Compulsory Routers in your country

[Max Mehl]

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Hi David,

# David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> [ 16. Jan 2014 @ 15:18 +0100]:
> On 16 January 2014 13:55, Max Mehl <max.mehl at fsfe.org> wrote:
> 
>> Could you please give me some insights if there are ISPs in your country
>> with Compulsory Router policies? Or maybe you want to share your thoughts
>> about this topic at all and the implications for Free Software users.
> 
> I believe Sky Broadband used to require using their modem with their DSL.
> This was basically for supportability reasons - the less possible things to
> go wrong, the better they could supply a turnkey service. I understand you
> can in fact use a generic modem with their service now, though, since it's
> just generic DSL.

Sorry to ask but in which country did Sky Broadband do this? As far as I know,
Sky operates in many european countries.

In fact, many ISPs do this for compatibility reasons. Some of them totally
restrict replacing the modem/router/box by keeping the login credetials
secret, some of them give no support at all if something goes wrong (even if
the problem has nothing to do with the hardware used).

My personal opinion is that it's not basically bad that ISPs give routers by
default to their customers. Of course, only one model makes maintainability
easier and some customers do not even want to choose a router theirselves. But
some people do, and imagine the situation that the vendor of your router is
suspected to install backdoors for western intelligence agencies - and you
cannot switch the hard- or firmware. Is this a nightmare only for me?

Best,
Max

- -- 
Max Mehl - Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)  -  fsfe.org
Schönhauser Allee 6/7, 10119, Berlin | Phone:  +49-30-27595290
About me: http://fsfe.org/about/mehl | Blog: blog.max-mehl.com
Support us:  http://fsfe.org/support | Homepage:  max-mehl.com
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