BT Broadband - has anyone noticed?

Victors_Bruvver

When I first got broadband from BT all those years ago and were introducing BT Fon they were always inviting me to sign up for it and I refused. I now notice that I have been automatically signed up for Fon and that if I should 'turn' it off, they will stop me from using BT Openzone when I am away from home.

Upside is my Orange mobile account 'gives' me free BT Openzone but its all this changing around of T&Cs that confuses me. I have on my mobile phone alongside my BTHome Hub; BT WiFi, BT WiFi-with-Fon and BT Openzone. All very confusing as I would at some stage ditch my BT Home Hub for a router that I do not have to share as I live in a built area and sharing with BT Fon does not help.

Anyone care to comment or is just me being pickey?

fruitypuds

BT Broadband customers are ALL paying to run *2* BT Fon wireless signals 24/7 whether they use BT Fon or not. You can disable it, with no loss to your home Internet/wireless.

As someone who uses broadband only at home, and via a wired network because I get headaches and disturbed sleep from too much Wi-Fi, I was furious to discover that about a year ago BT quietly updated all their Home Hub routers to be automatically opted-in to BT Fon. I was (I thought) turning off wireless, and blaming the neighbours' signals for my lack of sleep. Thanks to working out how to monitor local Wi-Fi signals via my laptop, I now realise that there are TWO other Wi-Fi signals being emitted from my router without my consent, *using my electricity* because BT want a wireless signal everywhere they can. I DON'T WANT to use BT Fon. For anyone else in this situation, here's how to turn it off (on BT Home Hub 3, but check if you have a different model)

1. Opt out of BT Fon:
bt.com/wifi/secure/status.do? (this switches off the 2 open signals, but still allows you to turn your local Wi-Fi on and off:
(takes 48 hours apparently)

2. If you occasionally use wireless, turn on/off the original (your own) signal here:
bthomehub.home/html/common/advanced_login.html
You'll need your password (on the plastic clip in the top back of the router, unless you changed it).

3. If you never/rarely use Wireless (turns off all wireless in your router, but wired connections still work):
bthomehub.home (That's your router's homepage)
> BT Manual Power Save: [Configure] (If it asks for admin password, it's on the clip in the back of your router)
> Set BT Power Save mode enable: [yes]
> Power saving between: [12:00] and [12:00]
> [Apply]

Victors_Bruvver

fruitypuds wrote: »

BT Broadband customers are ALL paying to run *2* BT Fon wireless signals 24/7 whether they use BT Fon or not. You can disable it, with no loss to your home Internet/wireless.

Thanks for that those very helpful and precise instructions fruitypuds. I will try them out later on. However I am still a little more than irritated that BT have sneaked this in without proper notice.

I obviously use BT Fon and BT Openzone so cannot complain at the fact that away from home I can conveniently pick up Wi-Fi for my emails etc., But living in a town centre and sharing my Router & Wi-Fi signal with other users give me connection problems. I know to some it sounds like I am being selfish but it would be help if BT could allow some of us to elect to drop out, as they used to.