BT Home Hub Help - Using Hub Phones

With a BT Home Hub, you can make calls over the Internet using BT Broadband Talk, and also control how your home phones work with the Hub. Here's some help and advice.

Update: BT Broadband Talk and Hub Phones not supported by the new BT Home Hub 3

Cheaper calls over Broadband

With your BT Broadband account and the BT Home Hub, you can make use of BT Broadband Talk - a service that allows you to route calls over the Internet - calls over the Internet are cheaper than calls routed over standard voice circuits. You can get a special phone for use with your Hub - the BT Hub Phone.

Prices for calls routed over the 'Net can be a lot cheaper - for example, a call to the US peak rate costs 15p a minute, but only 1.25p over BT Broadband talk. There's a handy calculator here.

For more on Internet phone calls, see the FrequencyCast Voice Over Internet page.

Phone with Broadband Talk

With a BT Home hub, it's possible to make and receive calls over Broadband using BT Broadband Talk, and either a BT Hub Phone, a standard telephone or a DECT (digital) phone. To use a standard or DECT phone, you'll need to use the converter that's supplied with the Home Hub. This has a green connector, and plugs into the green Phone socket at the rear of the Home Hub.

Calls placed over a handset plugged into the Hub will be routed over Broadband Advice, and you'll benefit from the Broadband Talk rates.

Note that there are some restrictions when using a phone connected to your Home Hub: You'll have to dial your phone numbers with an area code, even for local calls. You can't make calls to the operator, to non-BT directory enquiry services, or to dial-up Internet Service Providers.

Note: Your outgoing CLI (caller ID) number will not be that of your landline phone number, meaning that people screening calls may not recognise you. Also, the Broadband Talk service won't work if your Broadband's down, or if there's a mains power failure.

Using the BT Hub Phone

The BT Hub Phone is voice-over-Internet phone that will let you make voice calls over your Broadband account (cheaper calls!). It's designed to be used with the Home Hub, and the base of the BT Hub Phone clips neatly into the base. To use the BT Hub Phone , you need the following:

A BT Broadband line and account
To have a BT Broadband Talk account. You'll be given a Broadband Talk phone number (beginning 05), and a password.
To make sure that the BT Broadband Talk account is activated on your BT Broadband line. To check that it's active on your line, go to www.bt.com/bbv and follow the instructions
To have a suitable Broadband Router - The obvious choice is the BT Home Hub.

Setting up the Hub Phone

To get your Hub Phone set up, do the following:

Insert the rechargeable batteries, and plug in the phone to charge for 16 hours
Register the handset with the BT Home Hub. Press Menu, then scroll to 'Registration > Register Handset'. Select 'Base 1' and use the system PIN of "0000". The phone will display "Base search". Press and hold the Hub's Wireless Association button for three seconds, and the Hub and Handset should pair.

That should be all you need. With BT Broadband Talk activated, and the phone 'paired' to your Home Hub, you should be able to send and receive calls over the Internet. If you're having problems, best to ask in our Home Hub forum.

Ringing phones

If you want to change the behaviour of your Hub or DECT phones when your home gets an incoming call, here's what to do. Log in as Admin, and select "Telephones" from the menu on the left. You have two options:

Broadband Talk phone number rings: Phone socket only, BT Hub phone or both
Landline phone number rings: Phone socket only, BT Hub phone, both, or none of the Hub phones

Using a Hub Phone v1 on a v2 Hub

If you have a BT Home Hub v1 or v1.5 with a Hub Phone 1010 or 1020, you can still use these phones if you have a BT Home Hub V2.

Some things to note - Home Hub v2 supports improved audio quality (Hi-Ds) which isn't supported on v1.x handsets. Also, although the handsets work with a v2 Home Hub, the v1.x handsets don't fit the new housing for the v2 Home Hub, so you'll have to change the older handset on the little base unit that came with the older handset.

To get the older handset to work with the newer hub, you need to re-register the handset from the v1.x hub, the register it with the v2 hub. There's help on the BT website - click here.

Home Hub with Video Phones

For information on hooking up a BT Video Phone to the Internet, see our review pages on the BT Videophone 1000 and the BT Videophone 2000

Need more Home Hub help?

We have a number of other pages offering help and advice on the Home Hub:

If you've got any questions we've not covered, or need help and advice, please ask in our Home Hub forum - Sign up and post a new message.

When posting - please make sure you include details of your computer's operating system (XP, Vista, etc), which Service Packs have been applied, the software version your Hub's running, and how you're connecting (Ethernet, wi-fi or USB)

Go to Home Hub Forum

Other Home Hub resources:

Hub Information: BT Home Hub Basics
Common Questions: Home Hub FAQ , Home Hub Audio Guide
BT Fon Help: BT Fon Information
Internet on the move? Mobile Broadband help
Home Hub Chat: Home Hub Forum
Help with wireless? Wi-fi Networking Advice

PODCAST FEATURE: The "Unofficial Guide to the Home Hub" is a free downloadable audio file, helping with many setup and config issues.
Listen to the show online, or download it to your MP3 player.
Listen to Home Hub Guide | What is FrequencyCast? | Add us to iTunes

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