BT Home Hub 3 First Look
As part of Show 61, Pete and Carl got hands-on with the new BT Home Hub 3, the latest in the line of wireless routers from BT. Here's our first look
|
Listen to FrequencyCast Show 61 - BT Home Hub 3 Hands-on
|
Hands-on with the BT Home Hub 3:
Here's the transcript of our first look at the BT Home Hub 3, from Show 61
Continued from Show 61 Streaming Media Transcript
Carl:
Awesome.
Now, new Home Hub time, I believe, Pete?
Pete:
Indeed it is, Home Hub 3 from BT. It's just out and we've got one.
Carl:
Well, that's small, isn't it? It's like half the height, isn't it? What's it got on the front - Power, Broadband and Wireless - three little lights, and on the back we've got one, two, three, four Ethernet connections, a USB, power obviously, your reset button - always very handy, ADSL - which is?
Pete:
That's your standard broadband connection.
Carl:
Oh right, and BT Infinity.
Pete:
So this actually supports both standard broadband and the high speed broadband now. Worth mentioning, the fourth Ethernet point there is GigE, so it's a high speed Ethernet point, which is nifty.
Carl:
Wow!
Pete:
What I really like is this thing here that says Hub Settings. If you pull this little clippy thing out, it's actually got all your wireless and admin passwords, so you don't have to go down to your Hub and write down all the serial numbers, you can just use this little weird lump of plastic which contains all the vital information.
Carl:
Very handy. So what are the changes to this new product?
Pete:
Well, the software's largely the same, from what we've discovered. What they have done, though, is they've taken away BT Broadband Talk, which is the old handset that used to come with it. So that feature seems to have been descoped with the Home Hub 3.
Carl:
Oh, that's a bit unfortunate. So it's not got a phone with it?
Pete:
No, and you can't use an existing BT Talk phone either.
Carl:
Oh - isn't that a downscaling, then?
Pete:
Yeah, a little bit. They've added something called Smart Wireless, which is really handy, and actually, when we've been using it, it has worked out a lot better. It automatically changes the channels to reduce Wi-Fi interference from homes, which is pretty nice.
Carl:
Clever.
Pete:
It uses less power, so it's a little bit more green. As I say, it supports BT Infinity.
Carl:
Brilliant, so we've got the Buzz Lightyear of BT technology.
Pete:
And generally I think it's a better unit. They've sorted out some of the little glitches, and it does seem to work rather well, so pretty impressive.
Carl:
Nice, and it's of course far more subtle than the old one. So for that subtlety, how much do I pay?
Pete:
Well, if you're a new BT customer, and you sign up to BT online, you'll get it for free. It will soon be available to existing customers, priced around £50, although the nice little loophole is, if you phone up BT and ask to be recontracted, so maybe take out another 18 month contract, you may well find you can get this for free.
Carl:
Bear that one in mind, guys. What's that, then? - it looks like a high-tech Dictaphone. It's rather sleek-looking, isn't it?
Pete:
This is the Olympus VN8500. It's a hand-held dictation machine that holds up to 421 hours on its one gig memory. Best of all, though, it comes with Dragon software, which will transcribe your voice recordings, and do voice-to-text on your PC - very nifty.
Carl:
Wow, that was good, and a good sound quality as well.
Listen to FrequencyCast Show 61 - BT Home Hub 3 Hands-on |
More information:
Share This Page:
