BT Homehub?

BTI like gadgets, and I like it when stuff works without messing with (hence why I am a mac user) but the BT HomeHub has been a thorn in my side from day one. I haven’t had bad experiences with BT at all, quite the opposite infact, I ended up with more hub phones than I knew what to do with. This is the start of the problem its all well and good boxing up everything in one place, but when it goes wrong nothing works.

The Case in point being the Asterisk Phone System I use, I spent a good weekend setting up and making it all nice, setting up DMZ and all that jazz. Then the hub threw a characteristic hissy-fit and stopped the HubPhones working. It has taken me to this day, nearly half a year to find a workable solution, so I though I would share, for anybody else in the same position as me.

Put simply I have a good router and network set-up and the HP wireless printer works on the wi-fi unlike the Home Hubs Wi-Fi. So the solution I have worked out is simple, use the Home Hub to run the hub phones and use the original router.

First thing you need to do is get yourself a Super User account on the Hub itself, Instructions here

Second Adjust the DHCP and IP settings for the hub, this step caused me many frustrations. Instructions here (TIP: if you make a mistake here, connect via USB and perform a restore, Instructions Here) The settings should be the same as your main router, set-up the IP address (192.168.0.254 in my case) and DHCP (this should match the settings of your main router) After you have set this up reboot and make sure the settings have taken.

Now to make the whole thing work, firstly turn off DHCP this can be done easily through the web interface in configuration>IP Addresses. Login into the Hub using telnet, and issue the following commands, replace [Router IP] with the IP address of you main router.
:ip rtadd dst=0.0.0.0 gateway=[Router IP] intf=LocalNetwork
:dns client dnsadd addr=[Router IP]
:dns server config WANDownSpoofing=disabled
:dns server route add dns=[Router IP] intf=LocalNetwork
:voice config intf=LocalNetwork
:system config defaultconnection=LocalNetwork
:config save filename=user
:system reboot

After the reboot connect up the Hub to your router and it should all work, if you haven’t configured Broadband Voice yet goto the bt.com/bbv and when you see the pop-up saying ‘configure now’ copy the link and replace the http://api.home with http://[IP address of Home hub] this will configure you BBV settings. Backup You settings now you know it all works incase a firmware update scrambles it all.

Now after all that you should have, you router set-up and Hub serving the hub phones. I would also assume that using this setup would allow you to use BT Vision also, but as I aren’t signed up the service I can’t test it.

The Most Helpful Applescript Ever.

iTunes LogoI have a ever growing iTunes library, but sometimes when importing stuff, the ID3 tags go all wrong, or in the in Japanese/Non-English Characters. So like many geeks I hate having to mess with each ID3 tag individualy even if iTunes makes it easy. Solution CDDB and a little script from dougscripts.co. You simply go to the playlist, run the first script which searches CDDB to find the album your playing, then you run the second script that then copies the page details and puts them in your ID3 tags. Voila! your library is nice and perfectly formed.