Switching from Plusnet to John Lewis using BT Home Hub

[#1]

Hi All,

im just switching to John Lewis who are white-labelled Plusnet. Following the great advice of @baldrick and others, I am using my Bt home hub as my main router and the Plusnet 2704n as an access point to extend the signal into another area of the house.
1. What settings will I need to change when the switch to John Lewis happens?

2. John Lewis are providing a new 2704n router. Will I need to connect this initially on switching or could I just continue with my existing hardware setup?

thanks!

[#2]

@Prologica you should be able to continue with your existing setup. Just change the broadband username & password in the BT home hub. You should get the Johnlewis ones in an email

[#3]

Thanks @MisterW, nice and easy!

[#4]

@Prologica  I am not sure what syntax a John Lewis username and password have but it may not be compatible with the BT  Home Hub which I believe is restricted to BT and Plusnet login parameters. ( possibly EE also ?)  So you may have to use the John Lewis router.

[#5]

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@MisterW wrote:

 Just change the broadband username & password in the BT home hub. You should get the Johnlewis ones in an email

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Aren't the BT hubs tied to certain domains? Certainly in some older hubs the '-' stops it working. 

[#6]

Oops, hadn't thought about the locked to BT/plusnet realms🙄

[#7]

I thought the fact that John Lewis uses the Plusnet network, and Plusnet can be used with the BT home hub, would mean it was compatible?

[#8]

@MisterW @Baldrick1 @RealAleMadrid 

If the BT Home Hub really can’t accept a hyphenated John Lewis broadband username and there’s no solution for that, presumably I could switch the routers around and use the 2704n as the main router and the HH as a WAP connected by AVPlug. I assume this would mean 2.4 GHz only throughout the house? (I currently have split bands on the HH but most usage is on 2.4). The main router is in a ‘remote’ part of the house where the master socket is. Do you think that the switch around will give reduced coverage in the house given the more basic 2704n? I also have a 2.4 TPLink range extender which isn’t currently in use if that might help? (I already have two pairs of AV plugs in play - one pair serve the TV, the other pair the WAP).

thanks

[#9]

From a staff point of view, we can’t provide support with John Lewis Broadband on the Plusnet forums but to confirm though, our Hub One is locked down to BT & Plusnet usernames and doesn’t work with JLB, so I’d imagine the BT Homehub is the same depending on the model as the Hub One is based on the 5A.

I’m sure others will be able to help you with your other questions though

[#10]

@Prologica 

Are yiu sure that JL are still giving oit the 2704N hubs? Even Plusnet now supply Hub Ones on ADSL contracts.

Presumably you are connecting your WAP over an Ethernet cable? I also assume from your initial post that what you call a Home Hub is a Smarthub?

If so I would try it but also note my attampts to use one as a WAP. This was nearly 4 years ago and since then there have been numerous firmware updates that might well have fixed the problem I had back then. I have not tried since. Set it up as per the first post, I went off half [-Censored-] suggesting double NATing in my attempted work around.  Read the complete thread through to the point where I decided to give up on it.  https://community.plus.net/t5/Everything-else/Configuring-a-BT-SmartHub-6A-as-an-Etherner-Switch-Rou...

If you have a go and this problem no longer exists then please advise us.

[#11]

Hi @Baldrick1 

yes it seems JL are still providing 2704ns. I’ve asked if I could get a better modem from them.

thanks for the steer to the WAP thread for the HH. I will give it a try once I have the JL kit. If they insist on a 2704n, I assume it might be possible to continue to use the PN 2704N as a WAP but without 5ghz and probably more limited range. I didn’t realise that hyphen would cause these issues!

[#12]

….and yes it’s a Smarthub (HH6) I have

[#13]

@Prologica 

Yes, the 2704n configured as a WAP will work when connected to any Ethernet LAN.

Apart from sounding posher, something I suspect you pay for as JL will want a cut, what is the attraction of going to JL?

[#14]

@Baldrick1 PN hiked the price as I’m out of contract. I didn’t want to go fibre as I don’t truly need it and didn’t want the install on my just repainted house and we plan to move house next year. As it’s a Plusnet service I figured no change in performance, £14 a month cheaper, £40 gift card and £42 Cashback making it only around £13 a month with just a 12 month contract.

[#15]

Is the Hub One a much better router in terms of range etc than the 2704n? Looks like Zytels can be picked up on EBay daily cheaply.