EE Smart Router Unlocking (EE Smart Hub 2)

Hi there!

New to this forum so my apologies if I have posted this in the wrong area.

Long story short I’ve been doing a bit of research into the new EE Smart Router and how to potentially unlock it to be used with other ISP’s (Note this is the newer all white version. Not the older model based of the HH6)

I’ve come to discover a few things and I was wondering if anyone more technical than me maybe knows how to take this unlocking idea further. All I have seen online for this is someone showing a “proof of concept” but not actually how to do it. What I’d love to achieve is being able to do such a job and then share it with the internet so it can become public knowledge.

One thing I’ve discovered is that it still appears to be based of the original HH6 maybe with newer firmware? I’m not entirely sure on this however a quick inspect element shows HH6 Menu settings which makes me feel this maybe the case.

I’ve also been playing around with the inspect element debugger. After spotting the “domain_lock_eb==1” which appears to tell the router to lock the domains to a specific list I entered the console to set it to “domain_lock_eb==0” which appeared to work and let me save the settings. But because I’m not currently connected via a DSL cable (because I don’t want to turn my Wi-Fi off just yet lol) I’m not entirely sure if that alone will make it connect so I will have to see as right now it saves, attempts to connect then resets back to the default readytoconnect@fs.

I just wondered if anyone else had any other ideas? I also will post an update after trying the connection with what I’ve changed so far. Remember I want to do this to help everyone trying to unlock this router. Not just me

The first question that pops into my heads is, why would anyone want to use a EE Smart Router with another ISP?

secondly are EE Smart Routers loaned or purchased from EE when taking out a service? if they are loaned then they should be returned when the contract comes to an end.

Didn't the previous BT and its subsidiaries routers only work with other ISPs in that family?

It’s not so much for me. I am an EE customer, not too sure on the router situation but I know if you was to leave early they tend to charge you £50 for not returning it. Not exactly a massive pill to swallow.

The only reason I’m testing this is because I have 2 lines so I can and for those who do want to use an EE router. The best idea that pops into my mind is if you have the EE/BT smart Wi-Fi discs. Having a mesh system that also uses that router is quite a nice touch to simplify things. And why would you want to pay out to replace it all if you have it already?

Correct! So looking at the list of supported suppliers it’s very much BT, EE and Plusnet however I did also notice a bunch of Indian ISP’s also supported which I wonder why? But I’m looking to see if it’s possible to open that up to more options. Because giving consumers a choice is a nice touch. Especially if ISP’s are going to continue to improve their kit. Not everyone wants to go out and buy a good wireless router so it makes sense that if their old ISP provided a better piece of hardware you may want to use that instead

In reply to a post by OfficialSnap:

I know if you was to leave early they tend to charge you £50 for not returning it. Not exactly a massive pill to swallow.

It has nothing to do with leaving early, the router is not owned so always has to be returned when the service is ceased otherwise a penalty charge is applied.

In reply to a post by OfficialSnap:

After spotting the “domain_lock_eb==1” which appears to tell the router to lock the domains to a specific list I entered the console to set it to “domain_lock_eb==0” which appeared to work and let me save the settings. But because I’m not currently connected via a DSL cable (because I don’t want to turn my Wi-Fi off just yet lol) I’m not entirely sure if that alone will make it connect so I will have to see as right now it saves

The fact you have managed to change a setting but you're not willing to test makes this all sound a little fishy.

Only you can decide what to do regarding your wi-fi but as you have 2 lines why would you need to switch off the wi-fi? Just test the modem side of things and we will all be wiser once the details are published.

If you need help then the information is already out there and there is no need for this.

I didn’t say what you said did have something to do with leaving early did I? I was just stating all I knew that’s all. I agree with your point though. If they do state in terms and conditions that they expect it back after you leave you should return it. Like I said this information is not for me, I’m an EE customer and have been for some time. I don’t plan on leaving but I know there are people that don’t return their equipment. As I said before I’m not entirely sure if they expect you to at a contracts end and I’m not going to sit here and say that’s the right thing to do if they do expect that.

