NOW Broadband Warn UK Customers with Older Routers of New Policy
Customers of Sky’s sibling NOW Broadband (NOW TV) ISP sub-brand, specifically those on their older “part-fibre” (FTTC) based superfast broadband packages, have been informed that their bundled Hubs (routers) are now unsupported and won’t be replaced if they develop a fault. But don’t “worry“, say NOW, because if that happens your service can be terminated or moved to Sky.
Sky Broadband itself has, thus far, been doing a modestly good job of offering upgrades to customers with bundled broadband routers that may have reached End of Life (EOL). This largely reflects recent changes in UK law, which requires ISPs to be more security conscious and “open with consumers on the minimum time they can expect to receive important security updates” for their smart / connected devices.
However, it appears as if NOW TV are taking a different approach for customers on their older own-brand NOW Broadband FTTC plans. This is seemingly focused upon those who are currently or will soon be in the process of considering whether to re-contract when their current package term comes to an end.
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The problem is that this effectively seems to leave many existing NOW Broadband customers, at least those who want to use a secure and supported router, with little option but to either leave the ISP or switch to a package powered by Sky Broadband instead (something they’ve been offering, mostly via FTTP lines, since last year).
Extract from NOW TV’s Customer Email
Changes from March 2025
Please note, your Hub is no longer receiving security and service updates, or will stop receiving security updates by 2025. However, your Hub will continue to work as normal and will keep you connected to the internet.
We recommend, as a minimum, changing your Hub admin password to reduce the risk of security threats. This won’t change your WiFi password, just the password used to check your Hub details … From July 31st 2025, should your Hub develop a fault, we unfortunately won’t be able to provide a replacement. If this happens, don’t worry, you’ll be able to end your service immediately without any termination fees.
Most people will quickly note that changing the Hub’s admin password is not a panacea for all network and internet security related threats that users of unsupported NOW Hubs may face in the future. Likewise, telling customers not to “worry” because NOW TV still leaves them with the option of a free service termination, is far from ideal. Hopefully, those who want to exit their contract early don’t suddenly start dropping older hubs in the sink – totally by accident, of course.
The final option that NOW TV offers, if retaining unsupported kit or service termination are not palatable, is to switch to one of their more recent ‘NOW Powered by Sky‘ broadband packages. The newer packages started to be introduced last year, and at the time many people felt this had signalled the start of NOW Broadband’s gradual demise as a semi-independent broadband brand. The latest development may reinforce that perception.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I have a feeling Sky wants to get rid of NOW Broadband eventually.
AFAIK they won’t tell you the PPPoE login details, so if the supplied router fails, you simply can’t use the service.
I’d expect moving to Sky proper would cost significantly more, hence the requirement of re-contracting. However is going to be the last NOW Broadband customer, please turn off the light when you leave.
The PPPoE details are generic last I checked, just like Sky broadband. You just need a router which supports DHCP Option 61.
Although if your telephone runs through the router you may have issues.
How is this even legal? I would have assumed there is a duty of care and that extends to providing upgraded equipment FOR FREE in order to work with the ISP infrastructure.
I have a problem with this. We have Openreach FTTP in most of our home, and NOW FTTC for a different phone line in the house (basically it was the same price getting NOW broadband and phone bundled). If our NOW broadband goes down and we are forced to get Sky how is that going to work? We are in an FTTP only area and we already have Openreach FTTP for the rest of the house and 2nd phone. Sky told me last year you cant have 2 Openreach FTTP lines in your house. So if our NOW broadband goes down, and we are in an FTTP only area what are we supposed to do?
Until recently I was with Nows FTTC service, it was fast enough and included unlimited calls for around £25/month . The support for the router is being withdrawn, and not the service.
So if your Now Hub router goes down then you can replace it with a compatible off the shelf router.
I was and am in an FTTP only area, i stayed with Now as the price was good, they sent a few good renewal offers keeping the price around the same level, and the service worked.
I did not use the Now Hub router and instead used a TP link router/modem
To get ths to work it just needs a generic username/password and MER/option 61
For the TP link router ( suitable for phone line connections – ie has a modem and plugs into the phone socket) I used the following :
ISP list : Sky (MER)_VDSL
Username: abcdefgh@nowtv
Password 1234567890abcdef
The username and password is generic and will/should work for anyone as long as its the right number of letters/numbers and the username has the at now tv ending
So if your Now Hub router dies, get a replacement off the shelf one.
However, if you are not on a good deal, then i would ditch Now broadband and look at just using FTTP or an alternative if you absolutely must have back up such as a 5G/4G mobile phone home broadband service like three or EE
You can have multiple FTTP services via Openreach. They introduced a new multiport ONT
I’ve got an elderly family member with this old router (they’ve had it for years) still on ADSL2 and no notification has come through yet. They need bundled calls and it’s hard to find a better deal as no one includes calls now and they charge crazy amounts for the packages.
I have the same. I have advised her to stick with Now until it stops working . If the router fails I can replace it with a similar one.
However when the landlines get switched off and everyone is forced to move to VOIP I will have to get her moved …. Likely I will just sign up to vonage ( I use already) where you can keep your existing landline number and get 1000 minutes to landlines and mobiles for £9.99 a month which is better than most bundled broadband deals.