Best Modem/Router solution?

[#1]

Hi all,

My Plusnet hub has recently died and rather pay the £100 Plusnet want for a new one, I'd rather source my own equipment. I am struggling to decide what equipment to go for, either a modem router or a separate router and modem and which make/models? What is everyone on here using?

Connection wise the majority of the time I have the following connecting through powerline adaptors:

Lounge Smart TV

Synology NAS (With two POE CCTV Cameras)

PC

Xbox One

And the following through Wifi:

Kitchen Smart TV

Tado Smart Thermostat

iPhone

Coverage wise my house is an average size family home, three bed detached with a garage.

Any suggestions would be appreicated, thanks.

[#2]

Which type of cabinet are you on, and budget?

[#3]

Not sure on the cabinet sorry, how can I find this?

Budget wise, ideally under £100 but could go a bit more if required. Really the only feature I need on top of the Plusnet hub is the ability to DNS my security cameras. I would probably make use of any other features though. The main reason for moving away from the Plusnet Hub is to find something more robust and reliable. 

Thanks!

[#4]

Are you on ADSL or FTTC ?

Do you have any other existing equipment that could be reused  ?

Do you use the powerline adaptors to provide WiFi, or did you only use the hub's wireless ?

[#5]

Hi Nibiru, I have fibre, so I guess FTTC? It was around 27mbps download but since the Openreach engineer that Plusnet requested visited, I'm now getting 36mbps download.

I haven't got any other equipment I want to use as the Openreach engineer determined that my Plusnet modem/router is faulty.

The powerline adaptors are used just to provide ethernet to the TV/Xbox in the lounge, PC in the office upstairs and the Synology NAS and POE switch in the loft. I don't use them for extending WiFi, I don't think they are capable of this.

Thanks!

[#6]

What powerline adaptors are you using ?

[#7]

Hi Nibiru,

I'm using three of these:

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/products/details/cat-18_TL-PA8030P-KIT.html

Thanks

[#8]

Bump

[#9 · Accepted solution]

Go onto EBay and buy a Smarthub 6 for a bargain price. If you get the Business version this gives you useful features such as the capability to set your preferred DNS servers.

Just make sure you get the FTTC version, which has four yellow LAN sockets. The FTTP version, which should be avoided, has a red WAN sticker fixed to one of the LAN sockets. 

Setting instructions are here.  https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Using-the-BT-Smarthub-6-on-a-Plusnet-Account/m-p/1587673#M85...

[#10]

Whether you are on Fibre or ADSL I would recommend a good quality branded Modem Router. I have now swapped out the PN provided router & Open reach fiber modem for a Netgear router modem. I found recently the Openreach modem was quite hot. I had suffered internet drop outs and problems with my TV service with the aging PN kit,  all now very stable with the Netgear.

[#11]

Hi Baldrick1,

Thanks for your advice, I actually managed to find a spare still boxed one of these at work, I have since got it home and all up and running quite easily. Hopefully this will now resolve my issue of the network constantly dropping as neither Plusnet or Openreach can find anything wrong at their ends.

As per an old post of yours I also separated the WiFi bands. 

Thanks!