Uses for an old Plu...
 

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[Closed] Uses for an old Plusnet Hub One router?

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 IHN
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Signed up for EE broadband and the new router is all plugged in and working. The previous Plusnet router is therefore surplus to requirements. Can I make use of it for anything, or shall I just stick it on ebay?

I though about using it as a WAP, but I can't get an ethernet cable from the main router to anywhere where a WAP would be worthwhile. Can I have it as a WAP or repeater but connected to the main router via wifi?


 
Posted : 31/01/2018 11:55 am
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I don't think you can do that with the standard software as it is very limited on features. The Hub One can be flashed with Lede (an OpenWRT based firmware) which makes it far more usable. It can then be used as a repeater - https://lede-project.org/docs/user-guide/relay_configuration

The difficultly with this is it is not a simple process to flash the firmware and needs some tricky soldering - there are some guides out there if you google them...

I have a BT homehub (same hardware as the Hub One) and use it with Lede and it's pretty good.


 
Posted : 31/01/2018 12:45 pm
 IHN
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Soldering? Yeah, screw that (no offence). Ebay it is 🙂


 
Posted : 31/01/2018 12:57 pm
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It's criminal that every new broadband contract comes with a new router. They're all essentially identical, but end up in landfill at the end of 12months use.


 
Posted : 31/01/2018 4:02 pm
 IHN
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That is entirely true, I was thinking the very same thing.


 
Posted : 31/01/2018 4:30 pm
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They're all pretty crap anyway, better off buying a decent one and keeping that between contracts (usually you can opt not to have a new router provided with a new contract, they're often optional extras anyway IME).


 
Posted : 02/02/2018 8:22 am
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As above, whats a good router to buy then? Never thought about buying one before, but out Plusnet one is not the best.


 
Posted : 02/02/2018 9:39 am
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i have a spare ee router and cat 5 cable round the house (on ee atm also) - how do i us ethe old router to extend range??


 
Posted : 02/02/2018 12:31 pm
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<p>There seems to be a software based solution that requires no soldering, see bottom download option on table:</p><p> https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/bt/homehub_v5a</p>


 
Posted : 02/02/2018 3:41 pm
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Hmmm...

We just got a Virgin Super Hub 3 - I assume that I could connect the old Super Hub 2 via ethernet and use it as a WAP? Could the link be done via powerline adapters?


 
Posted : 02/02/2018 4:09 pm
 nuke
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For those looking for a Hub One alternative, we're on plusnet fibre and found the hub one average at best then it gave up completely. Swapped back to an old Netgear & the Openreach modem but performance wasnt great so i bought a Billion 8800nl r2: £49.99 off Amazon with a £10 voucher the other week...cheap enough for a punt & still early days but so far, so good; setup was easy having googled for the settings, wifi is much stronger (enough i have ditched the tplink power line extenders) and no dropouts experienced.


 
Posted : 02/02/2018 5:14 pm
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<p>Aye, WiFi is atrocious on the Hub One, I have a couple of the old Technica/Thompson routers I keep meaning to set up as relays. I will get round to getting a decent router one day.</p>


 
Posted : 03/02/2018 4:28 pm
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I had to argue with the bloke who came to hook up our fibre. (We have fibre straight to the house)

Insisted that without their special router the internet wouldn't work properly.

What he really meant is that he'd have to muck around with paperwork to take the 20 sek a month/24 months hardware fee off the bill. (He didn't do it, I did, eventually. )

It was, quite literally, a 15 dollar router, with a maximum Wi-Fi speed slower than the fibre.

Needless to say, my old router worked perfectly. As did the one I eventually upgraded to.

Only thing they can't do is connect remotely to my network. Which, to be frank, I'm quite happy about.


 
Posted : 03/02/2018 6:06 pm