OK, so here's a hypothetical question... Can an ISP brick an ISP-supplied router if said router was resold to a third party? I assume this is technically possible, but only ever undertaken if said router wasn't returned upon a service being terminated (and it being in their T&Cs)?
Hypothetical question re ISPs bricking routers
- Thread starter kosymodo
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It's very unlikely that the management service for the router is accessible from outside the ISP network, so it's unlikely. It's also not really worth doing - have it in the T&Cs that there's a charge for not returning equipment and just bill people if they keep things.
I suspect you might be hinting at Three and their 5G routers, in which case if you use their cheap contract to get several hundred pounds of 5G router and don't return it they can go via the IMEI blocklisting route.
I suspect you might be hinting at Three and their 5G routers, in which case if you use their cheap contract to get several hundred pounds of 5G router and don't return it they can go via the IMEI blocklisting route.
Actually nothing to do with Three, and agree that IMEI blacklisting would be much more likely and obvious on a 'mobile network' (xG) router than MAC address (?) blacklisting on a 'standard' router.
It's actually something that I got thinking about earlier, when looking for a cheap router for my folks. Many ISPs offer a free router, some being complete garbage, and others being arguably less garbage (e.g. eero 6/6E). However, from a buyer's point of view, is there any risk of buying an obviously ISP-supplied router (i.e. likelihood of said router being bricked as part of a double-whammy of ISP penalising both the buyer (bricking the device) AND the seller (charging a non-return fee))
I'm not sure it's a big problem - most ISP-provided routers are not something you'd want to buy to use outside that ISPs network, either because they are bad or because they won't work with other providers (e.g. the BT Hub). Ultimately if you want a guarantee of something working and not being 'stolen' property then you need to purchase new from a reputable supplier.
I've bought Community Fibre-branded Velop devices and flashed the stock Linksys firmware on them, I've had no problems with them.
I've bought Community Fibre-branded Velop devices and flashed the stock Linksys firmware on them, I've had no problems with them.
How cheap do you want it? There are loads of Huawei and Honor routers on the ‘bay for pennies they’re not going to be blockable.
To the question, yes, any ISP can block the MAC address of any router they don’t want to connect. And there are other more sophisticated methods, but they wouldn’t brick the router, they’d just block your access.
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I'll take a look on the 'bay...
To your answer, this is kinda the reverse though of what I was thinking. I was wondering whether the issuing ISP could possibly 'brick' the device (i.e. block it from being used on any ISP's network), whereas you've confirmed that an ISP can restrict a certain MAC address from their own network. That I already knew. There's a distinction between the two.
So the general consensus is therefore that it's likely impossible, and decidedly impractical/not worth the effort, for the issuing ISP to brick a device? Like I initially said, this is purely a hypothetical question, just the result of me wondering in my own mind
I'll take a look on the 'bay...
To your answer, this is kinda the reverse though of what I was thinking. I was wondering whether the issuing ISP could possibly 'brick' the device (i.e. block it from being used on any ISP's network), whereas you've confirmed that an ISP can restrict a certain MAC address from their own network. That I already knew. There's a distinction between the two.
So the general consensus is therefore that it's likely impossible, and decidedly impractical/not worth the effort, for the issuing ISP to brick a device? Like I initially said, this is purely a hypothetical question, just the result of me wondering in my own mind
There are techniques for remotely bricking equipment. It was alleged that a large US surveillance camera company remotely ‘upgraded’ a customer’s cameras with the wrong firmware incorrectly labelled as the right firmware after the customer didn’t pay the bill. Every camera failed to restart after the update. Suspicious, but not provably sabotage.
I guess the point being that your average ISP isn't likely to go down the route of remotely bricking equipment? Like @Caged said, just bill people if they keep things. Between the point of the ISP supplying the router and the point of them requesting it back upon service termination, I suppose they're not at all interested in what's being done with the router or where it is
Talktalk do it with the Eero routers they supply.
community.talktalk.co.uk
eero 6 blocked
Hi, I bought two eero 6s (separately) through eBay around 6 months ago and they've suddenly stopped working. I spoke to eero customer services and was advised they may have been blocked by the ISP. (I had no idea routers can be blocked!) Assuming it was blocked by TT, wouldn't the previous...
Had to return my kit to Sky recently. Not sure what the fees or whatever are if you don’t send it back.
Soldato
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Indeed it's probably a liability. Joe Public can stick their old router in the bin or take it to the tip. An ISP will probably have to pay for their disposal.