Looking to upgrade ISP's router (BT Smart Hub) with 802.11ax router

[kingmustard]

We have a BT Smart Hub (sometimes called the Home Hub 6), which was released in 2016.

 

The BT Smart Hub Wikipedia article tells me the modem is "VDSL2".

 

I am looking to replace it with something more capable and future-proof.

 

I don't want to pay over £100.

 

I believe these are my options:

• £60 Huawei WiFi AX3 (AX3000)
• £70 TP-Link Archer AX10 (AX1500)
• £70 D-Link DIR-X1560 (AX1500)
• £95 Asus RT-AX55 (AX1800)
• £95 Asus RT-AX56U (AX1800)
• £100 TP-Link Archer AX20 (AX1800)

Does anyone have any thoughts?

[Alex Atkin UK]

Any particular reason why?  WiFi 6 wont improve broadband performance.

Combined modem/routers tend to be a bit crap, especially ASUS.  Their plain ethernet routers are good, but their VDSL routers have crap modems.

Its generally better to have a good modem and a good router as separate devices.  You're generally better off over at the kitz.co.uk forum when it comes to this stuff.

[Falcon1986]

2 hours ago, kingmustard said:

I believe these are my options:

• £60 Huawei WiFi AX3 (AX3000)
• £70 TP-Link Archer AX10 (AX1500)
• £70 D-Link DIR-X1560 (AX1500)
• £95 Asus RT-AX55 (AX1800)
• £95 Asus RT-AX56U (AX1800)
• £100 TP-Link Archer AX20 (AX1800)

Those are all wireless routers only. They have no DSL modems built in, so they cannot replace your current BT Smart Hub. Something is still needed to interface with the physical phone line.

 

You either need a DSL gateway if you want to do what you’re asking, or you can run the Smart Hub in bridge mode (if it’s supported), connect one of those listed above, and use that as your wireless router.

 

Spoiler

DSL —> BT Smart Hub (bridge mode) — ethernet —> wireless router

 

[kingmustard]

5 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

Those are all wireless routers only. They have no DSL modems built in, so they cannot replace your current BT Smart Hub. Something is still needed to interface with the physical phone line.

 

You either need a DSL gateway if you want to do what you’re asking, or you can run the Smart Hub in bridge mode (if it’s supported), connect one of those listed above, and use that as your wireless router.

 

  Hide contents

DSL —> BT Smart Hub (bridge mode) — ethernet —> wireless router

 

I appreciate your response!

 

If the router would also need to include a modem, ax will be out of my budget and I really don't want to keep the BT router in play, even in bridge mode.

[Alex Atkin UK]

22 hours ago, kingmustard said:

I appreciate your response!

 

If the router would also need to include a modem, ax will be out of my budget and I really don't want to keep the BT router in play, even in bridge mode.

I do not believe the BT router supports bridge mode anyway.  The popular model amongst techies is detailed here:

https://kitz.co.uk/routers/zyxel_VMG8324-B10A_bridge.htm

 

Its a relatively old model now but for bridge mode the only bit we care about is how good the modem is.

This model also works fine and is dirt cheap used.  This way you can get whatever router you want without having to worry about if its modem is any good.  Of course the catch is using two mains sockets.