topic How to connect a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) to your Smart Hub in Broadband & Landline

How to connect a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) to your Smart Hub

manc_mikeh — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 15:54:40 GMT

EE provides a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) to our vulnerable customers with Digital Voice, so the broadband Hub still has power if there’s a power cut at your address. This is so you can still make emergency calls from your Digital Voice phone or connected existing corded handset.

You’ll need to make sure you've connected your digital handset to your Smart Hub or plug your corded handset into the phone port in the back of your hub.

If you would like to register as a vulnerable customer, visit our Here For You page.

Setting up the Battery Backup Unit to your Smart Hub

Slide open the battery compartment of your Battery Backup Unit and remove the battery.
Slide the battery back in part of the way so you can connect the red wire to the red terminal.
Slide the battery in fully and replace the cover.
Plug the Battery Backup Unit into the mains using the power cable.
Turn On the mains power.
The Battery Backup Unit status light will show green.
Unplug the existing power cable from your Hub.
Connect the Hub to the Battery Backup Unit using the supplied Hub connector cable.
Your Hub light will show green, then amber, then finally blue once the hub is up and running.

The battery takes 24 hours to become fully charged but you can still use your hub in the meantime.

Re: How to connect a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) to your Smart Hub

XRaySpeX — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 17:34:55 GMT

Doesn't the ONT also need Battery Backup or does it already come with it?

Re: How to connect a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) to your Smart Hub

medwds — Sat, 10 Aug 2024 23:11:47 GMT

There are various kinds of ONT. The widely-used 1-port Huawei modem is typically housed within a wall-mounted enclosure with room for a backup battery next to it. An article by ISPreview suggests Openreach stopped supplying backup batteries as standard around 2018. The houses on our estate, built in 2019, have this enclosure and ONT but no backup battery.

As for the current EE option, it appears that both the Hub and ONT can use the same kind of battery, and that if you have full fibre – and therefore an ONT – you can order two backup batteries for the same price.