Review: BT Home Hub and Hub Phone networking

BT has been promoting its Home Hub advertisements for months now, depicting a young family being shown around a new home and only taking it when they spot the Home Hub. Sounds a big draw, but what does it actually do?

Essentially, the BT Home Hub is a wireless broadband router – it connects to the phone line and a PC, as well as providing a wireless network for the home. For the moment, that's pretty much it, although in future it will be used to connect to BT's Vision internet television service. The BT Fusion combined mobile and home phone can also link up with the Home Hub.

The styling of the Home Hub is clearly influenced by Apple – it's all clean lines and white plastic, a world away from the geeky looks of most networking equipment. Naturally, this makes it more acceptable as a design element in a home, although the constant flash of green lights on the front is more than a slight distraction.

It's a 802.11g Wifi router with a built-in firewall and has a couple of free network ports to connect other devices. There's a dedicated VoIP (Voice over IP) socket too, but more on that later.

Setting it up was easy – it can be ordered with a new broadband connection, or afterwards – although it only works with BT Broadband connections. It connected directly to the network without requiring a username or password, however.

The second part of the pack – an £80 optional extra – is the Hub Phone. This is a wireless Dect phone that can also be used as a VoIP phone BT's Broadband Talk internet telephone service. It's similar to Skype, but calls are charged at set BT rates.

International calls are cheap, but not as cheap as with some call providers. The Total Broadband package also includes free evening and weekend calls, but only if you use the Hub Phone or the PC to make the calls.

The Hub Phone is likewise easy to set up – the included guide is easy to follow, and it's only a matter of pressing a few buttons. Call quality is excellent, although it diminishes as you move away from the Hub.

The Hub concept is an interesting one. In theory, it means one device to do all the networking, but in practice we ended up with a BT line for incoming calls, the Hub Phone for some outgoing calls, Skype for some international dialling, and a charge card for other overseas calls. Added to that, BT Vision isn't yet running, necessitating Freeview or a Sky or cable subscription to watch digital TV.

For heavy BT Broadband Talk users, or those who can see themselves using it a lot, the Hub and Hub Phone is an excellent package – and it's free with some of BT's broadband packages. For everyone else, it might be easier to stick with separate gadgets until the technology becomes more seamless.

Also consider:
Belkin Wifi Phone
Make free calls without needing a computer

SMC WSKP100
May appeal to some business users, but its limitations and price make it hard to recommend

Netgear SPH101
Too many limitations and too expensive to appeal to most people, despite its good call quality

Linksys Cordless Internet Telephony Kit
An ergonomic VoIP handset with excellent call clarity, but it's expensive

All internet telephony phone reviews