BT Home Hub

My exchange is due to enable FTTC some time in March (Sam Knows is showing March 1st, BT Checker on their Infinity site is showing 31st March so I am guessing probably end of March or April as these things tend to get delayed).

I have seen BT doing a lot of work on cabinets here the last couple of months so I am confident it wont be set back yet another year like last year.

So I have been looking at various providers and it seems BT are actually doing the best deal on their £25 p/m unlimited with 40MB down and 10MB up and free access to their WiFi network (I travel a -lot-) - which is a shame I would much rather use a smaller provider.

Now I bought a nice Billion router last year specifically for FTTC so I just wondered if you are forced to take the BT Home Hub if you choose BT Infinity or whether you can use your own router?

I have been waiting for this upgrade for 2 years now so I am keen to make the move but I certainly don't want to use a BT Home Hub.

Failing that, are there any other providers offering a decent unlimited package with the 10MB upload?

Thanks,

No problem in using your own router - but it needs an Ethernet WAN interface.

However, if BT supply a HomeHub then you will need to keep it available for any fault finding if problems arise.

You can use your own router, but it is advisable to accept the included installation of the BT Home Hub. First it gives you a standby, and second there is some tie-in with the provision of the wifi elsewhere. That is provided on condition that you offer it on your Home Hub.

I have a feeling that they don't check this after the initial setting up, but may be wrong. Also I think some turn theirs on before travelling and off again when at home. Not sure if it is a monthly or instant thing though.

Well that is good then, I have no issue in keeping the hub for "fault finding" issues.

It is just a shame no-one else seems able to compete with BT on the FTTC stuff yet, the few providers I found offering unlimited with 10Mb upload were all much more expensive - I am not a big fan of BT due to past practices.

I don't actually need the unlimitd package but I do find myself using a lot more LoveFilm and Sky especially since the recent XBox dashboard updates, so I just want to future proof my usage as I can see my use of VoD services increasing over the next couple of years, given that I travel so much so I often end up using catchup services.

Thanks again for the replies.