Well this is interesting, I just got this text from BT - My ISP. I’ve been using my own modem since the connection started, the ISP supplied router hasn’t even been opened as there was no need. A month later and this is the text I get.
Do you think they’re just sincerely checking that all is well, or are they keen for me to use their DNS for data sharing to their buddies? Ever the cynic! You’d have thought they’d at least be aware that I am connected and traffic is ‘a flowin’, all 214GB of it
it’ll be a simple case of Hoover up all the accounts that have not pinged some cooked API they baked into the firmware of their routers in n days and send them an automated PR fluffy duffy email
Not just their DNS, they can also run their free, and open, “BTWIFI” service from it, so other people can use your connection (allegedly segmented, not tested in court)
I just heard yesterday that Qualcomm announced a new 10G fiber gateway that is along the lines of that. It is sadly the direction a lot of these companies are pushing, to have control over the end devices in the home too and to provide a “better user experience” by allowing extra wifi through other people’s homes. The new Qualcomm gateway looks like it takes things a step further than what we have had the past couple of years with people like Amazon and Comcast, and allows even more management by the ISP not just for the extra wifi they broadcast but to actually manage the home network and its wifi for the home as well, taking it completely out of the end users hands.
Sadly I can see a future now in a few years where ISPs don’t even let you change routers, but insist on having full control of the network for all residential accounts.
So I guess be thankful that right now all you get are text messages encouraging you to use their stuff. lol
Not happening in EU-land! The freedom to choose your own router/modem is cast in Law by an EU directive. My ISP happens to be the local former State-owned land-line phone monopolist and they have help pages (by means of a forum) to guide you when installing something else then the ISP-provided box. (Experia) I’m using said box ATM, as I’m still building a OPNsense box and I’m hoping to get a direct connection to my fibre internet.
Note that this appears also to apply to the UK, as in 2015, the UK was very firmly part of the EU. I sincerely doubt UK politicians are stupid enough to reverse this regulation, just because it’s from the EU.
So this. One of the things I might mention when people complain about poor {wifi,internet,connection,etc} is to note that one can buy one’s own router/FW/AP combo and also keep one’s own network secure. Always gets a response - people are shocked that their ISP-supplied device might not be secure.
TBH, I don’t know how the average user could secure their digital lives. Everyone’s merrily leaking info and PII via social media, password changes don’t happen and ironically, whenever ISP’s send out new routers is probably the time when people’s home networks are most secure due to enforced Wifi changes
(edit) Also, didn’t UK politicians indicate that while all EU law has been grandfathered, this doesn’t mean that such a body of law will not be changed?
That said, since the back-log of “stuff that needs fixing” is likely huge & growing, with any luck this is unimportant enough to be left as is!
