Forwarding Ports in a BT Smart Hub Router

This BT Smart Hub router has a firewall that helps protect your home network from unwanted Internet access. The firewall does this by blocking all incoming and outgoing connections that are not authorized. Some online games run much smoother with additional connections opened. To do this you need to create what is called a port forward. This forwards the named port or connection to a specific device on your home network.

In this guide we will be showing you exactly how to get ports forwarded on the BT Smart Hub router. We will show you how to:

setup a static IP address on the exact device you are forwarding these ports to.
login to the BT Smart Hub router.
find the port forwarding section of the router.
create a port forward entry for the BT Smart Hub router.

We think that forwarding a port should be easy. That's why we created Network Utilities. Our software does everything that you need to forward a port.

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Step 1

It is important to setup a static ip address in the device that you are forwarding a port to. This ensures that your ports will remain open even after your device reboots.

Recommended - Our free Static IP Setter will set up a static IP address for you.
Another way to get a permanent IP address is to set up a DHCP reservation.
Or, manually create a static ip address with our Static IP Guides.

This step is important because you want a permanent IP address in your device. If you do not set up a permanent IP address in your device, then when you device reboots it may get a new IP address.

Use a VPN Instead

Have you considered using a VPN instead of forwarding a port? For most users, a VPN is a much simpler and more secure choice than forwarding a port.

We use and recommend NordVPN because not only is it the fastest VPN, it includes a new feature called Meshnet that makes forwarding a port no longer necessary for most applications. With NordVPN Meshnet, you can connect to your devices from anywhere in the world, completely secure, over a highly encrypted VPN tunnel.

Every time you click on one of our affiliate links, such as NordVPN, we get a little kickback for introducing you to the service. Think of us as your VPN wingman.

TIP: I recommend writing this static IP address down, you will need it a little later in this guide.

Step 2

In this step we show you how to login to the BT Smart Hub router interface. This router, along with most others, use a web interface to make setting changes. This means you need to login using a web browser.

It normally doesn't matter which browser you decide to use, we recommend picking one you are the most familiar with such as Chrome, Internet Explorer, Edge, or Firefox.

Once you have opened the web browser you want to use, find the address bar. This is usually found at the top of the page like this:

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 router and type in your router's IP address.

The default BT Smart Hub IP Address is: 192.168.1.254

After you have entered the router's IP address in the address bar simply press the Enter key on your keyboard. If the correct IP address was used you will see a login screen or window like this:

If you are unable to bring up a login screen or the web browser tells you the site cannot be reached, then you need to find out what the router's IP address has been changed to. Follow the directions on this How To Find Your Router's IP Address page to find out.

On the login page you should be asked for a password.

The Default BT Smart Hub Router Username is: admin
The Default BT Smart Hub Router Password is: password

Having Trouble?

If the username and password we gave you above did not work, don't panic. Here are some things you can try:

Router manufacturers are always updating their routers and they may have changed the router's username and password as well. I recommend trying other default BT username/password combinations. Here is our list of all the Default BT Router Passwords.

If that did not work, it is probably because you were prompted to change the username and password in the router setup and have forgotten what or even that you did change them. Try guessing what you may of changed the username and password to. We have a Find Password App that does the guessing for you. Learn more about it on this page.

As a last resort, if you are still locked out of your router interface, you may need to consider a factory reset. A factory reset erases all the changed settings in the router, including the username and password. I do not recommend doing this unless you have fully exhausted all your other troubleshooting options. All settings you have changed in the past and more if you use DSL are erased. To learn how to reset a router, read this How to Reset a Router guide.

Step 3

You should now be logged into the router interface. To find the port forwarding section of the router we begin on the Home page:

First, you need to click the option in the lower right corner labeled Advanced settings.

You should now see a page like the one above.

Time to select the option of Firewall.

This should take you to a page like the one you see above. This is the correct page to be on to create a port forward entry.

Press the button labeled Create a new port forwarding rule.

Step 4

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:

Browsing our List of Games

Check out our our List of Games by Genre

See our List of all Applications

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Put a name for this forward in the Rule name box so that you can remember why you set this forward up. The name does not matter so pick something that has meaning to you.

You need to enter the IP address that you are forwarding ports to in the IP Address box. It's possible for this to be either the IP address of your computer or any other IP address on your network that you want ports forwarded to.

If you are forwarding a range of ports, enter the lowest number of the range into the External ports Start and Internal ports Start boxes. Then enter the highest number of the range into the External ports End and Internal ports End boxes. If you are forwarding a single port, enter that port number into the External ports Start, External ports End, Internal ports Start and Internal ports End boxes.

In the Protocol box select the protocol that you want to forward these ports over.

When you are done click the Add button.

Don't forget to save your changes when you are finished.

Test Your Port Forward

After you have finished all the steps above, it is a very good idea to check and see if the ports forwarded properly. I recommend using our Open Port Checker. It is part of our Network Utilities bundle. Our port checker is guaranteed to give you an accurate reading on whether your ports are forwarded properly or not.