Do I need their router?

amcraig

Thinking about moving my broadband to plusnet. BT have "accidentally" disconnected my phone and as a result my broadband has been ceased. I'd be joining as a new customer and wouldn't be transferring my broadband over.

Anyway, they are keen to send me their router for £6.99. I already have a router which is a firewall as well I think (used to be the ex's baby so I'm on a bit of a learning curve here) so I'm of the opinion that it's going to be more secure than a freebie from Plusnet. Am I right?

Also, Plusnet have stated that they are "unable to use a router provided by another supplier as they block there settings". I know I can log into the router so surely it's just a matter of them telling me IP addresses etc and I can make the necessary changes to my existing router (or am I living in a technical cloud cuckoo land?)

macman

Any unlocked router should work with Plusnet as long as you enter the correct settings, but they will not support other routers. So if you do get problems, you will be on your own for tech support.
Their router is a standard Thomson box which supports WPA encryption, so it's as secure as anything else if properly set up. Certainly worth £6.99, even if you then put it on eBay!

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

amcraig wrote: »

so surely it's just a matter of them telling me IP addresses etc and I can make the necessary changes to my existing router (or am I living in a technical cloud cuckoo land?)

Not quite. You'll get a Dynamic IP address as default so they won't be able to 'give' you one.

You should be able to reset your existing router and let it find the settings by itself.

One other thing; Plusnet is now actually owned by BT.