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How to recycle old router et al?

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  • anniecave
    anniecave Posts: 2,468 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I recently changed provider and my new provider (Post Office) failed to send a router until I phoned up to ask why it hadn't been received, then it took a further 5 days to arrive. I currently have old routers for plusnet, BT and sky due to previous switches. Can someone technical confirm whether if I say re-signed up to plusnet or sky then would a previous router work, or would I have to use their newly provided router?



    I'm just wondering if my old routers really do have no use, or would they possibly work in the above scenario?
    Indecision is the key to flexibility :)
  • anniecave wrote: »
    Can someone technical confirm whether if I say re-signed up to plusnet or sky then would a previous router work, or would I have to use their newly provided router?

    Some routers are locked to an ISP or limited range of ISPs. In the router setup where it asks for
    Broadband username or login name yourusername@plusdsl.net

    it might not allow an address that isn't plusdsl.net (or whatever).

    However if your router once worked with Plusnet then it should still work - you'll just need to change the yourusername to yournewusername .

    Also some ISPs don't need anything specific in that setup entry as they work from your BT line number.

    You can usually reuse an old router as a wifi access point joining it to the 'main' router with an ethernet cable, and turn off DHCP server on the 'old' router.

    Old/cheaper routers may not have newer 5GHz wifi (Plusnet Hub 0 doesn't have 5GHz, Plusnet Hub 1 is the same internally as the BT Homehub 5 and does).
    A kind word lasts a minute, a skelped erse is sair for a day.
  • You don't have a choice if it's Sky ADSL, they lock you to their own router.

    Not any more.

    This changed a couple of years ago, but they don't make it easy to get your login details.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=sky+broadband+different+router&rlz=1C1GCEB_enGB798GB798&oq=sky+broadband+and+differ&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l2.8119j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
  • wild666
    wild666 Posts: 2,181 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I bought my own modem/router so have no need to get one from the new ISP
    Someone please tell me what money is
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,129 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 19 August 2019 at 4:49PM
    You don't have a choice if it's Sky ADSL, they lock you to their own router.

    They try to. But it is not too tricky to extract the username and set up your own router instead.
    Most routers more than 3 or 4 years old won't support fibre services (i.e they are ADSL not VDSL), so of limited use now ,as most of us have upgraded to FTTC.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
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