Is the new BT Smart Hub 2023 the same as the old one?

tl;dw; Yes. At quick look it seems like the same board but with one relay missing! Sad times.
I open up the new BT Hub to see what is inside.
It has the same WiFi 5 only limitation, the sockets and buttons are all in the same place as the old one? Did they just put a new box on the same old equipment?
Also shows you how to remove the stand, unscrew the screws and open up the case to get to the circuit board inside.
Very confusingly named EE Smart Hub 3 as shipped October 2023.. but everything on its labels and the box refer to it as:
"SH2 SI 1.0" "SH20A" (and 112133) which might make you believe they refer to it as Smart Hub 2?
Also the product code "GRV9517UAC32 2-A-SA" is on the underside of the router.
• How to factory reset a... How to factory reset the BT Smart Hub 2023 version
• The BT EE Smart Hub 20... Unpacking and initial startup of the BT Smart Hub 2023 version

[@joshuaadams766]

As an employee for BT/EE I can confirm the the Smart Hub 3 is simply named this for the sole purpose of the ordering system used within our systems ... the smart hub pro is our newest hub model with WiFi 6 which is only available for New EE BB Customers

[@freename]

Very helpful, thank you. I'd love to get my hands on the Pro but yet to come across one.

[@castawayarmy32]

when is it coming out to EE all i see is broadband then the hub with 1.6

[@samahmad8203]

I’ve just signed up but didn’t get the pro just got the normal ee smart hub

[@peter17572]

There is a light on the WPS button on the BT Smart Hub 2 router i have this router and i have checked this ​@freename

[@gavinmurrell3415]

​@@samahmad8203You're not alone, me too.

[@neilgreenhalgh7969]

Hi, I’ve a bt business smarthub 3, and need to connect extended discs! I’ve got black ones I had for the smarthub 2 but they will not connect! Any advice or suggestions on alternative boosters please. Thanks

[@freename]

The zyxel Multy m1 pack of 3 can be bought for around £70 at the moment. They are reasonable. The setup experience is awful but once setup, they seem to be reliable and reasonable performance especially for the price. As for joining the old disks to the new hub.... Interesting, I would have expected them to work. Have you fully factory reset the discs ?

[@JordanPhoenix22]

How do you get this route business only? And the point of this router is for firbe customer who have bt smart hub 1 will get this one also full firbre customer get wifi 6 version

[@ukmobilespeeds]

It has WiFi 6 & 2.5GB ethernet ports. That is very important for 1GB+ Full Fibre Broadband. This is a large upgrade, just not visible allowing customers to get better speeds from their subscription.

[@freename]

The one shown definitely does not have those features. There might be another model in the same outer case but it wasn't the one I was sent.

[@ukmobilespeeds]

@@freename That's weird as the SH3 is supposed to have those for the new 1.7Gig Openreach Fibre. Does it at least have WIFI 6?

[@freename]

@@ukmobilespeeds No WiFi 6 in the one I had either. I'd love to borrow one if someone has one which can do WiFi 6!

[@ukmobilespeeds]

@@freename The new ones offered by EE on their "New EE" broadband has it.

[@lloydjonesm]

@@ukmobilespeeds Yes. BT want their residential users to move to EE. EE have the Smart Hub Plus router, which is WiFi 6 with a 2.5Gbps WAN port and 1Gbps LAN ports. BT's Smart Hub 3 business router is, I believe, a redesigned BT Smart Hub 2 (WiFi 5)...there is someone selling these on eBay which I'd probably advise avoiding for this reason. BT couldn't have made a worse hash of this if they'd tried....

[@eanbruce821]

I too, have a BT smart hub 2, we also recieved a digital phone with it, because if there is a power cut we would be without a landline as all of the phones these days are powered by electric, as a vunrebal customer we only have to pay £15 per month, the package that we're on is called Digital Voice

[@freename]

If your router is not on a back up batter your phone will still not work during a power cut. Ensure BT have provided you with all the required equipment to keep your internet (and digital voice) working during a power cut!

[@atommo918]

Thanks for doing this teardown. Seems like there would have been an EE logo where that EE shape is but they probably ripped it off at the same time they stuck those generic labels shoddily over any EE references! I'm looking to see if it would be possible to reverse engineer that 'digital voice' phonebase which the smarthub 2 and newer models have built in- would really like to use a 3rd-party router without having to daisy-chain to the smarthub just to use the BT phones.

[@freename]

"impossible" to do.. I would also love to do this. It's easier to just move the phone number to a decent VoIP provider and then get a new non BT broadband service installed. Ref.. digital voice. On connection of PPPoE the Hub is give a unique random number. The BTHH takes this random number and makes a request over TLS (encrypted) to a provisioning server to retrieve the SIP authentication details. Then it uses encrypted data to connect to the account for calls to flow, it's been a while now so I don't recall if it was TLS SIP or something custom. Some people have made an OpenWRT mod which does PPPoE directly on your own router, stores the random number. Spins up a PPPoE server on the LAN so you BT hub can connect, when that happens OpenWRT passes on the random number it received and the BT hub can then just do VoIP (daisy chained in the other direction to how you currently have your setup). I've never actually tried the setup, only seen documentation on how to set it up.

[@atommo918]

@@freename Interesting! Its good to know we're already halfway there to a full solution. The ideal would be to completely reverse engineer it so people can build their own 'Digital Voice' dedicated phonebases using custom hardware, such as using an Arduino board.

[@darrellwhittaker4498]

I know this is a longshot but do you know the location of the DECT chip on the BT Smart Hub2. Thanks

[@freename]

Nope :P

[@nickhickson8738]

Then what router will BT be sending to all of us who will be switched over to Digital Voice eventually? All that I have read and seen, seems to indicate the BT Smart Hub 2 with that circular centre and lights visible at the top and bottom around the periphery.

