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Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2

ColBartram
Aspirant

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.

Model: R7000|AC1900 Smart WIFI Router
Message 1 of 15
Portwey84
Virtuoso

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2

Have BT installed a box like the one in the following link?:

 

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2019/09/a-look-at-openreachs-compact-fttp-broadband-ont-and-mi...

 

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.

Message 2 of 15
ColBartram
Aspirant

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2

@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.

Message 3 of 15
Portwey84
Virtuoso

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2

@ColBartram 

 

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? Smiley LOL

Model: R7000|AC1900 Smart WIFI Router
Message 4 of 15
ColBartram
Aspirant

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2

@Portwey84 

Dunno what's in the shops. Our old BT phone is still sitting here, all powered up but nobody's at home. Let me know if you can't find anything at your local PCWorld. I didn't know the R7000 had complaints against it. I think I got a good price on it as it was end of line stock. Don't recall any bad reviews. What do folks complain about?

Message 5 of 15
Portwey84
Virtuoso

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2


@ColBartram wrote:

@Portwey84 

Dunno what's in the shops. Our old BT phone is still sitting here, all powered up but nobody's at home. Let me know if you can't find anything at your local PCWorld. I didn't know the R7000 had complaints against it. I think I got a good price on it as it was end of line stock. Don't recall any bad reviews. What do folks complain about?


Lol! You absolutely need to sit down and waste an entire day of your life reading through repeat thread after repeat thread about firmware upgrades that don't work, wi-fi dropping out, auto update not working etc etc. I've personally never had a single firmware issue nor have I lost wi-fi.

 

I too bought my unit from PCWorld. I paid £107 for it as far as I remember.

 

I won't ever be buying a telephone handset, we have absolutely no use for the landline. A landline as your are undoubtedly aware, is just for scammers and spammers to ring people while they're watching Corrie. I've got a mobile phone mast just half a mile away from me, direct line of sight, no issues with mobile reception.

Message 6 of 15

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2


@ColBartram wrote:

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.

 


Chase BT.

 

You could throw that one at its own user commmunity.

 

Welcome to BT’s official support community.

 

I haven't used it in a while, but the people there are helpful and (mostly) friendly. They even have ways if escalating things up to BT.

 

The trouble is that Openreach and BT are flying apart at the speed of light and seem determined to build a massive firewall between the businesses.

Message 7 of 15
ColBartram
Aspirant

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2

@Portwey84 

Hi - do you know where the Gateway setting can be changed in the R7000 admin UI?  The manual says, regarding setting up with a fixed IP, 

Use Static IP Address. Enter the IP address, IP subnet mask, and the gateway IP
address that your ISP assigned. The gateway is the ISP router to which your router
connects.

I read somewhere else that the R7000 doesn't let you define the Gateway IP, but I hope that's not the case.

 

Cheers

Message 8 of 15

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2


@ColBartram wrote:

@Portwey84 

Hi - do you know where the Gateway setting can be changed in the R7000 admin UI? 

What "gateway setting" are you after?

 

The "gateway" word is usually reserved for modem/routers that support a phone. But people use it in various ways. (BT doesn't supply "gateways" in that sense.) Hence my question.

 

Did you check the manual?

 

Search "gateway". Read the bit Set Up the Router with an Existing Router or Gateway.

Visit the support pages:

Support | NETGEAR

Feed in your model number and check the documentation for your hardware.

Depending on what you want the R7000 to do, AP mode would be the easiest way to use it with an existing router.

 

Message 9 of 15
ColBartram
Aspirant

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2

@michaelkenward

 

Hi Michael

The idea is that the BT SH2 has to plug into the ONT because it has to be first in line to disentangle and process the data for BT's Digital Voice phone - which is now the only way I can use the landline number. Everything else on the SH2 is disabled - DHCP etc - and a port forwarding rule for 1:65355 sends everything to the R7000 which is given a fixed IP at 192.168.1.1, defined in the SH2's DMZ. I think I've found all the settings in the SH2.

 

The R7000 then continues to do everything else, provide the WiFi and manage DHCP for our devices. The SH2 takes ...1.254 for itself, and my (limited...) understanding is that the R7000 needs to know that access to the internet is via a 'gateway' at ...1.254

 

Hope that makes sense.

Message 10 of 15
ColBartram
Aspirant

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2

@michaelkenward 

 

Sorry - forgot to say - looked at the section of the R7000 manual concerning converting to a fixed IP, and  there it says that Gateway AND subnet mask settings are required.  Hope that's not just a cut and paste from the docs for another product.

I will of course go take a look at the other section you refer to, but I don't want to relegate the R7000 to just being an access point.

I know I'm not being pragmatic about this. The simplest approach would be to use  the SH2 for everything and bin the R7000, but  that sticks in my throat.

 

 

Message 11 of 15
ColBartram
Aspirant

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2

@michaelkenward 

Hi again

 

I've gone through the Contents of the R7000 AC1900 manual and haven't found

"Set Up the Router with an Existing Router or Gateway".  Maybe it's not been indexed. Is there any chance of pointing me to a page number?

Thanks michael.

Message 12 of 15

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2


@ColBartram wrote:

@michaelkenward 

 

Is there any chance of pointing me to a page number?

 


Page 134 in my copy.

 

I found by searching on "gateway".

 

There's a good chance that Netgear has changed the manual. Life's too short to make regular checks for updates.

 

The easiest option is AP mode.

 

I still think that the BT forum is the best place to get help with what is essentially a problem with BT hardware.

 

 

 

Message 13 of 15
ColBartram
Aspirant

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2

@michaelkenward 

It looks like the manual is out of step with the Admin UI. Whereas the manual content describing Bridge mode doesn't sound at all like what I'm trying to achieve, and bears no resemblance to what the Admin UI shows for Bridge mode, the settings for Bridge mode in the UI correspond exactly to what my correspondents in the BT Community tell me I need to do. So maybe that's what I need to do. You're dead right in that the multiple ways in which the word 'gateway' is used is a nightmare for a naive user like me. 'Bridge' seems to be another instance.  In my case I think I want to bridge from the R7000's Wifi and DHCP functionality to the router functionality on the 'gateway' SH2. Using the settings the BT Community tell me will work. Might pluck up courage soon to try it.....

Ideally I needed someone in the BT Community who knows all about R7000s, but maybe I'll be all there is!

Message 14 of 15

Re: Combine R7000 Nighthawk with BT Smarthub 2


@ColBartram wrote:

You're dead right in that the multiple ways in which the word 'gateway' is used is a nightmare for a naive user like me. 'Bridge' seems to be another instance.  

 


Yup, another rat's nest.

 


@ColBartram wrote:

Ideally I needed someone in the BT Community who knows all about R7000s, but maybe I'll be all there is!


There isn't much special about the R7000. It will be much like any regular Netgear router, such as my R7800. Perhaps even other brands. They mostly work on the same principles.

 

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