Sky/nowtv fibre using own router

[Golf1.6]

Hi

There seems to be a lot of confusion about sky fibre using your own router.

I want to use my own router to connect, I am currently using the nowtv supplied box with my archer c2 as an accesspoint.

I have most of the features I need.

Although I would like some features
Guest/private network isolation for guests
ability to control wifi access(speeds, evening restrictions) by mac address
Generally just want one box instead of two

There is a lot of talk about sky fibre needing mer option 61, or a DSL router that has sky option pre-configured.
A lot of international models do not support sky/mer option 61 and it is a UK specific thing so you need to find a router that has it.

But more recent comments suggest that the MER option 61 has been dropped for fibre and is for broadband only.

Anyone here use SKY? what aftermarket device do you use and how did you configure it?

 

[Armadillo]

But more recent comments suggest that the MER option 61 has been dropped for fibre and is for broadband only.

Anyone here use SKY? what aftermarket device do you use and how did you configure it?

Sky still use mer/dhcp option 61. Unique username and password has been dropped so you don't have to extract yours anymore and can just use whatever as long as it's the right format (whateveryouwant@skydsl for username) and anything for password.

I was on BT before sky, so flashed my hh5a with openwrt and use that. Has to be set up using the dhcp client option + username/password in right format to work, so Sky are still using that setup.

 

[Yaayuh!]

Sky still use mer/dhcp option 61. Unique username and password has been dropped so you don't have to extract yours anymore and can just use whatever as long as it's the right format (whateveryouwant@skydsl for username) and anything for password.

Indeed, there's not really any issues using your own router so long as it has access to dhcp option 61 and yes, no password required any more

 

[The1nonly1]

I was on BT before sky, so flashed my hh5a with openwrt and use that. Has to be set up using the dhcp client option + username/password in right format to work, so Sky are still using that setup.

Sorry to hijack but you can flash the HH5a from BT with openwrt now? What benefits do you get from this?

 

[Avalon]

Sorry to hijack but you can flash the HH5a from BT with openwrt now? What benefits do you get from this?

It’s been a thing for quite a while, you’re moving from a closed firmware to OpenWRT, generally if you need to ask about the advantages, you’d be better off reading up in OpenWRT and deciding if it offers anything beneficial for you.

 

[Armadillo]

Sorry to hijack but you can flash the HH5a from BT with openwrt now? What benefits do you get from this?

For me the main benefit was it stops it being locked to BT. Sky hub sucks + I like seperate modem+router combo (I use an hg612 rather than the built in modem) as it's always seemed more stable and you can reboot without resyncing. Had the hh5a laying around, so made sense to do it.

If you're on BT and happy with the stock firmware, unless there is something specific in openwrt you want, it's probably not worth it.

 

[Golf1.6]

Thanks for the feedback. I can always trust advice on here.

I decided against doing this right now, I realised I will always need a routermodem by the telephone socket and a second accesspoint device on the middle floor of my 3 floor house to allow the connection to be reachable everywhere. Why rock the boat, the current placement is perfect.

There are some "nice to haves" on a poweful aftermarket router but for the time being it's OK.

The nowbox [although rubbish wifi with their puny internal antennae], does have static IP reservation for key devices and port forward (less and less games require port forwarding nowadays). It has gigabit enthernet and ipv6 support. All its weaknesses can be rounded off with a decent accesspoint that has provide solid wifi all over the house so far.

 

[The1nonly1]

It’s been a thing for quite a while, you’re moving from a closed firmware to OpenWRT, generally if you need to ask about the advantages, you’d be better off reading up in OpenWRT and deciding if it offers anything beneficial for you.

For me the main benefit was it stops it being locked to BT. Sky hub sucks + I like seperate modem+router combo (I use an hg612 rather than the built in modem) as it's always seemed more stable and you can reboot without resyncing. Had the hh5a laying around, so made sense to do it.

If you're on BT and happy with the stock firmware, unless there is something specific in openwrt you want, it's probably not worth it.

Thanks. I have used my own router with DD-WRT for some time now and have a spare HH5 so I may install open wrt on it to see what it's like.

 

[jj007]

Hi All,
It's now 2020.
Can anyone recommend a decent wifi router that has MER (dhcp 61) build in and will be relatively future proof for a good while.
Netflix and vpn are the most intense the modem will have to deal with spread across a selection of devices. No more than two streams of media at once. No special need for gaming but always a bonus. Wifi has to penetrate walls of the flat one one level, that's all.
Budget is circa £150.

I still have an 8 year old sky wifi router, (sagem) boosted around the flat by devolo power line wifi extenders. I want to dump the devolos.
I like lots of control over my network so I use all the limited features the sky router has such as wifi MAC address control lists / port routing etc.
My issue is it's now aging and I regularly find myself rebooting it to resolve connection gremlins where the modem appears connected but internet access seems to stop working. A reboot of the router resolves the issue.