History
The BT Home Hub can only be used with the BT Total Broadband package without modification; the 1.0, 1.5, 2A, 2B and 3A versions can be unlocked. The BT Home Hub configuration software is compatible with both Mac and Windows operating systems, although use of this is optional and computers without the BT software will still be able to connect to the Hub and browse the Internet normally.
The hardware contained within the Home Hub v1.0 and v1.5 was manufactured by Inventel, and is equivalent to other Inventel produced and third-party branded routers such as the Orange LiveBox and Thomson SpeedTouch 7G and the ST790. Consequently the v1.0 can be flashed with some firmware such as that for the 7G, however full functionality cannot be achieved using this method. The v1.5 firmware whilst not hardware locked as previously claimed does have extra locks in the bootloader which can now be circumvented and full functionality achieved.
There are two versions of the BT Home Hub 2.0, the A and the B model. The hardware contained within the Home Hub v2.0A was manufactured by Thomson SpeedTouch, who had bought out Inventel and all their hardware and software rights. This model is electronically identical to the Thomson SpeedTouch TG797n.
The hardware contained within the Home Hub v2.0B was manufactured by Siemens' Gigaset division in Germany. The middleware was developed by Jungo a subsidiary of NDS, and is based on their openRGTM product. The product is very similar to the smartBox sold by Orange Israel
Some Home Hub v2 units were also made by Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co. Ltd.
Until recently, the Type A Hub suffered from a flaw whereby it would reset when the user was performing uploads whilst connected wirelessly to the Hub. After months of customer complaints BT has now released a software patch for the faulty Hubs.
In the standard firmwares, telnet shell access is available in earlier versions (up to 6.2.2.6) on the v1.0 with appropriate user permissions. This is identical to the custom shell used in the SpeedTouch range of routers and provides an almost identical software feature set, with a few notable exceptions (e.g. PPP authentication is locked on BT firmware). This is not the case in the unlocked versions as full telnet is available.
There are two versions of the BT Home Hub 3.0, the A and the B model. The hardware contained within the Home Hub v3.0A was manufactured by Siemens' Gigaset (now Sagem) and is based on a Lantiq XWAYTM ARX168 chipset supporting ADSL2+.
The Home Hub v3.0B was manufactured by Huawei and also supports ADSL2+. The Home Hub v3.0B is powered by a highly integrated Broadcom BCM6361 System-on-a-chip (SoC). The BCM6361 has a 400MHz dual MIPS32 core as well as an integrated DSL Analog Front End (AFE) and line driver, gigabit ethernet switch controller and 802.11 WiFi transceiver.
Read more about this topic: BT Home Hub
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