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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Review of the Now TV Combo Fibre Broadband Router

Ive had the Now TV Combo fibre broadband router for a few days now, and for anyone looking for info on it, here's my details/review.

 

Take the old Sky Routers that they used to do, before they updated it to match other current provided routers by other fibre providers... slap huge green lettering to advertise your service on either side of the box so theres no hiding it and BAM.... theres the router!

 

It (kinda) does what it says on the tin, in the sense that it connects you to the internet.

But, if youre after a fairly decent wifi signal (and I dont just refer to it lacking 5 ghz wifi, but the 2.4 ghz is pretty poor too) this isnt for you.

Want it to be discreet and seamlessly blend in with the surroundings? Not a chance.

Need guest wifi...? Tough.

Want to get rid of the lights on the front? Heres some black electrical tape, you can always whack it over the top of them?!

 

On the plus side...

erm...

Skys found a market for all the routers they didnt use a couple of years ago... recycling and all that!

 

(I did contact Now TV live chat and ask whether our own roiters can be used. Thats a big fat no.

I also discussed the lack of 5 ghz wifi and other features, they "took the feedback on board" and explained that as a new service they might consider updating their boxes in the future, but for now, these would do?!)

 

 

20 REPLIES 20
ukbobboy
Legend

@Anonymous User

 

Yes Art,

 

I see your point, it's not that the SR102 cannot be substituted it's just that it would be prohibitively expensive and unsupported.

 

 

UK Bob

Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

@ukbobboy wrote:

Although you are, in the most part correct, i.e. your ISP does supply you with their preferred router, you are not banned from using a router of your own choice,

 


@ukbobboy

 

No, just to be clear, you would be breaching the terms if you chose to implement a workaround in order to use your own equipment to connect to the broadband service. 

 

If however you then chose to eg disable wireless on the NOW TV router and use a different device connected to the NOW TV router eg to use as a wireless access point then that would be acceptable.

4268
Legend 5
Legend 5

I had the Sky hub previously and it worked fairly well. I was able to watch both Now and Amazon services through it with no buffering. The ADSL speed round here is officially under 4mbps, which meant I was unable to get Talk Talk TV or EE TV for example. The hub however often gave me 5 or 6mbps. Mind you it did cost BT money once..... My line went faulty, first clue was Now program stopping, then the lights on the box indicated an issue. Long and short is after a number of tests, the problem was identified as a problem with the BT open reach supplied line. They actually had to dig up the street! Sky were really good during the time it was not working. Unfortunately they could not offer fibre here,so ended up changing suppliers.
Please take a moment to click thanks or marked as solution if this answered your question. I am a community contributor and pop on when I can.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Many thanks for that 'heads up' review reecenowtv. I'm currently with another home broadband provider and was considering 'upgrading' to NowTV Fibre and Entertainment bundle and possibly paying for a whole year in advance. Having read this thread, you (and the other contributors to this thread) have stopped me from making a horrible mistake!

 

It seems as if NowTV are behaving in an overly controlling manner by not permitting other brands of router to be used. It's just like Sky's unwillingness (at least in the UK) to permit the use of DVB-S2 (satellite capable) TV Tuner cards with CI slots capable of receiving CAM modules with Subscriber cards to receive their transmissions. This would enable a Windows Media Center PC to basically do the job of a Sky Box without having to plug in additiona devices (which use additional electricity and need cables/deskspace etc. Even though the technology is out there to get what they offer and people would still be paying for their subscription just the same as those who use the supplied hardware for the job, the company say no and they still want customers to plug in and use their own supplied sky box. I'm having none of that and just like the current NowTV Hub policy, will use other suppliers untill they can learn to provide a more flexible CUSTOMER focused service rather that the current 'their way or no way' approach!

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi, I am considering switching to the Now TV Fibre service, I was wondering if it's possible to use the new Sky Q Hub on the service? You can get them off eBay and it would give better wireless, or another possibility is to use something like the Netgear Orbi with the Now TV hub?
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User wrote:
Hi, I am considering switching to the Now TV Fibre service, I was wondering if it's possible to use the new Sky Q Hub on the service? You can get them off eBay and it would give better wireless, or another possibility is to use something like the Netgear Orbi with the Now TV hub?

@Anonymous User

 

Hi

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Yeah the Sky Q hub would work fine with our Fibre

 

Thanks

Aaron

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@AaronR1 wrote:

@Anonymous User wrote:
Hi, I am considering switching to the Now TV Fibre service, I was wondering if it's possible to use the new Sky Q Hub on the service? You can get them off eBay and it would give better wireless, or another possibility is to use something like the Netgear Orbi with the Now TV hub?

@Anonymous User

 

Hi

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Yeah the Sky Q hub would work fine with our Fibre

 

Thanks

Aaron


Can you supply them to your customers then?

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thank you for the help. I've bought the Netgear Orbi system to test, if it works I thought no it'll be better for me. I'll look into the Now TV deals in March when my BT contract expires.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi Guys

 

Think this is an OLD post but anyway, just to advise you; You can use your own router it's just not supported by Sky / NowTV because you are using your own. I have been using my own router for well over tweleve months now and works a treat no issue. I didn't like the fact you HAVE to use Sky router or NowTV this is not the case I DON'T have to USE there equipement at all. I upgraded my router as I use a alot of port forwarding and firwall for storage and cloud stuff and also CCTV, Sky router didn't have anything like that to offer.

 

Anyway you need to look at routers for VDSL+ for fibre but be prefered if you are willing to spend some money, I paid around £160 for mine wireless is super 3 antennas 5Ghz range and have no issues.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I'm a former Sky employee in the process of leaving and moving my services across to NowTV [from free Sky as a perk of being an employee] - the Now TV triple play package is particularly competitive for my family needs and effectively gives me multi-room to the extent I need it - NowTV apps installed on the freeview/Roku box they provided, 2 Roku's I had anyway in different bedrooms and my daughter's iPad [everything except the former can have Netflix as well....].  A solution installed on 4 devices / supporting simultaneous streaming to 2 devices is all I really need.

 

On the question of the Now TV router - yup, wi-fi isn't exactly the Hub 2's forte. What you can do is plug a router into the NowTV Hub [via Ethernet] and disable wi-fi on the hub. Voila - decent wi-fi via your new router! I took the plunge and bought Google wi-fi, it has the following advantages:-

 

- VERY easy connect and go configuration through a Google app [no web-based interfaces and deep networking options to configure here]

 

- core benefit of blanket coverage across the house. I got a two device pack - the devices form a 'mesh' to communicate with each other and act as the wi-fi hotspot [connected to the hub] / wi-fi repeater [positioned elsewhere in the house]. Clever tech also means a more seamless handover between the devices - your phone won't be draining battery flipping between different Google wi-fi boxes.

 

- Google also seem to be using the product as a platform for other features such as Family wi-fi. Currently this support association of people to devices and enforcement of schedules [e.g. daughter's bedtime is 8pm]. I expect this to evolve to incorporate more advanced features such as age-relevant filters / safe search enforcement etc.

 

 

Shorthand - you may well have to use the NowTV hub, but you can relegate it to a modem-only role and get something more hardcore to do wi-fi. In the case of the NowTV hub, anything is more hardcore!