Broadband router

[wristpin]

We’re unlikely to see fibre of any sort for a couple of years and my existing copper wire router is getting a bit creaky. I need to renew it but are they all much the same? Only used for mail, FaceTime and light business use etc , no gaming , and little streaming .
Any recommendations by make or type - or just settle for what Plusnet can supply?
Advice will be appreciated.

 

[julianf]

Plusnet will send you a free one if you kick up a fuss. They will want to charge you "postage" but with the right conversation they will drop that.

Unless you are wanting to do some sort of port forwarding which their unit is rubbish at, its probably as good as anything else, and will have the bonus of you not needing to set it up.

Again, they will want cash off you, but will back down on that request fairly quickly.

 

[charliecambs]

I've found them (plusnet) pretty good and even at £5.99 postage it's pretty cheap router. If you are recontracting to one of their packages I think its totally free. I usually find cheap offer elsewhere at recontract and call them. They'll usually come close and if there's a new customer voucher offer theyll often match it. I got £75 last time its a preloaded card but as mine didn't come they sent a cheque
For "normal" users I find router fine WiFi OK and of course if it goes bang they'll send another I assume?

 

[gaz1]

We’re unlikely to see fibre of any sort for a couple of years and my existing copper wire router is getting a bit creaky. I need to renew it but are they all much the same? Only used for mail, FaceTime and light business use etc , no gaming , and little streaming .
Any recommendations by make or type - or just settle for what Plusnet can supply?
Advice will be appreciated.

what do you mean by creaky ?

is the modem working and providing your needs as it stands now ?

a quick search throws you may need to consider a few things if you intend to either get a new modem or having to pay for a replacement modem

if you get another modem you may have issues with that new one as it does happen

 

[Turbo]

We are around 3 miles from the nearest cabinet, supplied by 50 year old copper wires & our broadband is prone to dropouts. I swapped to a Netgear router that is better at keeping your broadband connection going on a bad line & it certainly did improve things.

During one visit by an openreach engineer to sort a broadband failure he remarked 'It's definitely not your router, that's the best one there is for supplies on intermittent/bad copper lines.'

I'll dig out the model number later.

 

[reb78]

If you have a reasonable 4g signal, I reckon that with a little initial outlay (router and aerial) you will get better internet than any copper wire provider will supply. We have done this and havent looked back. If you get 5g, then even better but thats less likely where they havent even routed fibre as those areas are the last to get anything.

 

[Ed.]

I just replaced my router which was an ASUS RT-AC87U with an RT-AX89X only because my existing router was getting on in the years, it was second hand when I bought it many years ago and it still worked good, but as I am about to move into my new house I figured I might as well update everything and it has 8 x 1GB ports plus 2 x 10GB ports, one is SFP+ and the other is RJ-45, probably totally overkill for most people including myself, but works quite well and is very configurable, I am on NBN so if you are on ADSL or dialup you will most likely need a modem as well. This new router was quite expensive but I looked around and found a seller on ebay that had it for several hundred dollars off. (Paid about $AUD550 delivered)

One thing to mention is that it is very big, with it's 8 antennaes and it looks like the creature that emerges from the cocoon eggs in the Movie "Aliens" minus it's tail. There are a stack of other routers that would fit your requirements and certainly be much cheaper, having said all that, I avoid any routers or modems supplied by the telcos'! as most are very basic units and some even locked in to that particular telco's network. Plus a modem is different to a router so if you are on copper lines you may only need to replace your modem and they are significantly cheaper than a router.

So if you do have a decent router and you end up being able to be connected to the fibre than it is usually just a case of ditching the modem and plugging the router direct to the fibre box. As there are various type of fibre connections, you will have to find out if your router is compatible, if not you will have to replace it anyway.

 

[Mark 2]

I just put 1/2inch bits in my router, adding broadband seems to be a bit of an unnecessary distraction.

 

[aesmith]

On a poor ADSL line the Zyxel VMG series get good press. Specifically those with suffix -Bxx for example mine in VMG-8924-B10. The -Bxx variants have some extra filter or sometime that improves the connection speed and stability. Mine was £30 for a John Lewis branded unused unit from EBay.

Plusnet's "Hub zero" was a real low end model not worth anything except to keep as a spare for when they ask "have you tried a different router?" .