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How to setup router in place of sky hub

Morganator

Casual Member
Hi Hope you can help, so we have had sky fiber broadband installed. Openreach came and installed an ONT FTTP box to the property. It has an ethernet cable coming off it into the provided sky hub router. Were not getting consistent wifi coverage and the speeds vary.

Were on a 35mbps line. i was wanting to get rid of the sky hub and install a 3rd party modem router in like the tp-link ones. I understand that the ethernet cable from the ONT box will plug into the WAN port of the vdsl tp link modem router. But what configuration will I need to do to allow the sky internet to work with the new router? Many thanks
 

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It is possible to use a 3rd party router but you’ll have to find one which uses Option61 to authenticate the router onto the Sky network.

I know Ubiquiti routers use Option61, here’s a forum article on the log in details required for it as well.

Sky Option61 Log In Details

Hope this helps
 
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this is the type of router I'm looking to use
That should work on Sky FTTP as pretty much all TP Link kit has DHCP Option 60/61 built-in if you select 'Sky MER' as the ISP. That particular model also has a dsl modem which obviously you don't need but if you follow the TP Link setup wizard it should automatically switch off the DSL component once you tell the router you're connecting to a FTTP service.
 
Ahh thank you soo much both of you for your responses! So I gather from both replies that I need to contact tp-link tech team and confirm that this modem router has option 61 built in thanks baby frogmella for confirming which ISP option I need to select. As for authentication, would it be the username and password off the stock sky hub that the to link would need?

Thanks
 
So this was tp-link official support teams response
 

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So this was tp-link official support teams response
Sorry but they're telling you porkies. The VR600 100% supports DHCP Option 60/61 on Sky adsl/fttc lines (at least). The support agent clearly hasn't got the foggiest idea, you might as well have asked your cat (or any cat on the street)

However..............for Sky FTTP lines it seems any TP Link modem/router loses its Sky MER DHCP Option 60/61 setting once you put in in router mode only (ie switch off the modem)

If you have already bought the TP Link VR600 and it can't be returned, then the only way you can use it is to connect it to the Sky router, as an access point. Otherwise buy something like the Asus RT-AX86U which will easily work on Sky FTTP (you might need to install Merlin firmware on it)
 
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Sorry but they're telling you porkies. The VR600 100% supports DHCP Option 60/61 on Sky adsl/fttc lines (at least). The support agent clearly hasn't got the foggiest idea, you might as well have asked your cat (or any cat on the street)

However..............for Sky FTTP lines it seems any TP Link modem/router loses its Sky MER DHCP Option 60/61 setting once you put in in router mode only (ie switch off the modem)

If you have already bought the TP Link VR600 and it can't be returned, then the only way you can use it is to connect it to the Sky router, as an access point. Otherwise buy something like the Asus RT-AX86U which will easily work on Sky FTTP (you might need to install Merlin firmware on it)
Haha 😂😂 loved that reply! However it's really concerning if the manufacturer doesn't know about it and just says no 😳🙄

So I haven't bought that router yet, thank you for the alternative suggestion Asus but is there a way cheaper version of it? As it's just for general home use and don't fancy paying over £100 for a router that's not for gaming needs etc.


Thanks once again for your replies and support. It's really helpful and I wouldn't know we're to start with this ha. It's a shame sky make it so difficult to use your own router
 
I have an old Asus rt-AC68U router. I know it's old model but I've installed custom firmware on it before, think it was called DDRWT or something ha. It does support 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands and were only getting 35mbps to the property anyway.

Would this be too old of a model now or would it work perfectly fine. Might as well use what I have lying around if I can haha
 
Haha 😂😂 loved that reply! However it's really concerning if the manufacturer doesn't know about it and just says no 😳🙄

So I haven't bought that router yet, thank you for the alternative suggestion Asus but is there a way cheaper version of it? As it's just for general home use and don't fancy paying over £100 for a router that's not for gaming needs etc.


