BT Smart Hub 6A Router Port Forwarding Guide

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Port Forward Staff
August 16, 2019 (Last Updated: ) | Reading Time: 6 minutes

An important aspect of having a BT router on your home network is internet security. In general, routers block incoming internet connections and protect your network by only allowing the connections that you specifically set up. Sometimes it is necessary to unblock certain connections in your router or open a port in order to play a game or use an application. To help you get a better connection for gaming or using an application, you can open a port in your Smart Hub 6A and allow a direct connection.

Follow these steps to open a port in your BT Smart Hub 6A router:

  1. Set up a static IP address on the computer or device that you are forwarding ports to.
  2. Login to your BT Smart Hub 6A router.
  3. Make your way to the Port Forwarding section of the BT Smart Hub 6A router.
    • Click on the Advanced Settings button, which is at the lower right of the screen.
    • Find the Firewall button at the middle of the screen and click it.
  4. Go ahead and create a Port Forwarding entry.

Opening ports in a router can be a difficult process the first few times. Don't get discouraged! We will walk you through all the steps to open a port in the BT Smart Hub 6A router.

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Step 1 - Setup A Static IP Address

In order to ensure that your ports remain open in your device even after it reboots, it is important to set up a static IP address in your device.

After setting up a static ip address on your devices you need to login to your router.

Step 2 - Login To Your BT Router

In order to login to the BT Smart Hub 6A router you need to use a web browser. The BT Smart Hub 6A router uses what is called a web interface where you can access and control router settings.

Go ahead and open up your favorite web browser. If you don't have a favorite or are not sure what this means, open up Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.

If this step is confusing, we have simplified it for you with this link: Login to your Smart Hub 6A Router

Find the address bar once you have opened up a web browser. This is usually located at the top of the page, like in the image below.

Image of a browser address bar
Browser address bar

Above is an example of what a web browser address bar looks like. Find the address bar in your web browser and type in your router's IP address.

The BT Smart Hub 6A router's default IP address is: 192.168.1.254

Enter your router's IP address into the address bar of your browser and click the enter button on your keyboard. A box like the one below should appear.

Basic Authentication

Go ahead and enter the username and password for the BT Smart Hub 6A router in the spaces available. Remember if you have changed them in the past, you need to enter those values.

Enter your username and password, and then click the Log In button to log in to your BT Smart Hub 6A router.

BT Usernames and Passwords

If the username and password did not work I recommend checking out our Default BT Router Passwords page.

If, after trying the above list of passwords you still can't login you may need to consider a reset for your router. Learn how to do that by reading our How to Reset a Router guide. After resetting the BT Smart Hub 6A router your username and password are reverted back to factory defaults.

Step 3 - Find The Port Forwarding Section

After successfully logging in to your BT Smart Hub 6A router you should see the router's home page on your screen. Find the Port Forwarding section of your router.

home
This is the home page from your BT router.

You should now be on a page called Port Forwarding.

port forwarding
This is the port forwarding page from your BT router.

Step 4 - Create A Port Forward Entry

Opening a port to a specific device may solve problems that you are having on your network. Make sure that it is necessary though, before opening a port, because you are effectively creating a pinhole in the firewall portion of your router that could lead to malicious traffic on your network. The risk is exceedingly low, though, so don't let this warning stop you from making this change if you need it.

Here are the ports to forward for Xbox Live:

  • TCP Ports: 3074
  • UDP Ports: 3074

If you are looking for the ports for a different application you can find it by either:

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  1. Click on the button labeled Create a new port forwarding rule.

  2. Type in a name for this forward in the Rule Name box. Choose a name that will help you remember why this forward was set up since it does not affect the functionality of the forward.

  3. Click on the Show IP Address button.

    • Click on Enter IP Address.
    • In the Set IP Address box, enter the IP address that you want ports forwarded to. This may be the IP address of your computer or the IP address of another device on your network that you want to forward ports to.
    • Click on the Set button.
  4. To forward a single port, enter the port number into the External Ports Start and the External Ports End boxes. To forward a range of ports, enter the lowest number in the range into the External Ports Start box. Then enter the highest number in the range into the External Ports End box.

  5. In the Internal Ports box, enter the same values that you entered into the External Ports box.

  6. Use the Protocol dropdown box to select the protocol type of the ports you are forwarding. If your router has the option of Both, then choose that. Otherwise, choose either TCP or UDP as needed. If you need to forward a port for both TCP and UDP and your router does not have Both, then you have to create two entries.

  7. To finish adding the entry, click the Add icon, which is at the right of the screen.

  8. Click the Save button at the top of the page when you are completely finished to apply these changes.

Test Your Ports To See If They Are Open

Use our Network Utilities software, (which includes a free Open Port Checker tool) to test your network to see if you have forwarded ports in the BT Smart Hub 6A router correctly. Open Port Checker is the only online port checking tool that has Guaranteed Results.

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