Customers of BT Retail's new superfast 'up to' 40Mbps (soon to be 80Mbps) BT-Infinity broadband service are being sent a new and "even better" VDSL2 / FTTC modem (Huawei EchoLife HG612) for free. A letter to affected users states that the new modems will "improve your broadband connection", but in reality they're just replacing faulty kit with a working version.


The situation, which The Register picked up on today, isn't as recent as the report suggests. After some digging we quickly discovered that it had been going on since around November 2011 and the even earlier discovery of a serious overheating fault that could cause a "total loss of service".

ISPreview.co.uk understands that the letters are being sent out to everyone who was supplied with an "Openreach Modem" as part of their BT-Infinity order before August 2011. So those who received the kit after that date should be fine.


The "new" and "better" modems (not to be confused with BT's separate HomeHub routers) are virtually identical to the old models but include the new fix and a Version 2 or Version 3 style label on the bottom (many of last year's replacements are marked V2).

It should be stressed that there is no risk of the overheating problem causing a fire, although it does crash the modem and can do tiny amounts of damage over time that might prevent the kit from working.