Study Claims UK Consumers Want Universal Broadband Routers

A new Uswitch (Opinium) survey of 2,000 UK adults, which was conducted last October 2021, has estimated that there are now 22 million “redundant” broadband ISP routers sitting in British homes, while 76% of respondents want a “universal router” (i.e. one that can be used by any ISP) to help cut e-waste.

According to the survey, some 42% of respondents have an unused router in their home and 14.29% claim to have two or more unused routers (that’s definitely me). Meanwhile, 59% do not know how to recycle their old router and 15% were sent one by a provider, even though they already had a working device.

Younger people were also found to be the most likely to feel guilty about accumulating spare routers, with 36% of 18-34s regretting not recycling a router, compared to 16% of over 55s. Finally, some 60% of consumers feel broadband ISPs could do more to help save the planet, with Sky Broadband being voted the worst for helping users to recycle (oddly, the survey didn’t mention how other ISPs performed).

But would a so-called “universal router” solve all this? We have our doubts.

The Universal Router Conundrum

The reason for our scepticism is partly because technology is constantly moving forward, which means that over time we all seek faster broadband and faster WiFi, as well as security improvements and so forth. Even a universal router would need to change with the times, which in practice means new hardware being needed every few years to replace the old.

Lest we forget that most consumers don’t switch ISP very often (switching and upgrades often come attached to a new router), thus the amount of router linked e-waste might only be reduced by a small amount from the adoption of a universal approach. Likewise, a router that has been designed for a slow low-cost ADSL service may not be much use on a gigabit FTTP line, so the idea of a truly universal approach has some limitations.

Speaking of technical limitations, some networks required specific standards and technologies, which may not be supported by the routers used on other networks. For example, Openreach were quite strict with only using approved routers on their VDSL2 (FTTC) lines, since some other models could cause connectivity problems if they didn’t support key features. This is not an issue for a knowledgeable IT user, but for casual use it could create problems for support.

On the subject of support, it’s a lot easier for an ISP to support and provide software updates (security and features) for a device that they themselves have supplied to a consumer (impossible to train staff for all the other variations), and some providers even like to customise the firmware in order to support new rules and regulations (e.g. Ofcom’s requirements for speed testing). But that won’t work across all providers, which may have very different networks and variables to consider.

Closing Thoughts

The survey itself focused on asking respondents about “unused” routers, but that is not necessarily the same thing as a “redundant” device. The survey fails to understand that distinction. Lest we forget, it’s handy to have a spare router for testing, or in case your main one fails, thus what is “unused” today could be “used” tomorrow. But some of us will certainly have redundant devices too, much like the pile of Smartphones and IT kit under my desk (honestly – it’s a historical museum of technology under there).

In short, we fully support the idea of ensuring that all routers are shipped unlocked for use on other networks, or that ISPs don’t prevent customers from being able to use a third-party device if they so wish. But, as highlighted above, there are some technical caveats that mean they may not all work properly on every broadband network you attempt to use them on.

However, the core idea of encouraging ISPs to make it easier for customers to recycle their unused routers, and to offer a service that enables new or departing customers to return old routers, is a good one. Some ISPs, such as BT, do an excellent job of this, but others find it easier just to let consumers keep the old hardware.

Failing that, there’s always eBay, assuming the router isn’t locked down. We should add that a lot of ISPs out there, particularly smaller providers, do not place restrictions on your choice of router, but many of them don’t make this clear to new customers. In fact, ISPs in general are not very good at highlighting the full capabilities or restrictions of their routers to new customers, which is another area that could be improved.