Thanks once again for your replies and support. It's really helpful and I wouldn't know we're to start with this ha. It's a shame sky make it so difficult to use your own router
If you don't want to spend too much but can stretch to £120-130 then the Asus RT-AC86U is an excellent value for money choice (ignore the 'gaming' features of the router)

 
I have an old Asus rt-AC68U router. I know it's old model but I've installed custom firmware on it before, think it was called DDRWT or something ha. It does support 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands and were only getting 35mbps to the property anyway.

Would this be too old of a model now or would it work perfectly fine. Might as well use what I have lying around if I can haha
Give the RT-AC68U a try with Merlin firmware installed, it will definitely work on Sky FTTP. Pointless spending money if your existing kit does the job. Otherwise if you want something more recent then the RT-AC86 is an excellent budget choice.
 
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Ahh thank you! This would be newer and a good price. Do you think this would support Merlin firmware? Also would you have a link to instructions on how to configure the Merlin firmware to work with the openreach ONT box?

Many thanks again

ASUS RT-AC85P Work From Home Router (WiFi 5 AC2400 MU-MIMO, 4x Gigabit LAN, App, USB 3.1, IPv6, VPN, PPTP, OpenVPN) https://amzn.eu/d/4R5YSRT
 
The 85P is virtually identical to your 68U but Merlin doesn't support it, as its MediaTek based (not Broadcom).
I'm sure there are other firmware builders out there who do though, like OpenWrt, here: https://openwrt.org/toh/asus/rt-ac85p (though do research to ensure that a custom firmware does indeed support what you need).

Personally, I'd start off with using your 68U and then determine if you really need to upgrade. If WiFi coverage is an issue then consider adding nodes to create a mesh, rather than replacing the central device. If you really need the FTTP speeds to your devices then ethernet wired would be the way to go. Knowing what speed tier FTTP you went for, and what WiFi devices you are using could help us offer better guidance as WiFi will always be variable - location in the house, age of device, WiFi capabilities etc will all have a bearing on the achievable speed over WiFi
 
The Asus RT-AC85 doesn't support Merlin firmware:


TBH I would try your existing RT-AC68U first with Merlin firmware installed - you might be pleasantly surprised :)

You install Merlin's firmware just like regular Asus firmware. No special instructions.

Edit: beaten to it by GavinAshford
 
The Asus RT-AC85 doesn't support Merlin firmware:


TBH I would try your existing RT-AC68U first with Merlin firmware installed - you might be pleasantly surprised :)

You install Merlin's firmware just like regular Asus firmware. No special instructions.

Edit: beaten to it by GavinAshford
Ahh really? So I'm guessing then once the Merlin firmware is installed then as soon as I plug it into the ONT box the firmware will pick up the connection without me having to manually authenticate the sky to the new router?

Thanks
 
Ahh really? So I'm guessing then once the Merlin firmware is installed then as soon as I plug it into the ONT box the firmware will pick up the connection without me having to manually authenticate the sky to the new router?

Thanks
No, you would need to manually enter some settings into the Asus router, but its very easy to do this. Go to Advanced Settings > WAN > DHCP Options

Dhcp option 61
client identifier anything@skydsl|anything
Vlan id is left unticked
If asked for mtu 1500

Capture.jpg


Btw you may not need to install Merlin firmware on your RT-AC68 as the latest official Asus firmware may already show DHCP Option 60/61 in Advanced Settings > WAN.
 
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Brilliant thank you! Haven't had chance to try yet but will update with what happens.

Final thing, I heard somewhere that apparently sky can terminate your contract if you use your own router instead of there's. As it breaches there agreement? How true is this and how could I find out?

Many thanks again everyone on this forum have been soo friendly and helpful! So thanks again!
 
As said they don't really care. unless you have a fault in which case (for expediency in dealing with the fault) they will ask you to test using their box. You're all good.
 
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