[@freename]

I don't know, sorry. I suspect this one will be sent out once they run out of the old design.

[@un4ltered69]

@@freename exactly right I work for BT/EE Tech this model is a reskinned SH2 the new model is the Smart hub Plus

[@freename]

It must be mega disappointing to still be shipping and supporting a WiFi 5 only router still for so many customers ;(

[@TerranBrown]

Make sense... Probably running down old stock or contract but paid to put new shell on for branding.

[@freename]

It is a bit weak spec wise to still be sending to customers these days :/

[@danohanlon8316]

You said “BT” - not “EE.” I’m BT high-fibre customer whose wired signal (to one PC only, but not to the second) is good, but (a common problem) which WiFi signal has been terrible. I’ve begged BT for this new “Hub 3” (available with EE)-but they say it’s *simply not possible.* So I’m wondering how you got yours (from BT.) As for your comparison, I would say that any real differences, if any, would be down to new chip design. So you’d have to take a magnifier to the chip numbers. PS: I did manage to greatly improve my WiFi signal with a combination of three tricks: 1. Put the hub as hight in your house as you can get it. Near the apex if you can. (I have mine in my attic!) 2. POSITION IT LAYING FLAT-POINTING DOWN! (The hub seems to behave fairly directionally.) 3 Take a (large) sheet (say, 90cm) of aluminium foil. Wrinkle it (a lot). Form a (slight) dish-shape and place it *above*-*NOT “ON”* the router so as to direct the signal downwards in a cone shape. My wifi went from the low-single digits (seriously! Like 1.5-to-4!) to 250mbps. It’s nowhere near BT’s “guaranteed” minimum 700mbps, but it’s useable.

[@AnthonyChopra]

ill use my old one as a switch to share my mobile internet from my mini pc to ethernet. the old bt hubs we have can be used as a switch. im sure a 3rdparty brand modem with wifi6 could be used to offer the wifi6 Craze from the standard btmodem using ethernet

[@freename]

They can be used as a switch but beware, I think the BT hub reboots itself if it has not seen internet in a while. This might cause your network to drop every so often.

[@jackdavies3606]

How do I get the New Bt Broadband box

[@freename]

eBay probably.. or call up and renew and see if they can promise which box you will be sent

[@freename]

Moving to EE broadband would also do it.

[@ncooper8438]

Even if the hardware is the same there could be software differences which alter the functioning. Good luck.

[@freename]

Admin interface is an exact copy so I really believe it's just a refreshed outer case design and nothing more ;(

[@flesz_]

Can you install openwrt on it

[@freename]

Negative. I think the only one you can install it on is the Home Hub 5.0

[@tonyknight9912]

Where's your ESD protection ?

[@freename]

I have damaged precisely one thing in about 20 years by static. It's not worth the effort for working on low value devices. Even HP official videos on replacing parts on their servers don't show them using ESD. It has it's place but I feel it is unnecessary for laptops and routers. By all means if you've got the equipment and want to use it, you should :D

[@tonyknight9912]

@@freename It was standard procedure in the BT Labs where I worked, in fact we helped write the book on the subject. Just because you don't see observable damage doesn't mean it doesn't happen. What happens is damage that looks like a lightning bolt has struck the tracks and this can lead to either catastrophic faults or later faults developing, in other words it reduces the life expectancy of the circuit. And the finer the circuitry , internal to integrated circuits, the greater is the potential damage. You won't see it but the higher the integration scaling the greater is the chance of damage.

[@freename]

All of that I understand and agree could happen. For the cost of the device (essentially free to most BT customers) it's just not worth the effort. Especially as I don't plan to use either, it's just under the desk gathering dust :)

[@lesliewhicker7409]

Maybe diffence is due to the sofware

[@freename]

Admin interface and features are identical, so no helpful improvements exposed to the customer.

[@seamusphelan228]

Where’s the spyware in it. I don’t use Siri Or any voice control just my remote always. So how can adds come up on tv related to topics that I have talked in about in private when tv is turned off. Scary that is. 😷❌⛔️⭕️‼️⁉️🛑

[@freename]

Incredibly weird stuff like that definitely happens to me as well, but it isn't your Broadband router doing it. I would love to know how they are attributing specific subjects to people without listening. It could be something as simple as one of your friends is into something or as recently searched for something and then you spent a moderate amount of time with them which then means your account gets tagged with some of your friends interests. You then start seeing adverts based on that. Trivial for mobile phones to know who you have been near. Think about how they did the covid contact tracing with the apps on people's phones. Basically the same technology but used for adverts instead?

[@samperry2376]

What a con.. so there is 2 different variants of this "new" router. God i hate BT..

[@freename]

It appears to be that way. It's a shame. I was also looking forward to testing new kit!

[@samperry2376]

@@freename they seem to be dishing out the wifi 6 routers from today

[@freename]

Thanks! I wonder how I can get hold of one.

[@samperry2376]

​@@freenameid just ask them just say you wanna recontract and need wifi 6

[@CrimeVid]

Not as much as I do !

[@LeWacoKid]

Isp routers are hot garbage, if you value good internet use 3rd party.

[@freename]

very much agree

[@stealthtuning4386]

Any recommendations? I want to go 3rd party but dont want to loose coverage over what i have with the latest bt router

[@stealthtuning4386]

Any recommendations? I want to go 3rd party but dont want to loose coverage over what i have with the latest bt router

[@freename]

@stealthtuning4386 an Openreach Modem plus any decent Ethernet router. Or a Zyxel of some sort? Or any Netgear or Asus router with inbuilt modem?

[@LeWacoKid]

@@stealthtuning4386 You can't do much worse than the one they provide, if you have a modem for fibre to the premises then you don't need one with a modem built in.