Best VDSL Router/Modem?

[Buxty]

Hey there boys and girls, been a long time since I posted last and I hope someone can help. 

 

Right now I use my ISP's modem and router (BT Infinity 2 UK stuff) and it just seems to be really crappy. On both WiFi & LAN it seems to work fine for a couple days then it chugs along slowly until it dies and requires a complete power cycle of all the networking equipment. 

 

I'm thinking of replacing both those units with a combined VDSL modem and router, like either the ASUS DSL-N55U or TP-LINK TD-W9980. I know from checking out the ISP forums that the latter should work fine, however im checking if you lot would recommend a certain brand/model for reliability/usability or support reasons?

 

Any help would be appreciated! 

[KemoKa]

Get a decent modem from a store. Then find an old PC that still works, like at the tip or a thrift store or somewhere like that. A pentium 4 or an Athlon X2 will work fine.

add a couple of PCI NICs to the PC, possibly a PCIe Wi-fi card as well.

 

And then install PFSense onto the computer.

 

Be fair, you did ask for reliability and usability. Support is not necessarily official, but crowd support is way better imho than some chap in India putting you on hold for five hours.

[Mug]

combined modem/routers do not work with Infinity or Infinity 2. BT will have installed a little white box to your outside wall. That is the modem.

 

The BT Home Hub is not a combined router. It is just a normal router (but it does have an ADSL modem but you're not using it because you've got infinity).

So you'd want any "broadband router" and plug that into the WAN port that your BT Home Hub is currently connected to.

 

Have a look at these:

http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/networking/broadband-routers-wifi-gigabit

[Fluxx]

Iv'e had an Asus router and it was one of the stupidest pieces of technology Iv'e ever used, although it wasn't the same model as the one you mentioned but I assume the software it runs is similar. 

 

Although the signal was excellent, it wouldn't allow a single device to use all my bandwidth for some reason, even if you were to only one using it. No matter what I did I couldn't get it to work properly, the only time it worked was when I first set it up and after a day it just when all stupid and even resetting to factory defaults and updating the firmware didn't help.

[Buxty]

I've looked at PfSense before however I don't really have any spare components except for mITX stuff so it wouldn't be great for LAN ports/WiFi unless I whacked a separate switch somewhere. But wouldn't the cost of getting some of that come close to a 70GBP odd VDSL one?

 

@Mug - Yeah the HH4 isn't combined and thats the one I have, the Openreach white modem is currently sat in my kitchen with the router somewhere else in more "friendly" place for the signals. I wanted to replace both as when my network chugs along, restarting the router alone doesnt seem to solve the issue. (that and I actually have a spare Openreach modem I switched in and the issue persisted).

 

@Fluxx do you know which one you had? I've seen problems reported on Amazon Reviews about several models of ASUS products.

[Fluxx]

@Fluxx do you know which one you had? I've seen problems reported on Amazon Reviews about several models of ASUS products.

It was the RT-AC68U, which is the second best router they sell I believe and has also won multiple awards but it was just a total nightmare, so I just took it back.

[Cr0ft]

Been using the Asus DSL-AC68U for a while but only on ADSL, the firmware was terrible to start with but has got a lot better. Not a clue bout the vdsl side of things tho

 

I believe Openreach no longer give out modems at all and the HH5 is adsl/vdsl compatible

[burnttoastnice]

Hey there boys and girls, been a long time since I posted last and I hope someone can help. 

 

Right now I use my ISP's modem and router (BT Infinity 2 UK stuff) and it just seems to be really crappy. On both WiFi & LAN it seems to work fine for a couple days then it chugs along slowly until it dies and requires a complete power cycle of all the networking equipment. 

 

I'm thinking of replacing both those units with a combined VDSL modem and router, like either the ASUS DSL-N55U or TP-LINK TD-W9980. I know from checking out the ISP forums that the latter should work fine, however im checking if you lot would recommend a certain brand/model for reliability/usability or support reasons?

 

Any help would be appreciated! 

 

What's your speedtest? I have no problems running a webserver from home, as well as a file storage server that I use frequently. The hub never slows down at all. Are you accessing your internet over WiFi? Do you have your hub's Smart WiFi turned on?

• Which hub model do you have? e.g. 3a/3b/5?
• Do you have the openreach box (VDSL2) or just the standalone VDSL w/microfilter? If you have the openreach box, DO NOT use the microfilter
• Do you access your internet over WiFi, and if so, is the hub's Smart WiFi turned on? You can use software such as Acrylic Wifi to get an idea of how cluttered your area is in regards to WiFi signals

By the way, if you are using the openreach box, that cannot be replaced at this time with custom equipment due to BT's current setup in the cabinet itself.

