Best VDSL2 routers?

[#1]

Hi folks,

My old Billion router has given up the ghost so I need a new router. As a Plusnet FTTC customer I'm looking for a VDSL2 router so I can free up an extra ethernet port.

What do you recommend?

[#2]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Fibre to My Router

[#3]

Best is very subjective

I guess knowing the price bracket you are looking at would help other recommend also uses: multicast IPTV, VoIP etc?

For a basic-ish all in one a fair few of us have BT Business Smarthub which can be picked up on ebay for a reasonable price (£30 or so).

[#4]

Thanks dvorak, yes I clearly missed some useful info.

Price bracket is up to ~£150. Main uses are: Sky Q, phones, tablets, smart TV over wifi, and some devices (main computer, file server, printer) connected by ethernet. I occasionally work from home (although all the time at the moment) so using Teams, Slack, Zoom etc. for voice/video calls. Occasionally there'll be three devices streaming Netflix etc., but usually just one.

I'd rather buy new so I have decent consumer protection in the event of problems.

Thanks

[#5]

Hello, it depends on how tech-savvy you are. The Plusnet Hub One (which is a BT HomeHub 5A) is actually a decent piece of kit, as long as you replace its firmware with something open, such as OpenWRT. There is a healthy discussion thread on here about that [1] but you do need to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in

[1] https://community.plus.net/t5/Tech-Help-Software-Hardware-etc/Running-OpenWRT-on-the-Plusnet-Hub-One...

[#6]

Thanks Starfry, I'm reasonable at that sort of thing, but really I just want a plug and go solution to arrive in a cardboard box 🙂 Also, I don't have a Plusnet router to work with!

[#7]

What model of router did you have? and how did it give up the ghost?

[#8]

I have a Billion Bipac 7800DXL. The behaviour is very weird. Seemingly at random, it will disconnect my Sky Q box (wifi, 2.4G) and all the ethernet connections, while leaving all other wireless devices connected, on both 2.4 and 5G. 

Sometimes it will stay up for a couple of days, other times it will drop several times a day. The only solution is to pull the power cable out and reconnect it after 5 minutes.

I have the latest firmware, and it was absolutely rock solid until about a month ago.

Normally I'd expect a router to either work, or stop working altogether, but intermittent dropping of some wireless connections and all ethernet connections has me beat.

[#9]

I'm using a Bilion 8800nl R2 that just sits there and does its thing with no fuss

you could see if you can find a solution on the billion forum here http://www.billion.uk.com/forum/

[#10]

Yep, mine used to do the same. Nothing changed about the setup, it just started misbehaving. I've already spent some time on the Billion forum, the best advice I got was to upgrade to the latest firmware, which I'd already done. I even did a full factory reset, but that didn't help either.

The problem is, it's not really behaving like you'd expect a faulty router to; but neither is it showing symptoms of something so straightforward as a configuration problem. At a time when it's essential that I have reliable connectivity so I can work from home, I need a quick and simple solution. Hence a new router required!