All BT Home Hub 5 routers include a basic firewall that helps to protect your home network from any unwanted access from the Internet. This firewall blocks connections from the Internet you may want opened for a game or application to run smoother. In order to unblock these connections you need to create a port forward. A port forward literally forwards the port you designate to a device of your choosing on your local home network.
This process can be overwhelming if you have never done it before. We will walk you through each step in the process.
We will show you how to:
- Setup a static IP address on the device you plan on forwarding these ports to.
- Login to your BT Home Hub 5 router.
- Navigate to the port forwarding section.
- Click the Advanced Settings button.
- Click the Continue to Advanced Settings button.
- Click the Firewall link.
- Click on Port Forwarding.
- Click the Manage Games and Applications button.
- Click the Add New Game or Application button.
- Enter a name in the Game/Application Name box.
- Click the No radio button.
- Create a port forward entry.
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.
When you use Network Utilities you get your port forwarded right now!
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.
Step 2
Now let's login to your BT Home Hub 5 router. This router uses a web interface which means you need to use a web browser to login. It can be any web browser, just pick your favorite. Some options are:
- Internet Explorer
- Firefox
- Edge
- Chrome
Once you have picked your web browser, open it up and find the address bar. This looks like this:
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 Home Hub 5 IP Address is: 192.168.1.254
After you have finished entering the router's IP address you can simply press the Enter key. It will open up the Home page of the router like this:
This is the Home page of your BT Home Hub 5 router. You can look at this page without signing in. We need to do more than just look at the settings though so go ahead and click the Advanced Settings option at the top of the page.
Now you are asked for a password. Go ahead and enter the password in the appropriate space.
By default the BT Home Hub 5 password is: Printed on the router's label
Having Trouble?
If you changed the password in the past and can't remember what you changed it to, there is a Hint button and if you are still stuck you can use the Forgotten Your Password? option.
Step 3
You should now be logged into your router. Time to find the port forwarding section of the router. We start on the Advanced Settings page:
Go ahead and click the Continue to Advanced Settings button.
You should now see some new options in the blue bar near the top of the page. Select the option of Firewall.
A new menu appears below that, pick the Port Forwarding option.
This directs you to a page like the one shown above. Select the option of Manage Games and Applications on the right side of the page.
Then select the Add New Game or Application option on the right side of the page.
Directly under the heading of Add user defined game or application enter the name of the program you plan on forwarding ports for in the Game/Application box. It doesn't really matter what you enter in this box, but we recommend something that will remind you why you are forwarding these ports.
Put a mark in the No radio button next to Copy an existing game/application.
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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You might notice that most of our site doesn't have ads on it. This is because we use partnerships with companies like NordVPN to keep the site running. Thank you for supporting us by using our referral links.
From the Protocol box select the protocol for the ports that you want to forward.
If you are forwarding a range of ports then you need to enter the lowest number of that range into the left hand Port Range and Translate To boxes and the highest number of that range into the right hand Port Range and Translate To boxes.
If you are forwarding a single port then you can enter that same port number into both of the Port Range and both of the Translate To boxes.
Click the Add button when you are done.
Make sure to click the Apply button when you are finished.
This takes you to a page similar to the one you see above. Select the option of Back to Port Forwarding in the lower right corner of the screen.
Now, find the Device drop down list and choose the device you are forwarding these ports to. This list contains all the devices that are visible on your home network. Make sure you choose the device that you setup a static IP address for in step 1.
In the Game or Application drop down list choose the name of the program you plan on forwarding. This is the name you created in the last part of step 3.
Then click the Add button to enable it.
When you're finished, click Apply at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.
Test if Your Ports are Open
After you have finished forwarding the ports on the BT Home Hub 5 router you need to test them to see if they forwarded correctly. We recommend using our free Open Port Checker. This is in our free trial version of the Network Utilities tool. Our Open Port Checker is not only free but is guaranteed to work.
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