topic Re: Alternatives to provided routers in My Router

Alternatives to provided routers

uvavu — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 09:11:14 GMT

Can anyone recommend a decent router that I could buy myself as an alternative to the provided Hubs and which work well with PN FTTC?

My current Hub One has been flaky recently. I have a new one that I tried to install yesterday but ran into issues. The biggest pain with the Hubs is their lack of configurability - especially the DNS addresses. With all my devices except my phone I have had to set DNS locally as everything was struggling to connect va the PN DNS a couple of years ago. My phone doesn't allow me to set a local DNS and that still has issues via WiFi that I don't see with 4G so I am sure the problem is still there.

Another thing I miss is a lack of guest WiFi.

So I am not looking for anything too advanced - just one that is not quite so dumb. The main criteria are reliability, working solidly, good WiFi. Not necessarily looking to do it on the cheap - I'll spend extra for quality as I need this to be reliable for work.

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

Dan_the_Van — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 09:31:43 GMT

Depends on your budget, TP-Link modem/routers are worth a look,

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/dsl-modem-router/

Dan

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

mavison — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 12:20:47 GMT

I use a Fritzbox 7530 on PN which I am pleased with for FTTC stability & speed - a steady 36Mb for months on end - plus a meshed repeater. Caters for guest access, Voip, dect phones, and much more.

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

uvavu — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 15:09:43 GMT

@Dan_the_Van wrote:

Depends on your budget, TP-Link modem/routers are worth a look,

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/dsl-modem-router/

Dan

Thanks. I've owned various TP-Link devices like portable hotspots and homeplugs, and they seem to have been decent enough.

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

uvavu — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 15:10:52 GMT

@mavison wrote:

I use a Fritzbox 7530 on PN which I am pleased with for FTTC stability & speed - a steady 36Mb for months on end - plus a meshed repeater. Caters for guest access, Voip, dect phones, and much more.

Thanks! Not a brand I have come across before but from what I can see they get good reviews. I will look into them a bit more.

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

bmc — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 15:36:56 GMT

@uvavu

Although not cheap Fitzbox have a good reputation. They also have an eco system built around them if you want things like Mesh, VOIP etc.

Zen Internet supply a Fitzbox as their standard router (not certain which model - I think there's a newer one than the 7530). They may also be the best place to buy one. If buying elsewhere make sure you get a UK model.

Brian

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

jab1 — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 17:45:25 GMT

@bmc wrote:

@uvavu

Zen Internet supply a Fitzbox as their standard router (not certain which model - I think there's a newer one than the 7530). They may also be the best place to buy one. If buying elsewhere make sure you get a UK model.

Brian

I was supplied with the 7530 13 months back when I moved, but I think new customers get a later version, although I've found my model to be extremely reliable. They are a little bit harder to follow than the Hubs, but have excellent documentation.

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

ksaro1 — Sat, 23 Jul 2022 11:21:50 GMT

FWIW - I don't think you can go wrong with most models from any of the following manufacturers

Tp-Link
Asus
Netgear
Linksys
Draytek
Billion
eero Amazon
D-Link
Huawei (as long as you don't mind Chinese spyware...lol)

It will just be down to how much you want to pay and for what features. E.g., WiFi 6/6e? Mesh ?

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

uvavu — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 21:50:11 GMT

Just catching up with new posts. I got my new Hub working so the pressure is off to buy anything quickly. I will take some time now to research options based on the suggestions here.

Thanks all.

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

dazgee1965 — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 01:09:40 GMT

TP Link get my vote as well.
I used one for FTTC and bought another one when I upgraded to FTTP.
Neither of them have missed a heartbeat and the new one supports WiFi 6 which is handy if you have any devices that can use it.

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

longedge — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 16:55:10 GMT

My 2.5 year old Fritz!Box 7530 finally gave up the ghost yesterday ( presumably because of the heat in my loft ) and for the time being I've re-commected my Hub One. It's very noticeable how poor the Wi-Fi is downstairs now.

If the Fritz!Box 7530 was still available I think I'd buy another but I can only find the Fritz!Box 7530ax at a price that is too rich for my liking.

I was looking at a TP Link AC2800 but I'm trying to get an idea from people with experience of it what the strengths and weaknesses are.

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

Dan_the_Van — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 17:26:03 GMT

I've found TP-Link devices to work well, if you follow this link you can see what the devices GUI offers.

https://emulator.tp-link.com/VR2800V1_Emulator_2017042605/index.htm

Has a VPN Server built in is a handy feature.

HTH

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

longedge — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 18:38:17 GMT

Thanks for that link. Covers pretty much everything I wanted to know. I suppose that Wi-Fi functionality depends very much on local conditions but presumably better than the Hub One.

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

Dan_the_Van — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 18:43:26 GMT

I suppose that Wi-Fi functionality depends very much on local conditions

Absolutely, wireless connections are subject to many variables

Dan

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

longedge — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 18:52:16 GMT

i.e. the only reliable comparison is where different routers are used in the same location e.g. I know that my Fritz!Box performed better than the Hub One 😁

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

ksaro1 — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 19:36:16 GMT

@longedge wrote:

Thanks for that link. Covers pretty much everything I wanted to know. I suppose that Wi-Fi functionality depends very much on local conditions but presumably better than the Hub One.

FWIW - I've recently upgraded to Full Fibre at 500mb/s. So I wanted to make sure that my home network could take advantage of the new increase in speed. And I've gone down the router, Access Point (AP), mesh, etc. rabbit holes. And, as mentioned elsewhere, a lot of what is good for one home network may not be as good for another home network. You also have to take into consideration the devices in your home. For example, if all devices use the 2.4gHz band, then the 5 and newer 6 gHz bands won't give you any advantage (unless we're talking AP<->router or mesh connections).

Also, for my home network, I've found the Hub Two that Plusnet provide with the Full Fibre connection is perfectly adequate for my home network. I'm seeing speeds on 2-300+ mb/s on my 5gHz devices throughout my house. I'm not sure if this can be tweaked further? But it certainly exceeds the 30 mb/s line speed I had for FTTC. The only but I'd add is that the Hub Two isn't WiFi 6/6E compatible. So, if you want to achieve 6/6E speeds/support then you'll need to add an AP, or change the router. Fortunately, I have a WiFi 6 AP already. Unfortunately, I don't have any WiFi 6/6E compatible devices (lol).

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

longedge — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 20:08:43 GMT

I've just been reminded of another drawback with the Hub One, it doesn't hold sync as well as the Fritz!Box did. I'm on a long line (about 730metres) and I was seeing re-syncs once or twice a month. The Hub One has dropped twice since yesterday 🙄

Re: Alternatives to provided routers

mavison — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 21:26:00 GMT

Certainly my FriszBox 7530 has been very stable, giving a solid 36 mb/s on 600m line, and from installation the first re-sync was after over 160 days! I think in 12 months, apart from re-syncs after a new version of the software, it has only re-synced twice. Way better than my previous ASUS.

The included mesh WiFi has also been solid, and has improved laprop backup times to my NAS. It also enables a VPN direct to the router, so on occasion in an emergency I have connected to the FritzBox remotely, asked it to WakeUp my NAS, and accesses my NAS data remotely - and all securely! It also provides VOIP and DECT connections also work.