Slow BT Broadband? find out why...

Boycott-BT

If you have BT broadband with a Wireless Home Hub (specifically the black one but it could be more) then the chances are you are making money for BT. This is because the Home Hubs are configured to broadcast two other networks, one called BTOpenzone and the other BTFON. These networks are unsecure and require you to register and pay BT for the Internet.

What does this mean for you? well anyone near your property can see these networks and connect to them, they are presented with a page where you can log in or purchase Internet time from BT. Once they do they will have Internet access via your BT Home hub, using your Internet connection via your phone line.

BT don't tell you about this and it is not documented in their terms and conditions. If you phone BT broadband technical support they claim the two networks are nothing to do with you.

Don't suffer slow connection speeds from BT!
Don't let BT sublet your broadband connection!

If this concerns you please comment and share your views

Esqui

They prioritise the home user's connection.
They give you free minutes to use on any BT Fon connection.
You can stop the service rather easily.

I think it's rather a good idea, myself.

debitcardmayhem

Esqui wrote: »

They prioritise the home user's connection.
They give you free minutes to use on any BT Fon connection.
You can stop the service rather easily.

I think it's rather a good idea, myself.

Please don't post how to to disable, when I get near to my ISP monthly allowance I use BTOpenzone from my neighbours hub to continue to visit here,
sadly they go to bed in about 15 mins and switch off their hub so I am typing this quickly to let you all know,,,,,:j

ahillsy

I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea and tbh, I wouldn't have thought for the vast majority of people that it would ever be used by outsiders (can't imagine anyone sitting outside my house randomly and paying for the internet).

But if there's no mention of it anywhere, and customers are not made aware of this by reasonable means, that would be my biggest issue with it as I think it's a bit sly to deliberately conceal that functionality from customers. If that is what they've done, then it would seem like they are well aware it would not be popular with their customers.

Lil306

ahillsy wrote: »

I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea and tbh, I wouldn't have thought for the vast majority of people that it would ever be used by outsiders (can't imagine anyone sitting outside my house randomly and paying for the internet).

But if there's no mention of it anywhere, and customers are not made aware of this by reasonable means, that would be my biggest issue with it as I think it's a bit sly to deliberately conceal that functionality from customers. If that is what they've done, then it would seem like they are well aware it would not be popular with their customers.

As far as I know, all people can find out if they are on it, but by default they are not told so it's up to them to find out

I know personally I'm not on BTFON as it wasn't out when I first registered with BT (I got one of those crappy white ones). I'm using the rectangular version2 atm. I'll never let BT enable FON on my wireless. I'm not having people hogging my bandwidth for my speeds.

debitcardmayhem

Lil306 wrote: »

As far as I know, all people can find out if they are on it, but by default they are not told so it's up to them to find out

I know personally I'm not on BTFON as it wasn't out when I first registered with BT (I got one of those crappy white ones). I'm using the rectangular version2 atm. I'll never let BT enable FON on my wireless. I'm not having people hogging my bandwidth for my speeds.

Simple way to find out is (if you have wifi) click on network icon on notification icon/or network sharing centre from control panel/connect to a network, hover mouse on the BTOpen/FON entry and if it shows signal strength as excellent it is probably your hub.. apparently they (hearsay friend from BT) choke it at about 500/1000 Mb/sec plus I never get much more when I use it out and about

the182guy

This is an absolute joke to be honest. I'm glad I'm not with BT. I've seen these networks around here, I just thought they were BT's equipment, not home users!

This means if someone commits an offence, such as cyber terrorism or fraud by using your HomeHub, you could end up being liable, unless BT issue a seperate IP address for the Openzone clients, which is unlikely.

Biggles

Boycott-BT wrote: »

BT don't tell you about this and it is not documented in their terms and conditions. If you phone BT broadband technical support they claim the two networks are nothing to do with you.

BT do, in fact, tell you all about it in great detail (you have only to look on their website at the list of broadband options) and are completely open about it.

I actually opted for it - though I don't have a wireless modem/router - in order that I could make use of BTOpenzone/FON while I was out and about with my Palm device. In practice, however, there are far more 'open' networks than there are BTOpenzone ones, esp at pubs, cafes etc, so I've hardly ever made use of it. For the same reason, I doubt if anyone would make use of mine should I change to a wireless router at home.

Far from 'Boycotting BT', I find they provide a good, reliable fast broadband service. It's not the cheapest, but then I'm happy to pay for the reliability rather than go through a third party provider.

cooki2222

I thought this was very common knowledge, sure when you log into your homehub it even tells you if they are broadcasting.
I myself have it turned off as my iphone always picks up the openzone as default wireless but can be handy especially if you are going on holiday and waiting about airports

Boycott-BT

Some good points raised, especially regarding security. Its interesting to see that you share the same public IP address as anyone connected to your HUB - lets hope anyone connected to your HUB isn't committing online fraud!

Another point about security is the documented Home HUB weaknesses, which means any malicious BTFON, BTopenreach user connected via your HUB can gain access to any device on your network with the right knowledge.

Regarding how to disable it, don't worry BT seem to keep this a secret. You can opt out of BTFON but it does not change your HUB settings. I also don't think the BTopenreach network can be disabled. I think the only way to remove these features on the new firmware is to remove the HUB completely and use an alternative device connected to an ADSL modem.

I have gone through the BT site and followed the process to order broadband, reading all steps, however I still cant see where they tell you - the only mention of BT FON and BTOpenreach relates to 'WiFi minutes' which in no way implies that you will share you broadband.

BT's Broadband Terms and Conditions (www.bt.com/broadband/terms) certainly have no mention of this feature.

If anyone knows how to disable BTOpenzone and BTFON please post the details.

ukmike

If anyone knows how to disable BTOpenzone

Details how to here-
http://bt.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bt.cfg/php/enduser/cci/bt_adp.php?p_sid=&p_faqid=12363&cat_lvl1=346&p_cv=1.346&p_cats=346