Problems replacing BT Hub 5 with Airport Extreme using Airport Utility 6.3.2

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Level 1

9 points

Problems replacing BT Hub 5 with Airport Extreme using Airport Utility 6.3.2

Hi

I have spent all afternoon trying to connect to BT infinity using the Airport Extreme router. I have a BT Hub 5 which is OK apart from the fact that it cannot hold more than 3 wireless devices connected at any one time and keeps dropping wi fi connections.

I am using OSX 10.9.4 (Mavericks), Airport Utility v. 6.3.2 and a iMac 2013 base model.

I had some instructions but these refer to the previous version of Airport Utility which is quite different from the current one, so I had to improvise a little

This is what I have done so far:

1. I have connected the LAN1 port from the Openreach modem to the Gigabit ethernet WAN port of Airport Extreme and I have connected my iMac ethernet to one of the Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports of Airport Extreme

2. I have named and passworded the network and given the base station a name as required

3. In the Internet tab I have put in the account name as bthomehub@btinternet.com and put in a space in the password box (I also tried writing BT in it with no result). I have set the PPoE connection as local link only.

The problem I have is that when I click on the internet icon on Airport Utility is shows disconnected and amber light, no matter what changes I make to the Airport Extreme which has a green light. I have noticed that in the new version of Airport Utility it doesn't seem to be possible to set the PPoE connection to be always on.

In desperation I have disconnected the Airport Extreme router and reconnected the Home Hub 5 which works.

What do I need to do?

Posted on Jul 13, 2014 9:46 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 13, 2014 9:55 AM in response to Prufrock24

If the Extreme has a green light, does it get an IP? The WiFi drops may be unrelated and could be caused due to interference.

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Answer 2

Prufrock24 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 13, 2014 10:19 AM in response to Loner T

Yes, it has an IP address but the Internet remains disconnected. As soon as I connect the Home Hub 5 all is well again and I can use the internet. Could it be that BT is blocking any device other than the BT Hub?

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Answer 3

Prufrock24 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 13, 2014 10:21 AM in response to Prufrock24

I have forgotten to say that, at this stage, I cannot connect using the wired connection.

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Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 13, 2014 10:26 AM in response to Prufrock24

It seems that the MAC address of the BT Hub has an IP lease which is tied to your BT login. It will not allocate another IP to a different MAC with the same login. My suggestion is to connect the Hub, and after you get connected, logout from your connection, which should release the DHCP lease, and now try the Extreme again. It should renew your WAN IP and let you connect.

Not getting connected from Wired or Wireless indicates that you do not have any WAN connectivity.

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Answer 5

Prufrock24 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 13, 2014 12:16 PM in response to Loner T

How do I log out of the Hub? It connects automatically to my iMac via the ethernet. Sorry, I am not very experienced in these things.

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Answer 6

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 13, 2014 6:58 PM in response to Prufrock24

Your connection is Openreach Modem -> BT Home Hub 5 -> iMAC.

After a bit of reading - http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/guides/hardware/bt-home-hub

Openreach Modem - Optical Network Terminal (ONT).

HH5 - is a 4-port Ethernet Router/Switch

It looks like BT may be locking the MAC addresses of the modem and hh5 with access control lists, so customers cannot connect a device to replace the HH5.

You have an option. Connect one of the HH5 LAN ports to the WAN port of the Airport.

Set the Airport to Bridge mode, no DHCP address distribution, Create a Wireless Network.

You can just ignore the HH5 SSID(s) completely and just connect to the ones you create on the Extreme. The iMac can connect to any LAN port on the Extreme or one of the remaining HH5 LAN ports.

The only challenge you may have is, if the number of IP addresses the HH5 can allocate is limited to 4 (by BT's configuration). It can be verified using more than four (4) devices.

If this works, then there are alternatives where a new LAN within a LAN can be created if the IP address limitation becomes an issue.

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Answer 7

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 13, 2014 7:40 PM in response to Prufrock24

Have you seen this article and the comments below it?

http://www.blackforce.co.uk/2013/05/11/how-to-replace-your-bt-homehub-with-an-ap ple-airport-extreme-base-station-on-bt-infinity

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Answer 8

Prufrock24 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 15, 2014 9:41 AM in response to Loner T

Thank you very much for your help. The bridge solution is not what I am looking for. There must be a way of replacing the Home Hub 5 with the Airport Extreme. It used to be possible to replace the Home Hub 3 so why not the Home Hub 5? I will post a question in the BT forum.

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 15, 2014 10:06 AM in response to Prufrock24

If you connect your iMAC directly to the BT Infinity port, does your iMac get an IP address and you can connect to external websites?

On the Airport, can you turn off IPv6 and try to connect it to the Openreach to see if it gets an IP address?

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Answer 10

Oct 23, 2014 8:48 AM in response to Prufrock24

Hi Prufrock24,

Did u ever solve this to get the Airport to be the router and the HH5 to be just a bridge? I ask because of the limitation on the number of connected devices that the HH5 is limited to. Thanks.

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Answer 11

mjj18

Level 1

5 points

Dec 11, 2014 7:58 AM in response to Prufrock24

Did you ever find a solution to this?

I have been sent a Business Hub 5 by BT and have tried to install it without success; I cannot get my AirPort Extreme to connect using PPPoE with the Hub 5 in bridge mode (which is how I assume it's supposed to work if you want the AP Extreme to handle all the wireless/Ethernet routing, local DHCP etc (which I do)).

For the time being I have reinstated my BT Openreach modem and all works fine again (with the AP Extreme connected directly via modem's LAN port and using PPPoE).

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