The router however can be replaced, but you must connect the red cable from the openreach box into the WAN port on your router. The new router needs to be logged into bthomehub@btbroadband.com via PPPoE

[Buxty]

The one I currently have is the Home Hub 4 Type A. Here is my Speedtest over WiFi which looks decent compared to ADSL but I can usually get around double that on both up and down.

 

 

Edit: Sorry forgot to add, Usually yes by Wifi but the speed difference when wired isnt much of an increase. Yeah Smart Wireless is currently on too.

Edited August 22, 2015 by Buxty

[Mug]

@Mug - Yeah the HH4 isn't combined and thats the one I have, the Openreach white modem is currently sat in my kitchen with the router somewhere else in more "friendly" place for the signals. I wanted to replace both as when my network chugs along, restarting the router alone doesnt seem to solve the issue. (that and I actually have a spare Openreach modem I switched in and the issue persisted).

You can't replace that box with a third party one, BT does not allow that.

 

I would replace the router though

[burnttoastnice]

-snip-

 

That is result is pretty quick, apart from the upload and ping speed. If you can, run the speedtest over ethernet and see if your ping improves.

 

To see whether it's a problem with your HomeHub or a problem with BT, the next time your internet slows down, head over to the homehub's homepage (http://192.168.1.254) and disconnect then re-connect to the internet.

 

 

There are 8 access points using channel 1, 6 access points using channel 6, and channel 11 has the least interference with just 4 access points using it.

 

With my current setup, when I ping my indoors webserver over WiFi it takes 4ms, but over ethernet it takes less than 1ms.

In my scenario, because my area is cluttered with so many WiFi access points, I've moved onto channel 13 so there is minimal interference from any other WiFi APs (Sorry Americans, channel 13 is illegal in your country AFAIK). Ever since changing to channel 13 I haven't had my youtube streaming rudely interrupted by any buffering animations. When I did try some of the other channels however, namely 6 and 12 that the other routers automatically place themselves on, the connection was intermittently giving problems and slowing down at random times.

 

 

(edited a bucketload of times)

[Buxty]

Okay so I ran Speedtest four times today when the network slowed down again. The Ethernet connection was made through a Powerline adapter for reference.

 

The speeds seem a little low as I used to get 70 Down / 20 Up and it just seems like its dipped for no reason whatsoever. Any tips?

 

Wireless Before Disconnecting Internet:

Ethernet Before Disconnecting Internet:

Wireless After Disconnecting/Connecting:

Ethernet After Disconnecting/Connecting:

[burnttoastnice]

Okay so I ran Speedtest four times today when the network slowed down again. The Ethernet connection was made through a Powerline adapter for reference.

 

The speeds seem a little low as I used to get 70 Down / 20 Up and it just seems like its dipped for no reason whatsoever. Any tips?

 

Wireless Before Disconnecting Internet:

Ethernet Before Disconnecting Internet:

Wireless After Disconnecting/Connecting:

Ethernet After Disconnecting/Connecting:

 

Those results are quite consistent. I'm puzzled as to why this would happen.

• You might be getting throttled (although that's unlike BT in my experiences)
• could be just an effect of peak hour internet usage by other BT customers in the area
• Could be memory leaks or some fault in the BT router's firmware (as in the OP you said it took a few days for it to bog down)

If you can, see if you can call BT and tell them about the problem. If they can't help you over the phone, then see if you can get your hands on another router, since BT's one seems like it may be the problem. I find it hard recommending calling out an engineer because the £110+ call out fee is too expensive imo.

[.:MARK:.]

the best solution for you is to get a Huawei HG612 VDSL2 modem, it's the best modem for openreach networks. It supports G.INP and has a hacked firmware so you ca access a WebUI ad telnet.

Then you can get any router you want.

[f3rgy15]

Hello. Just come across this thread, thought id share my experience.
In 2013 i purchased my own equipment for my talktalk fibre large as the original equipment provided by talktalk i felt was really poor.
Initally i used the asus dsl n55u along with original white box openreach modem. It took a while setting the asus dsl n55u but once it was connected i was happy, stable/strong wifi connection (i use an alfa wireless adapter).
Recently I have purchased the asus dsl n66u as i wanted a single box solution. First impressions are that the wifi strength isnt as strong as the n55u's, i may need to change some of the settings. However, i am happy as i dont need to have a seperate modem it takes up less space.
Im also looking to hook my bedroom pc through ethernet soon so i won't have to worry about the wifi. I tried speedtest on two ethernet cables, 20m and 3m length, there wasnt any speed difference so I wont be losing any speed what ever the length of the cables are.