If you’ve just got your BT hub or you’ve had one for a while, then it might take some getting used to. One thing that you will notice about the BT Hub is that it’s lights are a variety of different colours, which might be a change for you if you’ve previously just had a red/green router at home.
And it can be even more of a challenge to know what all of these different colours mean. So in this short guide, we’ll look at the different light colours mean on your BT Hub, whether they’re solid or flashing too.
BT Hub Lights Guide
The lights on a BT Hub are a little different to the majority of different routers out there, so you’ll need to look through a colour coded guide to know what’s what. Generally, green and blue are considered to be good, whilst red, orange and purple aren’t so good.
These are the basics to what your hub lights mean. There has been different models released over the last few years, so it may vary depending on which hub you have at home. But for the most part, the colours have remained the same throughout.
Though no matter what colour you’ve got on your hub, there’s usually a solution to fix the issue. So, let’s look through the colours that will show up on your BT Hub.
Green Light
If you’re getting a green light on your BT Hub, then things are all good. A green light will generally just come on when you’re starting up your hub, and it’s nothing to worry about. It should stay green for a little while, and when it’s on properly, then this light will turn to blue.
If your Hub is stuck on a green light permanently, then a hard reset is in order. You can do this by pressing your hub’s factory reset button (you’ll need a paperclip to do this).
Blue Light
Although on some other routers a blue light isn’t good, on a BT Home hub this is the signal that everything is running as it should. You’re properly connected to the internet, and it should be working as normal.
On older models, a duller blue light is an indication that your hub is in energy saving mode. If you have a blue light and your hub isn’t working, then it’s more likely to be a problem with your device than the hub itself. Restarting your device is the best idea if your hub is working fine.
Orange
The orange light is the most common question that people have over their home hub. We can divide this into two different parts.
If you have a flashing orange light, then this is all good. Generally, this just means that your hub is just connecting to the internet. If you wait a few minutes, then eventually this will progress into a solid blue light.
However, if from a flashing orange light you then get a solid orange light, then there’s a problem here. A solid orange light means that the hub is all working fine, but it isn’t connected to the internet for some reason.
The best way to fix this? Connect your laptop to the hub and head into Safari, Chrome or another web browser. Here, you’ll be able to troubleshoot the reason why your home hub hasn’t been able to connect to the internet properly.
So, if your hub is working fine but isn’t connected to the internet, using the BT help wizard is the best way to get your internet back online.
Purple
Another light which also indicates that there’s a problem is a flashing purple light. This generally means that the broadband cable to your hub hasn’t been inserted properly – if it is inserted, this could indicate a problem with the cable itself.
On older models of Hub, a flashing purple light may indicate that there’s just a problem connecting to the internet in general. In this case, as above you’ll need to troubleshoot via a web browser.
Red
Red is another indicator that there’s a problem with your hub in general. You can go through the same processes as above and see if you can find a resolution for the problem. Trying a factory reset is the best thing to do if you’re fced with a red light.
No light
There’s only two reasons why you might have no lights on you BT Hub. The first one is pretty obvious – it’s not switched on properly. This might be due to your power, your cables, but if your hub is switched on, then it’ll have lights on.
The only exception to this is if someone has turned off the lights in the settings of the hub itself. You can go in and check this to see if the lights on your hub have been switched off.
Types of BT Home Hub
Depending on which Home Hub you have, you’re going to find that the instructions on their lights may vary slightly. These are the models that are still generally in circulation in the UK today.
Conclusion
All in all, it’s quite easy to know what to do when you see each of the flashing lights on your BT Home Hub – once you know what they mean, that is. Whilst it’s quite similar to other hubs, it can be a little confusing if you’ve switched over from another router brand like Virgin. So, hopefully this guide comes in handy.
