landline much, but the continuity was promised as part of the BT package, and I felt cheesed off that it hadn't happened. And it's just another option. The installation guy kindly connected the copper cable that's integrated with the fibre to our old master socket, but they pulled the PSTN plug at the exchange.
I'll be sure to let you know if we get it all working, landline included.
Cheers for the feedback. I wish I had FTTP, but sadly, it'll never happen on our estate.
Still, unlike it seems so many that complain about the R7000 AC1900 on this forum, it's so far been an excellent bit of kit. I still have a BT Homehub 6 sat in a box and the plan is not to use it again unless in an emergency, such as the R7000 going Tango Uniform.
As for the landline, well it's there, but I'd have to go out and buy one of those 20th Century devices to plug into the box. Can you still buy a landline telephone in the shops? :smileylol: