Keep home hub at end of contract?

Coming to the end of my contract and wondering if its possible to keep the home hub free and use a wifi access point only (other ISP im moving to has a router with rubbish wifi) if I end up moving from BT?

They usually send a jiffy bag or some such, the implication being that they would wish it returned.*










*awaits the onslaught of 'Nah, just keep it' type posts.

It's your router, but they'll send you a jiffy bag to "recycle" it. In other words, they want the router that they've made you indirectly pay for back, so they can charge another person for it. Fat chance, BT!

It won't be much use on other networks, as most BT routers (and certainly the newer Smart Hub model) are locked to BT Retail, not even just BT Wholesale. So it's not much use anyway. My advice - sell it and get a bit of money for it.

In reply to a post by pernickitypedant:

most BT routers (and certainly the newer Smart Hub model) are locked to BT Retail, not even just BT Wholesale.

If it happens to be a 5A series Hub, you can put your own firmware on it, and use it with any network.
Also, TalkTalk will let you online whatever the credentials, so BT Hubs and Sky Hubs all work on TT.

Problem with that is I LOVE pulling things apart to see how they work, I presume the Jiffy bag is large enough for all the disassembled component parts?

In reply to a post by Mml:

In reply to a post by pernickitypedant:

most BT routers (and certainly the newer Smart Hub model) are locked to BT Retail, not even just BT Wholesale.

If it happens to be a 5A series Hub, you can put your own firmware on it, and use it with any network.
Also, TalkTalk will let you online whatever the credentials, so BT Hubs and Sky Hubs all work on TT.

My homehub would never work on my TT line, TT does not use IP Routing (PPP) & has no un/pw.

On the contray, the TT router can be set up to work on BT.

If you find it possible let us know how.

I'm with Talk Talk Business. I think what he meant was you can supply any username and password on a TalkTalk FTTC connection and it authenticates you. Can confirm Homehubs Plusnet hubs and Skyhubs work on TT.

I believe this is not the case on ADSL with them however.

In reply to a post by pernickitypedant:

My advice - sell it and get a bit of money for it.

That's what I did! I was nearly rich after sale!

Really? Does that only apply to VDSL2? I always used a username and password when on their ADSL2+ service.

Take a talktalk fibre router out of the box. The setting does not have username / password option enabled.

You have to change it to IP routing (PPP) to enter one. It comes as IP routing (IP) out of the box. To be totally honest I don't know what the difference is, it's the only setting I had to change to get a talktalk router working on BT.

Granted all I have done is plug my home hub into the talktalk line, but it did not sync. It stayed amber the light at all times, but it did detect the VDSL signal and speed etc.