tobias_platen's blog

On August 1, 2016 a new law that allows clients of German internet providers to use any terminal device they choose entered into force. Internet service providers (ISPs) are now required to give users any information you need to connect an alternative router. In many other EU countries there is still no such law and the Radio Lockdown Directive is compulsory in all those countries. In Germany there the old “Gesetz über Funkanlagen und Telekommunikationsendeinrichtungen” is now replaced with the new “Funkanlagengesetz”.

Routers that use radio standards such as WiFi and DECT fall under the Radio Lockdown Directive and since the European Commission did not pass a delegated act yet there is no requirement to implement a lock down for current hardware. Many WiFi chipsets require non-free firmware, future generations of that non-free firmware could be used to lock down all kinds of Radio Equipment. Radio Equipment that comes with the Respects Your Freedom hardware product certification is 2.4GHz only in many cases, but some hardware that supports 5 GHz does exist.

Voice over IP (VoIP) is supported by most alternative routers and free software such as Asterisk. Since most ISPs and routers use SIP it is now possible to connect modern VoIP telephones directly to routers such as the FritzBox. Many compulsory routers such as the O2 Box 6431 use SIP internally, but it is not possible to connect external SIP phones with the stock firmware. So some users install OpenWRT on their box to get rid of those restrictions. Some ISPs in the cable market don’t use SIP, but an incompatible protocol called EuroPacketCable which is unsupported by most alternative routers.

Many set-top boxes used for TV streaming use Broadcom chips which offer a bad Free Software support. TV streaming could be done with free software, but many channels are scrambled requiring non-free software to unscramble. Old hardware such as the Media-Receiver Entry may become obsolete when the Telekom stops offering Start TV in 2019. No ISP publishes the interface descriptions for TV streaming, even if they could do so for the DRM-free channels. It is possible to use Kodi to watch those DRM free channels, but many features such as an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) do not work with IP TV streaming.

With this new law users now have a “freedom of choice” but they do not have full “software freedom” because many embedded devices still use proprietary software. Freedom respecting terminal device are rare and often they do not implement all features a user needs. Old analogue telephones sold in the 90s did not have any of those problems.