Plusnet Hub 2 setup (bought on ebay)

[#1]

Hi, my aunt is on Plusnet and has an ancient Thomson modem router that's now tempermental, while she considers whether to update to fibre or another provider or whatnot, I got a brand new unused Plusnet Hub 2 off ebay and want to set up for her.

It was new and shrink wrapped so never plugged in by previous owner, I've plugged it in at my house (just power and ethernet to a PC) and looked at the modem's settings and see its username set as "setup@plusdsl.net" and can see a password....does it set itself up when it is on a Plusnet enabled line and auto populates that user or do I need to setup her username and password? or have I wasted a few quid?   

Thanks for any help. 

[#2]

@orby I would suggest your aunt gets the hub transferred to her account - it will be allocated to the original subscriber, and not being on her account could cause problems.

It will not auto-configure to your aunts connection until you have confirmation that it is on her account, although I think you can manually set it, but it may not get f/w updates, AIUI.

[#3]

although I think you can manually set it, but it may not get f/w updates

To confirm , you can set it manually and AFAIK it should still get updates.

You should be able to set the username & password in the situation you currently have it I.e with just an ethernet connection.

As @jab1 says , it would be better long term to get it associated with the account, that way it would auto configure again if it was ever factory reset.

[#4]

@orby 

As John says more worryingly it could auto configure to the account the Hub Two was intended for.

To use it now turn on the Hub with no DSL cable connected, login into the Hub http://192.168.1.254  (With the  DSL cable not connected the Hub can not login.)

Navigate to Advanced Settings >Broadband add the username and password, if there is an option save do so, if not connect the DSL cable, you may be prompted to 'Connect'

The Hub should now attempt to login with the username you have added.

HTH

[#5]

A further thought - if it has not been used for a while, it could have fallen off the management platform, and therefore wouldn't receive updates. One for @bobpullen , maybe?

[#6]

Thanks @jab1 that is good info to know and will do what you suggest.

[#7]

Thanks @MisterW - duly noted and appreciated.

[#8]

@Dan_the_Van - thankyou, I have navigated to that section without any DSL connection and can see what you've said and will try when I go to my aunts to set it up and hopefully get it working, then get Plusnet aware of the device.

[#9]

@jab1 - it was never used by previous owner as it was shrink wrapped so never got unboxed, good point that it might have been sitting out of use since it was made for some considerable time. I imagine my aunt will need to make the request as it's her account, although I seem to be her sysadmin   

[#10]

@orby The fact that it was never used is irrelevant -  it will still be on the account if the person who sold it to you. If you post the firmware release it is showing, we can have a guess at how long it has been out of use. It may auto-update within a couple of days of being installed, but as I said above, it could well have fallen off the management platform, and will need re-adding, hence why I tagged Bob Pullen earlier.

[#11]

From previous posts on this subject my understanding is that unless the hub is registered to the original customer, it will not be updated. However Plusnet are happy to transfer a second hand hub to a different customer.

It’s a case of waiting for a knowledgeable staffer such as Bob to pick up this thread.

In the meantime there’s no reason not to manually enter the user details and use it. I don’t believe there have been any firmware updates associated with security concerns.

[#12]

@jab1 FW is at v0.05.03.07154-PN

Board ver R01

GUI version 1.3 10_03_2021

Thanks again guys

[#13]

As only the latest version is quoted at the top of this board, I don't know how old that is, but it certainly isn't anywhere near the latest.

[#14]

This is the update history of my Hub two

Update

Firmware version: v0.10.00.04201-PN
Firmware updated: 30-Jun-2023

Update
Firmware version: v0.08.00.08297-PN
Firmware updated: 31-Oct-2022

Update
Firmware version: v0.06.00.12134-PN
Firmware updated: 16-May-2022

Original
Firmware version: v0.05.03.07154-PN
Firmware updated: Unknown

[#15]

Cheers, @Dan_the_Van  - so the OPs 'new' Hub is still running the original f/w.