None of the home wi-fi service providers ask for their routers to be returned. My condo apartment has a pile of them from previous renters. Should I just toss them, or can they be donated? They're not even that old.

They can be used as remote access points but a bit of a pain to set up compared to units designed for that use.  I suspect most are DSL so not longer usable for fiber optic main connections.

I don't like to throw away things but summary: They are useless for almost anybody.

 

I put things like that into the garbage room near the actual garbage. I am sure one of the cleaners in the building will take them and maybe sell them for 50B or give them to somebody or whatever.

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I don't like to throw away things but summary: They are useless for almost anybody.

 

I put things like that into the garbage room near the actual garbage. I am sure one of the cleaners in the building will take them and maybe sell them for 50B or give them to somebody or whatever.

Good advice. It's a shame the companies don't reuse them. What a huge waste—financial and resource-wise. But that's Thailand I guess.

1 hour ago, allencraig said:

Good advice. It's a shame the companies don't reuse them. What a huge waste—financial and resource-wise. But that's Thailand I guess.

They can't reuse most of them because the old devices don't support the newest technology - not only in Thailand.

Visit the nearest branch office of the ISP and hand the routers over to them.

6 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

They can't reuse most of them because the old devices don't support the newest technology - not only in Thailand.

Its the same with all consumer electronics, phones, PCs, laptops, fridges etc etc. 

Not really much you or I can do about it....is there?

an if only if only they could be reconfigured to become simple home wifi Repeaters... 

 

much like a year ago I played around with one of my Swann IpCams, and managed to make it perform as a Repeater that extended my home's wifi range reach all the way down to the front of the property outside ???? Only downside was that wifi access to the home network via the Swann; was now Open to all outsiders too ????  

11 minutes ago, tifino said:

an if only if only they could be reconfigured to become simple home wifi Repeaters... 

 

much like a year ago I played around with one of my Swann IpCams, and managed to make it perform as a Repeater that extended my home's wifi range reach all the way down to the front of the property outside ???? Only downside was that wifi access to the home network via the Swann; was now Open to all outsiders too ????  

They can be set up with normal security password access without too much effort.

This is what I used to have and instructions to set up (TP link).

https://superuser.com/questions/645365/convert-wireless-adsl-modem-router-into-a-wireless-access-point-possible

3 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

They can be set up with normal security password access without too much effort.

This is what I used to have and instructions to set up (TP link).

https://superuser.com/questions/645365/convert-wireless-adsl-modem-router-into-a-wireless-access-point-possible

yes thanx, I had been thinking similar lines; except was hoping the  Repeater itself could be sitting many rooms away operating totally wire-less,  Not needing to be hardwire Cabled directly back to the homes Network Router 

10 minutes ago, tifino said:

yes thanx, I had been thinking similar lines; except was hoping the  Repeater itself could be sitting many rooms away operating totally wire-less,  Not needing to be hardwire Cabled directly back to the homes Network Router 

Have found even the designed repeaters do not work well using WiFi to communicate back to base (am sure some work better than others but what I bought did not work well until I ran cable - but works very good with the cable).

On 3/8/2021 at 11:45 AM, allencraig said:

What a huge waste—financial and resource-wise. But that's Thailand I guess.

It's not peculiar to Thailand!

If these routers support OpenWRT then they could be used as Wi-Fi repeaters or IoT/smart home controllers, or whatever else. Check models here: https://openwrt.org/toh/start

And if they are just a random chinese <deleted> then simply throw them away (responsibly).

 

P.S. also if they are not listed on OpenWRT website but made by Huawei (check the sticker below, not the logo on top) then it's likely possible to flash a better than stock firmware.

Make a huge bonfire in your back garden and burn them.

On 3/8/2021 at 7:33 PM, KannikaP said:

Its the same with all consumer electronics, phones, PCs, laptops, fridges etc etc. 

Not really much you or I can do about it....is there?

I think this is quite different as electronics can easily be resold and used for many years after their original purchase. Just throwing away electronics because you want the newest one is pretty damn irresponsible on a number of levels because there's second-hand markets for them.

 

Before shrugging and tossing yet another pile of plastic and steel and poisonous minerals into the landfill, I thought I'd check around and see if there's a way to allow them a longer life.  Seems like not, but at least I made *some*effort.

On 3/11/2021 at 1:02 PM, fdsa said:

If these routers support OpenWRT then they could be used as Wi-Fi repeaters or IoT/smart home controllers, or whatever else.

Ah, interesting. Thanks!

On 3/11/2021 at 12:52 PM, Maliproto said:

It's not peculiar to Thailand!

True. But Thailand almost seems to enjoying using as many resources as possible in their consumer model—plastic especially. 

11 minutes ago, allencraig said:

I think this is quite different as electronics can easily be resold and used for many years after their original purchase. Just throwing away electronics because you want the newest one is pretty damn irresponsible on a number of levels because there's second-hand markets for them.

 

Before shrugging and tossing yet another pile of plastic and steel and poisonous minerals into the landfill, I thought I'd check around and see if there's a way to allow them a longer life.  Seems like not, but at least I made *some*effort.

I made some effort posting the answer you answered to ! LOL