What to do with all these routers?

theonlywayisup

esuhl wrote: »

I know -- I bought a bell for my bike on eBay, sent via international post from China, and supplied in a good quality Jiffy bag. It cost 99p with free postage.

eBay charge 35p for the listing.
PayPal charge 20p for the transaction.
Even domestic UK postage would cost more than 44p...

How do they do it?!

Three years later, the bell still works perfectly. For 99p, it's well made.

Slightly OT but:
eBay charge 35p for the listing. Business sellers can get discounts on fees.
PayPal charge 20p for the transaction. A Micro account isn't the same charges as a standard account. A business account also attracts merchant rate discounts. Anyone can have a micro account (much cheaper for sub £10 transaction receipts).
Even domestic UK postage would cost more than 44p...China post is much cheaper than ours, but even UK post is cheaper if you have a business account.

dipsomaniac

esuhl wrote: »

I know -- I bought a bell for my bike on eBay, sent via international post from China, and supplied in a good quality Jiffy bag. It cost 99p with free postage.

eBay charge 35p for the listing.
PayPal charge 20p for the transaction.
Even domestic UK postage would cost more than 44p...

How do they do it?!

Three years later, the bell still works perfectly. For 99p, it's well made.

chinese sellers will only pay pennies for postage around the world due to subsidies, ecomomies of scale and trade agreements

ThemeOne

I just repurposed an old router to be a wifi extender - there are plenty of how-to's online. But it still leaves me with four old routers I can think of no use for.

There are also quite a few articles about flashing routers with a new embedded OS which is said to extend their capabilities, though I haven't tried it.

I guess it would be less wasteful if IPS's didn't automatically supply a router when you sign up, but it probably makes for fewer support calls from new customers trying to setup.

sam1970

ThemeOne wrote: »

I just repurposed an old router to be a wifi extender - there are plenty of how-to's online. But it still leaves me with four old routers I can think of no use for.

There are also quite a few articles about flashing routers with a new embedded OS which is said to extend their capabilities, though I haven't tried it.

I guess it would be less wasteful if IPS's didn't automatically supply a router when you sign up, but it probably makes for fewer support calls from new customers trying to setup.

Agree...the other problem now is that IPS charge for router postage...I just joined BT for home BB and they charged me £7.95 for a new router even though I have many lying around..The last one was supplied by TalkTalk only last year so it is fairly new technology

kwikbreaks

Plusnet at least let you opt out of receiving one.

I've only ever had equipment provided by VM and O2 both of which took their routers back at end of term. My other ISPs were all minor players until I went with Plusnet and I used my own kit. My surplus routers are all ones I bought myself but upgraded from over the years. Even branded routers are not worth selling on eBay.

You can get 99p delivered stuff from UK sellers too. I doubt they can make any profit from such sales but having huge feedback numbers is a benefit too.

DCFC79

Ive got the same issue but not on the scale as everyone else, I have 2 Netgear routers (1 I bought and the other of same model was supplied by VM) and 1 VM Superhub

pappa_golf

ebay , china!


ebay cannot get into the Chinese market , they have scrapped fees , so as to induce people to use them , the same with paypal , we (the west) are subsiding china (ebay)


postage : reciprocal agreement , how many people send parcels to china? its subsidised to hell , on a 99p item I bet they only pay 10-20p in total fees


http://shares.telegraph.co.uk/news/article.php?id=1140858&archive=1&epic=EBAY

DigForVictory

I turned old 5 routers into a mobile for a fellow techie's newborn. She near wept with laughter, & her husband rather pointedly used a studfinder to check it was fastened into a joist.
It was rigging the short cables that did my head in! However, she can now plug in lots of extra toys...

ThemeOne

I'm going to be changing ISP soon, and I think I'll actively look for one that doesn't insist you have their router. Interesting to hear that Plusnet gives you that choice.

fishybusiness

Give them away or bin them.

The spec's and wireless capability of routers has changed so much over the years, older routers mostly hold no value now.

Of course they may be one or two that hold some value - e.g. Netgear 834 DG's as there are alternative firmwares available for long ADSL line stability.

Also consider outlets such as Argos often have deals on for new routers - mine was less than £20 delivered for my cable connection.

Do remove your own login details before moving them on.