Two different BT features get called “smart setup”, and people trying to turn one off usually end up in the settings for the other. Worth separating them before you start clicking.
Smart Setup is the helper that hijacks the first web page a new device requests and shows you a BT welcome screen instead. It is meant to walk you through installing BT apps. On a laptop it is a mild irritation. On anything that expects a plain internet connection, such as a streaming box, a games console or a Kodi install, it looks like a broken connection, because the device asks for a URL and gets BT’s page back.
BT Parental Controls is the network-level filter that blocks categories of website across your whole line. This is the one that stops sites loading permanently rather than just on first connection. If pages are being refused with a BT block message days after a device joined, this is what you are looking for and Smart Setup is not.
Turning Smart Setup off
Smart Setup lives in the Hub Manager, which you reach from any device already on the network.
- Open a browser and go to 192.168.1.254, or type bthomehub.home into the address bar.
- Select Advanced Settings.
- Enter the admin password. Unless somebody has changed it, it is printed on the card that clips into the back of the hub, labelled as the admin password rather than the wireless key.
- Select Continue to Advanced Settings.
- Go to Home Network, then Smart Setup.
- Set it to No and select Apply.
The menu layout shifts between hub generations. On a Home Hub 5 the path above is exact. On a Smart Hub or Smart Hub 2 the option sits in the same Advanced Settings area but the wording and grouping differ, so look for Smart Setup under the home network section rather than expecting the identical sequence.
Reboot any device that was being redirected. Most of them cache the redirect and will keep showing BT’s page until they are reconnected.
If it is parental controls instead
Parental Controls are not in the hub at all. They run on BT’s network, which is why resetting the hub does not clear them and why they apply to a phone on 4G that joins your Wi-Fi.
Sign in to My BT with the account holder’s login, find Parental Controls under your broadband package, and either switch the filter off or adjust the categories. Changes take a few minutes to take effect and sometimes need a device to drop and rejoin the network.
BT Web Protect is a third thing again, aimed at malware sites rather than content categories, and it has its own toggle in the same area. Leaving that one on is sensible.
The card, and what happens when it goes
BT hubs carry two credentials on that card. The wireless key gets devices onto the network. The admin password gets you into the Hub Manager, and it is the one you need here.
If the card has gone and the admin password has never been changed, our directory of default logins covers BT alongside 459 other manufacturers. If somebody has changed it and nobody remembers to what, the reset pinhole on the back returns everything to factory settings, including the wireless key, so expect to reconnect every device in the house afterwards.
People mix these two up constantly, and the symptom is a hub rejecting a password that plainly works on every phone. We explain why they are separate in Wi-Fi password versus router password.
Common questions
Does turning off Smart Setup affect my broadband?
No. It only stops the hub intercepting the first web request from a newly connected device. Speed and connectivity are unchanged.
Why do pages still get blocked after I disabled Smart Setup?
Because the block is coming from Parental Controls, which run on BT’s network rather than in the hub. Turn those off in My BT.
Where is the BT Hub admin password?
On the pull-out card at the back of the hub, listed separately from the wireless key. It is also on our default password list if the card is missing and it has never been changed.
Will a hub reset turn off parental controls?
No. They are applied at the network level against your account, so the filter survives a reset and a hub replacement.