And to your other part when did I say I wasn’t willing to do it? Yes I have 2 lines but 1 is my EE line. I’ll have to be taking both lines offline temporarily to try the setting change so I’m just waiting for a better opportunity where I know no one will really be using the internet (Or move devices over to a temporary 5G connection so I can keep things up and running!) I plan to look back into this later today and see what happens and as I stated in my original post I will report back with what happens

Because to do this I would need to disconnect my EE router and switch it on to my 2nd line. That would involve me temporarily disconnecting both connections. That’s why I’m just waiting for a better time to do this when the internet will rarely be used

I plan to do this tonight and I will report back my findings!

I agree. I have an old Vodafone which can't be used for anything else as there is no way of entering a connection userid and password. Ofcom don't appear to care about saving the planet, though suppliers of network locked mobile phones now have to unlock them if you pay the fee.

So 2 lines one with EE and the other with another ISP?

In reply to a post by OfficialSnap:

I have 2 lines but 1 is my EE line.

Out of pure interest why do you need two broadband connections in one property?

Exactly my point! If providers done this the amount of electronic waste that could be cut down would be massive! It would allow for the main providers to start being comfortable with the possibility of offering consumers a choice as to whether they want to use their own hardware before placing an order instead of making a piece of kit be sent out.

Vodafone routers are in particular disappointing that they lock them down so much. Vodafone’s hardware has always been solid and their latest router I’m pretty sure it based of a Technicolor model that is open to any network. However with Vodafone routers I can be atleast happy to tell you that they do work with any network that runs using the TalkTalk infrastructure! This is because whilst TalkTalk based networks do provide you with a broadband username and password they typically aren’t actually doing any of the authentication (Very strange I know! But I did notice it over my time of testing their network with other routers in the past) I’m still yet to understand how it then authenticates but there is some magic going on there!

Sky routers I still feel are the worst. Locked down to Sky/Now only and their network will not run on a majority of other routers due to MER authentication. I have seen a couple routers work with Sky in the past as long as they can handle MER authentication but the setup was very complicated and required me to find an old O2 broadband username and password as Sky doesn’t use them and will never provide you with that sort of information due to their T&C’s.

Correct!

I get that question a lot! And there is 1 or 2 main reasons.

I never used to have 2 lines. Only got it installed when I found out it was thing but it’s been a big help! You see everything in my home is internet based, from TV channels to smart home equipment to multiple game consoles. And at my address the broadband speed has dropped quite a bit from recent years since our cabinet became more full. On a 76mbps download package with both it normally sits around 50 and I started to realise 1 connection at around 50mbps handling all this bandwidth wasn’t good enough. Especially when you’ve got multiple 4K Netflix streams running! So I took out the 2nd line to separate the consoles and PC’s so that bandwidth isn’t further draining our 1st line

Another reason is it’s actually became a really good back up! Before I switched to EE I had TalkTalk on my 1st line. I found every now and then some random fault would appear that only affected their wholesale network on the cabinet. Meaning whilst that was being fixed on I still had a completely working network on my other provider running on Vodafone’s backhaul. It was never necessarily intended to be a backup but damn it was so nice being able to just switch my mesh Wi-Fi gear to the other network and not have no internet throughout the couple hours it was down!

Suppose when you don't have the luxury of FTTP or a leased line you have to make the best with what you can get.

Exactly! It's quite a shame we don't have FTTP as Openreach, Hyperoptic and Youfibre have all been making efforts to roll out FTTP at my property for a while now. Hyperoptic were the first and haven't made any significant progress since 2018! Youfibre no longer say its coming on their site and their customer service says it's still listed to be done but they aren't as close as they thought. Then Openreach... Well I don't even know what they are doing. They started down the road about 6 months back then stopped and haven't done anything since.

*UPDATE*

I have since tried it but currently got no progress on it. It at first looks promising, attempts to connect and for a brief second does so successfully but then resets back to the original settings. I'm wondering if there is a piece of code that is making the router reset back to default settings and if so maybe I could turn that off.

I'm also looking to see if it's possible to update the list of accepted domains, maybe I could edit that list with my Vodafone based broadband provider to do it that way. All very much hard work but I'm not done with this project

I did consider a leased line. Maybe even a bonded connection?

At a guess / stab it’s running EE spec firmware which probably has some TR-069 auto provisioning functionality running within it.