BT Smarthub 2

[Anonymous User]

I have installed the Now provided router and it is working fine. It does have a drawback though in that it has only 2 Ethernet ports and no USB port at all.

The BT Smarthub 2 has 4 Ethernet ports and a USB port and appears to be a much more sophisticated device than the Now router.

Has anybody successfully configured their BT Smarthub 2 to work with the Now broadband service?

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for your contribution but Wireshark is no one's friend; you need a masters in Electronic Engineering to use it. 🙂

What we need is an amateur's version that just does the basics around home networking, dsl and wifi analysis and diagnosis; wirehaddock perhaps?

[mae-3]

@Anonymous User 

The router would need to support DHCP Option 61 and you likely but I've not confirmed using a MAC address, eg: 12 characters hex in text in that field?

[mae-3]

@Anonymous User 

The credentials are "your-mac-address@nowtv|your-password" in the DHCP Option 61 field, and you will likely find that the MAC can be anything and also the password as in anything@nowtv|anything.

[RoyB]

@mae-3 

Thanks for that.

Can you give me chapter and verse on where exactly Ofcom state this?

[mae-3]

@RoyB 

It is in the Communication Act 2003 which Ofcom enforce and its device net neutrality:-

"1. use devices of their choices, as long as these do not harm the security of other devices, the network or services provided over the network."

[RoyB]

@mae-3 

Thanks for that, but I have just opened the entire Act including all its schedules, not found the search term you quote, searched all 13 instances of ‘device’ and not found anything relevant.

My bad, possibly, so can you please tell me precisely in which of the 411 clauses, or the 19 Schedules, this wording appears?

[mae-3]

@RoyB 

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/224142/call-for-evidence-net-neutrality-review.... 

2.20 in this document on the Ofcom site.

[RoyB]

Hi @mae-3

I’m afraid your citations are still all over the place; that’s just a consultation document, not a regulation.

But I do get the sense from it that there may be something in the EU’s 2016 Open Internet Regulations (which have been subsumed into UK law, now we have left the EU, and so still apply).

Still trying to join the dots though, I can’t find a definition of ‘End users’ terminal equipment’ that unequivocally applies to routers, or the user’s right to replace them. I think there is a good case to be made, though, that the restrictions embodied in the Now-supplied routers, coupled with Now’s prohibition on using your own, could well breach Net Neutrality; but it’s not ironclad.

There are two ways this could go;

(I) putting a case to Now that is so compelling that they withdraw this clause, consent to the use of customers’ own routers, and, as a necessary quid pro quo, agree not the restrict or refuse to supply the details needed to connect and use customers own routers.

(2) complaining to Ofcom about this restriction, and letting Ofcom adjudicate.

I rather think that (2) will be required; I could try (1) on your behalf (or indeed you could try it yourself) but as above, I don’t feel that it’s ironclad.

And I think that a complaint to Ofcom would have to come from an actual user of a Now router who feels restricted; and I don’t have skin in that game.

On a related note, there are all sorts of implications in those regulations, notably that I would extrapolate them to cover allowing users to run servers at will, for which they would need the allocation of a fixed IP address*. I think Now Broadband’s heads would explode if they suddenly had to start operating like Zen, but at existing Now prices 😛

*Yes, I know there are ways round this, but I think the requirement would stand….

[mae-3]

@RoyB 

You can run a server on a dynamic IP address, eg: dynamic DNS, but it is a little off-topic.

There are users on the forum using their own equipment for connecting to the line.

[RoyB]

@mae-3 

Yes, I hinted at the dynamic DNS. Bit of a pain, though.

As regards users with their own equipment, there are a few, I know, people who have braved the arcane and undocumented path to this.

But if it were mandated on Now by Ofcom, and Now had to provide the required credentials, I think people would be deserting the rather unsatisfactory (only 2 Ethernet ports, the WiFi range of a thrown anvil, no bridge mode, etc.) Now router in droves.