BT Home Hub 3.0 Type A: Info, Unlock, Configuration and Usage Options

Hello Again!

I wanted to write up this post a lot earlier, but, it got delayed somehow. Here it is now:

The BT Home Hub 3.0 Type A originally from (Siemens) Gigaset seems to be a nice router given the specifications as shown on the OpenWrt Wiki page. However, it also does not accept username(s) without the allowed domains (like @btbroadband.com, @btinternet.com, @btclick.com, ...) making it a "locked" router (unless your ISP doesn't use the username to authenticate). Fortunately, it can be "unlocked" in a similar manner to the BT Home Hub 2.0 Type B to accept any username and allow usage with other ISPs after its "retirement".

Firmware Unlock:

The guide as posted on now-defunct psidoc.com, relevant files and some firmware images are available here!

Here is a video showing the process:

Note: Video best viewed fullscreen in 1080p!

Tweaks after Unlock:

With SSH access, we can tweak some settings of the router to our liking, like disabling automatic updates (firmware updates keep the unlock but SSH access for admin user stops working ... manually updating to the next release of firmware sometimes helps keep the same configuration as in previous version allowing SSH access), disabling unneeded services and customising settings such as dns, ntp server, samba workgroup, etc ...

Note that the hub uses OpenRG and the OpenRG Configuration Entries Guide comes in quite handy.

Here is a video showing some of the tweaks I usually do after the unlock:

Note: Video best viewed fullscreen in 1080p!

To be continued ...

Comments

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