Can anyone recommend a good value router to use with FTTC?

[#1]

I'm on plusnet's fibre service at the moment. I had been using the Thomson router which had been fine. I don't recall a single disconnection.
I recently availed of the TV service and they sent me the new sagemcom router.  Since then I have been getting regular disconnects (only one a day at most, but that is worse than the zero in over year previously) It also recently has its WiFi go belly up. Devices on my network won't connect to it wirelessly unless it is rebooted. They can see the network but won't authenticate.
I've had the sagemcom router replaced but the same issues persist.
I want something cheap and cheerful to replace it (and possibly the BT Openreach modem as well) that will be rock solid and reliable. Needs to be multicast enabled for the TV service.
Any suggestions?

[#2]

There is a list here for starters http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,14436.0.html

[#3]

Billion 8800NL user here. Good value at <£70 and it has a built-in modem too!

[#4]

Quote from: Strat

There is a list here for starters http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,14436.0.html

Thanks, but I was really looking for actual recommendations from other users rather than a list of everything available on the market.

[#5]

Depends a lot on your actual budget and usage requirements.  The Billion gets a lot of favourable reviews.  I'm using an ASUS RT-N66u, which works very well for me.  It's dual band, has a built in print server and has been pretty solid.  Retails on Amazon now for £68, including delivery, which personally I think is great value.

[#6]

Quote from: spudbynight

Thanks, but I was really looking for actual recommendations from other users

It's more than just a list as there are links on most to a forum discussion by users

[#7]

Quote from: shure

Depends a lot on your actual budget and usage requirements.  The Billion gets a lot of favourable reviews.  I'm using an ASUS RT-N66u, which works very well for me.  It's dual band, has a built in print server and has been pretty solid.  Retails on Amazon now for £68, including delivery, which personally I think is great value.

Another vote for the ASUS from me, I've just switched to fibre and had same issues with the Sagem one.  I've switched to the ASUS (bought from Amazon too) and it has bee excellent to date, far more stable and also copes much better with multiple devices connecting/streaming at once.

[#8]

I'm also an Asus fan; I'm using the slightly higher spec. RT-AC56U, £79.00 from Amazon. 

[#9]

Quote from: shure

Depends a lot on your actual budget and usage requirements.  The Billion gets a lot of favourable reviews.  I'm using an ASUS RT-N66u, which works very well for me.  It's dual band, has a built in print server and has been pretty solid.  Retails on Amazon now for £68, including delivery, which personally I think is great value.

I'd like as cheap as possible really. In an ideal world I would want to pick something up for under £30. I've been mulling over picking up a Home Hub 5 on EBAY for that sort of price.

[#10]

I had gotten an Linksys ea6300v1 (not the ea6300 as it wasn't supported) for £50 at the time and now it's been reduced to £30 at PC World (around December last year).
With DD-Wrt and Asus-Wrt Merlin supported on the router, it's quite good for ac standards. Though it does have high temperatures with the cpu core staying at around 77.4c. (The same can be said for the Asus routers with dual core Broadcom chips).
If you are willing to use Plusnet TV, the router doesn't support Multicast streams, so unfortunately it isn't for you. And if you don't mind using command lines to flash custom firmware then it isn't for you as the general smart wifi setup isn't the best firmware (but great for remote management and ease, though make sure to manually setup as ppoe)
dick:quote

[#11]

I bought a Home Hub 5 off eBay for £35 and it works great,it did suffer from daily restarts for a week or so but settled down after a firmware update.Now i get a resync every 30 days or so.

[#12]

Quote from: shure

I'm using an ASUS RT-N66u, which works very well for me.  It's dual band, has a built in print server and has been pretty solid.  Retails on Amazon now for £68, including delivery, which personally I think is great value.

Now £82.99? according to the link above...
Loads of questions, sorry - Plusnet newbie.
There seem to be 3 varients, N600, N750 and N900. Which one for Plusnet?
Also, regarding the BT Home Hub 5. There's an A and a B, will either "do"? (googled - different manufacturers, specs the same)
If I bought something like either of the above (new), are they simply plug-and-play to get them basically functioning? (link below explains)

Will they both replace (do away) with the modem also?
(Just saw http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,135840.0.html about the Home Hub 5)
I need to add an external hard-drive to my router, and the standard fibre router doesn't have a USB port. The ones listed do have USB.
Thanks in advance...
Andy

[#13]

Wow, that price didn't last long!  It was definitely £67.99 when I posted the link...
All variants will work with Plusnet,  The variants are actually different models.  The RT-N66u is the later of the three (not the very latest) and has some additional functionality.  It has external antennae, which should give it greater range (and might be of interest if you have a large house or a lot of internal walls), as well as a built in print server, which would allow you to print from any device in your house.  It also has six guest networks (3 on each frequency) and QoS and I could be wrong but don't think the N56u does this.
But all the above is irrelevant if you don't use it.  I found the print server function to be excellent and the range is very good, much better than PN's standard fare.  I have teenagers whose friends can't survive more than about 3 minutes without Facebook, Twitter etc so the Guest network function is something I use, too.  
None of the models have a built in modem.  They are router only, but the advantage is they generally run cooler than all-in-ones
edit: forgot to add, the 600, 750 and 900 refer to the throughput.  The N600 has 300Mbps on each frequency (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz).  The N750 has 450Mbps on the 2.4Ghz frequency + 300 on 5Ghz, while the N66u has 450+450.  Higher is better but only you will know what your needs are
In summary: the N56u is good.  The N66u is better.  Depends on your requirements

[#14]

If I go with the Home Hub 5, which should I get, the A or B?
Also, can I edit the DNS settings on one of those?

[#15]

I have they Home Hub 5 Type A and as i've said i have no real issues with it at all(apart from the early bug which has now disappeared),when it comes to DNS its not something i've really looked into i know you can set up and use Dynamic DNS from within the Hub but i just use the PlusNet DNS servers.
The Type B Hub is more compatible with G.INP than the Type A according to posts i have seen but im not 100% on that.