Are old home wifi routers useless junk?

[TooBigToFit]

We've changed our wifi provider a couple times for different reasons and we always end up with one or two wifi router boxes with the little antennae to stuff into a box and hide away. The new company, whatever it is TOT, AIS or some other, always has us getting a new set. Is there anything that can be done with these old routers? Would someone at Zeer or a computer shop buy them? Do you have to use a different router each time you change a provider?

 

[KhunHeineken]

They may be able to be used as a wireless bridge, or extender, to extend the range of your WiFi around the home and into a yard, if you have some black spots.  

[lopburi3]

As said that can be access points - but admit I gave up using them as have much better coverage with a cheap dedicated unit.  

[TooBigToFit]

Thanks for the responses. The most recent ones I have are just a year or so old from TOT. It too bad there must be a lot of these piling up around. I know in my wife's village they were changing the Internet provider anytime there was a new promotion or a faster provider. It seems whenever a company, TOT, AIS, 3BB or whoever, increases their speed or bandwith or some aspect, they come to change the routers. What a waste.

 

 

[jackdd]

Usually they want them back, and if you don't return them in a certain time frame they charge you for it. At least for True and AIS that's the case.

[TooBigToFit]

TOT never takes the old ones from my experience.

[topt]

31 minutes ago, TooBigToFit said:

TOT never takes the old ones from my experience.

Perhaps that says something about the the quality or capabilities of the unit..........

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

CAT always put asset tags/ID on anything they supply. Sometimes they want them back, sometimes they don't. I have a very expensive VoIP gateway sitting in a drawer for five years waiting for them to come collect it. The other providers don't care in my experience. It's usually cheap garbage. Anything they supply with a connection goes straight into a box and filed in the 'useless khrap' cupboard anyway as we use our own custom built pfSense gates. I think there are something like 20 or 30 old routers and GPON units uncollected at this time.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by NilSS

[dddave]

My TOT landline stopped working a year ago, TOT blamed my building, building blamed TOT. Despite no service, I kept getting a bill every month with a phone rental charge.  Account was in my former gf's name and only she could close it. Unfortunately, she lives in Koh Samui and I'm in Bangkok.  She finally visited a few weeks ago so we went to the local TOT office to close the account. I brought along the old phone.  TOT insisted we pay the outstanding phone rental balance; about B800.  If it had been only me, I would have told them to go fish but she didn't want trouble with them in the future so no choice but to pay. When I tried to give the old phone back, they wouldn't take it.  

"Old style, not use now"    B800 for a hunk of junk.

[billd766]

15 hours ago, TooBigToFit said:

TOT never takes the old ones from my experience.

I still have the TOT router and antanae from 3 years back when I went to 3BB,