This topic

Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

HHGTTG — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 10:21:34 GMT

I have suddenly become aware of such permanent alternative devices for getting fast broadband in the home rather than have the disruption of FTTC or FTTP. However the monthly payments for these are £20/month after the first 6 months. Also what would happen to my BT landline phone which I like to keep together with free minutes bundles.

What are your views on this and would anyone ever consider having a SIM based hub to provide their home internet? The main reason why I don't want Fibre is that we're both old and our time in our current house is hopefully soon to change for something more suited to our ages.

I currently have ADSL Broadband and have had this for at least 10 years and on the whole it has been pretty reliable and living just over 1/2 mile from the exchange get 17Mbps which is ample for my needs.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 10:36:22 GMT

If what you have now does the job, why are you looking to change? Are you being required to recontract?

I would imagine that if you retain the landline you will end up spending more overall.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 10:49:28 GMT

@HHGTTG

I find ADSL broadband of about 10mbs more than enough for my needs, and its also very reliable, unlike mobile broadband which can be very inconsistent. I have a portable 4G unit which is a backup for home, and when travelling. It has 12Gb on it, which lasts a year. This uses a Three mobile SIM.

Re-contracting would involve a move to FTTC, and Digital Voice.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

HHGTTG — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 11:09:42 GMT

Hi Keith.
I too bought a ZTE WIFI hotspot device in case of power cuts this Winter. I had an old unused Three 3G SIM which as 3GB of data on it and I can use this quite successfully with my tablets and laptop if and when necessary.
No, I was putting the idea of a permanent Three hub out there to see what the response was. I agree it would cost me more to keep a landline phone alone together wih one of those hubs.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

HHGTTG — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 11:20:28 GMT

I am also worried about the longevity of my Home Hub 3 and whether I am entitled to a suitable replacement for it should it expire. Of course I could always buy its equivalent (whatever that is) from Amazon or ebay.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 11:27:11 GMT

The problem is that if you cease your ADSL connection, you may lose your landline number, as it will be a change of contract, and new landline provisions in many exchanges have to use BT Digital Voice, because of the closure of the PSTN network. Not sure how this is going to be implemented.

I expect that eventually DV will have to be carried over the ADSL connection, for existing ADSL customers.

I would be inclined to leave things as they are.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 11:30:34 GMT

I use a TP Link W9970 on my ADSL connection.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/service-provider/dsl-router/td-w9970/

About £30-40 and is very reliable, so no need to worry about the HH3 replacement.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 13:51:20 GMT

The HH3 is quite long in the tooth but as long as it's working, I don't see any pressing need to replace it on an ADSL service. In any case, if it fails BT would replace it.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

HHGTTG — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:08:50 GMT

Oh just one thing. I see that in this TP link set up it asks which ISP your using and then username and password. I'm not sure to which ones they're alluding to.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:22:43 GMT

Select BT ADSL

User details as shown below.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

HHGTTG — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:30:27 GMT

Many thanks you truly are really patient and helpful. I thought the Username may be as you indicate but did not realise the Password was just 'bt'.
I see in my current HH3's website that the Username is as above but a password is not 'configured'.
I did think they may have been wanted my BT.com login details.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:40:58 GMT

I used to have all this information on my old website, but I still have all the pictures which I can post, if you are stuck.

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

HHGTTG — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:53:03 GMT

Many thanks but that is not necessary as I am not buying it in the near future (hopefully!).

Re: Replacing BT broadband with Three's 4g/5g Hubs.

DavidM — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 15:16:18 GMT

An excellent thread guys.

Thanks all for posting and helping the OP. Just what the community is all about.

Cheers

David