Do branded WiFi extenders still work if you change supplier?

bigpat

I'm just about to move house and the existing owner has Virgin Media. She said there were some dead spots in the house and she got a pair of plug-in devices from Virgin. She has offered them to me for £10.

As far as I can see they are very similar (perhaps identical) to these ones from Argos, except they are branded as Virgin.

Would they only work with Virgin Wifi, e.g. locked to their Hub somehow, or should I be able to pair them with any new router I get? I haven't decided on a supplier yet, but I'm thinking of Plus Net.

Neil_Jones

Most provider stuff is just repackaged something else.

The TalkTalk routers for example are repackaged Huawei units, and I believe the Virgin Superhub is just repackaged Netgear.

Indeed the Plusnet One router is a Home Hub 5 in new colours, which is itself a repackaged IIRC either Huawei or Netgear.

bigpat

Thanks, that was my guess too. Are they all pretty much compatible with each other as far as you know? Or if these are indeed Netgear and my if new supplier happens to use a Huawei hub, will they not work?

Croft12

bigpat wrote: »

Thanks, that was my guess too. Are they all pretty much compatible with each other as far as you know? Or if these are indeed Netgear and my if new supplier happens to use a Huawei hub, will they not work?

Powerline devices are pretty much agnostic to the router. I've never used the rebranded virgin device but it looks a pretty standard rebrand and its running on your power cables so not sure what it would be locked to. For £10 its not a big risk and you can always put them on ebay etc...

bigpat

I just wondered if they could have different wavelengths or frequencies or I]insert other technical term[/I. Sounds unlikely, from what you've said and yes, worth risking a tenner. Thanks!

Croft12

bigpat wrote: »

I just wondered if they could have different wavelengths or frequencies or I]insert other technical term[/I. Sounds unlikely, from what you've said and yes, worth risking a tenner. Thanks!

Just don't mix different powerlines if you have your own. If your in a semi might be worth checking what the neighbours use.