BT Home Hub 4 — login, gateway address and status lights

Name: BT Home Hub 4
Brand: BT

Open a browser on a device connected to your BT Home Hub 4 and go to 192.168.1.254, or bthomehub.home.

The password is unique to your unit and printed on it — there is no universal default.

The BT Home Hub 4 is a broadband hub supplied by an internet provider from BT, in UK use Type A and Type B; guide dated 2017. This page covers the four things people actually come looking for: its settings address, how its login works, what its lights mean and how to reset it safely.

What is the BT Home Hub 4 gateway address?

The BT Home Hub 4 settings page is at 192.168.1.254. Type that into the address bar of a browser — not into a search box, which will just search for the number instead of opening the page.

You can also use bthomehub.home, which reaches the same page and is easier to remember.

Your device has to be connected to the BT Home Hub 4 itself for this to work — over its Wi-Fi or by cable. On mobile data, or connected to a different network, the address goes nowhere.

BT gives both the hostname and the address under a heading naming the Home Hub 4, and calls the interface the Hub Manager.

What is the default username and password for the BT Home Hub 4?

Unique password on the device label

There is no default password for the BT Home Hub 4 that we could publish, because every unit has a different one.

Where to find yours. On the Hub settings card on the back of the hub, or on the label on the base. BT documents both locations for this generation.

The admin password is specific to your unit, so there is no shared default to publish — and the sites that offer you one for a BT Home Hub are guessing, usually from a much older generation. Note that this hub gives you two printed locations rather than the card-only arrangement on BT's newer hubs. The admin password and the Wi-Fi key are different things, and you need both for the password override route described below.

If a website offers you a single password that works on every BT Home Hub 4, it is wrong. Those lists copy a per-device password from one unit and republish it as though it were universal.

What do the lights on the BT Home Hub 4 mean?

Here is what each light on the BT Home Hub 4 is telling you, and what to do about it.

Light	What it means	What to do
Powerflashing green	The hub is starting up. Green or flashing green are both normal at this stage.	Wait a couple of minutes. The light stays blue for more than 20 seconds when it is genuinely ready.
Powersolid blue	The hub is working fine.	If you still cannot get online, the problem is on your device rather than the hub.
Poweroff	The power is off, or there is a problem with the power supply.	Check the power switch on the back, that the cable is properly seated at the mains, and that the socket is on.
Powersolid orange	There is a problem somewhere.	Log into the Hub Manager at bthomehub.home and check whether the internet status reads Disconnected. If it does, click Connect. BT also suggests checking the icon lights in the silver bar.
Powersolid red	There is a problem somewhere. BT's help page frames this as not being connected to broadband.	Press Restart and release when the power light turns orange. If it comes back red, reset the hub with a paperclip on the recessed Reset button.
Broadbandsolid orange	You are connected to broadband but your account may not be switched on yet.	Wait until after midnight on your activation day, and contact BT if it is still orange the next day.
Broadbandsolid red	Solid red on the broadband icon means the wrong username and password have been used — not a line fault.	Reset the hub's password to the factory setting shown on the card that came with it.
Broadbandflashing red	Flashing red is the state that means a genuine problem with the broadband line.	Check every cable is seated, and that it is after midnight on your activation day.
Wirelesssolid orange	Wireless security has been switched off for one or both channels. Orange here means insecure rather than broken.	Turn security back on in the wireless tab of the Hub Manager at bthomehub.home.
Wirelessflashing orange	The hub is in WPS automatic connection mode.	Press the button on your computer or adapter to connect without a pass key. The hub returns to normal after a few minutes.

This hub has a central power light plus icon lights in the silver bar along the bottom, and BT makes an important point about the latter: the broadband and wireless icon lights only come on if there is a problem or as a warning. A dark silver bar is the normal state. BT publishes this table in a Home Hub 4 user guide and again on a current help page it shares with the Home Hub 5.

How do you reset a BT Home Hub 4?

What you lose. Returns the admin password to the factory value shown on the card that came with the hub. BT does not publish a full list of what else is cleared, so expect any setting you changed to need redoing.

Press the recessed Reset button on the back with a paperclip.
Hold it for BT says only "a few seconds" and publishes no exact figure.
Release, and give the unit a few minutes to restart before trying to connect.

The Restart button and the Reset button are two different controls. Restart is a reboot that keeps everything; Reset is the recessed pinhole that wipes settings. During a restart BT documents the light going green, blue, orange, then staying blue when ready.

A reboot is not a reset. Press and hold the Restart button until the hub light goes orange. It reboots with every setting intact and the light settles on blue.

What if you cannot get into the BT Home Hub 4 at all?

This hub has a genuine password override that avoids a factory reset, and BT documents it for the Home Hub 4 by name. Press and hold the Wireless WPS button on top for 20 seconds until the central power light flashes blue, which puts the hub into password override mode. You then have two minutes to enter the hub's wireless key and its serial number — the key is on the settings card on the back or the label under the base, and the serial number is on that label — after which you can set a new admin password. BT confirms this creates a new password without losing your hub settings.

If that does not work, a factory reset will always get you in, at the cost of every setting on the unit.

Worth knowing about the BT Home Hub 4

BT states plainly that this hub is only suitable for BT consumer broadband and is not suitable for other providers or for BT Business Broadband lines. That is worth knowing before buying one second-hand, and it explains a red broadband light that otherwise makes no sense.
The icon lights in the silver bar being off is good news. They only illuminate to warn you about something, so an unlit bar with a blue power light is a healthy hub.
Solid red and flashing red on the broadband icon mean different things. Solid red is a credentials problem; flashing red is a line problem.
There are two hardware variants, Type A and Type B, with separate BT user guides and separate conformity declarations. Check which yours is before following a guide you found elsewhere.
Both radios ship with the same network name by default, which BT acknowledges causes trouble for some devices that cannot decide between the two bands.
BT says a new line takes about three days to settle at its best speed, and that the hub may restart itself during that period. A restart in the first few days is not necessarily a fault.
Unlike BT's newer hubs, this one has a password override that does not cost you your settings — see the recovery note. BT confirms the Smart Hub 2 and later dropped this feature.

Where this comes from

BT Home Hub 4 Type A user guide — Model-specific BT guide. Source for the full light table, the bthomehub.home hostname, the Restart and Reset distinction and the BT-Broadband-only restriction.
What do the lights on my BT Hub mean? — BT's current help page, which carries the same table under a heading covering the Home Hub 4 and 5, and states the icon lights only appear when there is a problem.
How can I set up or change the admin password on my BT Hub? — Gives 192.168.1.254 under a Home Hub 4 heading and documents the password override procedure for this model in full.
Where do I find the default admin password for my BT Hub? — Source for the two printed locations documented for this generation.
User guides and manuals for BT Hubs — Confirms BT still publishes both Type A and Type B guides for this model.