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Would installing a more expensive combined modem/router help?
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Would installing a more expensive combined modem/router help?
17-11-2015 6:46 PM
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I've been with Plusnet for many years and upgraded to fibre at the beginning of the year (or even earlier). It was fine for a long time, but recently - in the past few months - the connection is getting flakey, regularly dropping when streaming (e.g. in iPlayer). The usual explanation is that it 'congestion' but this can't be the case as I live in a very rural area of North Cornwall where there simply aren't that many users to congest the network. And the increase in the dropped connections is quite noticeable - hate to say it, but that's a fact. (You tend to spot dropped connections more when watching a streaming service - when ordinary websites are loading you wouldn't necessarily know.)
I got the usual PN setup, a BT modem and a Technicolour router, and reading around on the net, I've heard it said that ISP don't always splash out on equipment they supply to customers (at a price, of course). So I was wondering whether it would be worth investing in a more expensive combined VDSL modem/router. Would that help my connections. The second question is: how simply would it be to set up. When we still had ADSL I installed a new router several times, and that was easy, but is fibre any different? I wouldn't want to screw it up and apart from anything else three days a week I rely on the connection to log into a PC at work in London.
Any advice welcome.
I got the usual PN setup, a BT modem and a Technicolour router, and reading around on the net, I've heard it said that ISP don't always splash out on equipment they supply to customers (at a price, of course). So I was wondering whether it would be worth investing in a more expensive combined VDSL modem/router. Would that help my connections. The second question is: how simply would it be to set up. When we still had ADSL I installed a new router several times, and that was easy, but is fibre any different? I wouldn't want to screw it up and apart from anything else three days a week I rely on the connection to log into a PC at work in London.
Any advice welcome.
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Re: Would installing a more expensive combined modem/router help?
17-11-2015 6:55 PM
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The basic question is what drops
Is it the Broadband or the Internet - check using the lights on the router because if it is the broadband then it would show up on the DSL light on the modem
Is it the Broadband or the Internet - check using the lights on the router because if it is the broadband then it would show up on the DSL light on the modem
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Re: Would installing a more expensive combined modem/router help?
17-11-2015 6:58 PM
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If its going to drop it will drop. No good modem can counteract provider dropouts. However the purchase of a good router/modem would be advisable as you will get better WiFi range (as i found) as well as additional features such as USB connectivity.
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Re: Would installing a more expensive combined modem/router help?
17-11-2015 6:59 PM
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Apart from that, would he overal improve things if I invested in a better quality VDSL combined modem/router? And if I did, would it be as easy to set up as the ADSL routers were?
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Re: Would installing a more expensive combined modem/router help?
17-11-2015 7:03 PM
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that entirely depends on where the problem is as the BT Modem is quite a good piece of kit
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Re: Would installing a more expensive combined modem/router help?
17-11-2015 7:26 PM
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I suppose how good the Openreach modem is depends on which type of modem it is (there are two different types).
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Re: Would installing a more expensive combined modem/router help?
17-11-2015 7:35 PM
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I personally found the Home Hub 5A to be shockingly bad at holding a connection on my line and ECI cabinet. I've been using a ZyXel SBG3300-N for over 2 years and it's rock solid.
I've also tried Draytek and Asus, again they where rubbish at holding a connection on my line and actually synced at lower speeds too. Others have certainly had good results with Draytek.
Never tried a Billion but lots of people have them and seem to get good results.
Take a look at Kitz forum and search for "Combined VDSL2 Modem Routers" there's a list on there with peoples findings and a few comments about them.
I've also tried Draytek and Asus, again they where rubbish at holding a connection on my line and actually synced at lower speeds too. Others have certainly had good results with Draytek.
Never tried a Billion but lots of people have them and seem to get good results.
Take a look at Kitz forum and search for "Combined VDSL2 Modem Routers" there's a list on there with peoples findings and a few comments about them.
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Re: Would installing a more expensive combined modem/router help?
17-11-2015 8:39 PM
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That depends on what the problem is but BT modem is an effective, good quality modem so I doubt you'd see a significant increase in your connection speed or stability from replacing that. The PN supplied router is a cheap-ish bit of kit though. You might see a difference in some applications if you replaced that. If you're going to replace the router you might as well go for a combined unit. It should at least give access to your line stats more easily than the BT modem does.
Quote from: pfgpowell Apart from that, would he overal improve things if I invested in a better quality VDSL combined modem/router?
But don't think you're suddenly going to get a huge boost in connection speed. Most likely that will stay the same. Wired throughput will also probably not change. However a better router should come with better wifi so you might see an improvement there.
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Re: Would installing a more expensive combined modem/router help?
17-11-2015 8:48 PM
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How do you know its the modem and not the router?
Plusnet are famous for the quality of their routers.
Plusnet are famous for the quality of their routers.
"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."
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