Best router to replace BT Smart Hub 6

Simon Belmont

Simon Belmont

Simon Belmont

Soldato
Joined
11 Mar 2013
Posts
5,592
Whats the best router to replace the crappy BT router. Need something with good wifi coverage and good build and some good power. Whats the best. looking at £230 or lower.

I have BT Infinity 2
 
If you don't mind separates, get an Openreach HG612 modem (match the chipset to your fibre cabinet type e.g. ECI or Huawei), a Ubiquiti USG router and a Ubiquiti AC LR. Should be around your budget.

For an all-in-one the Netgear Nighthawks are good.
 
Wifi=UBNT UAC-AC-LR or Pro

What do you mean by power?

I was always under the impression the HH6 was actually OK, raises the question of what is not working as well as you want it to?
 
ChrisD. said:
I find it difficult to recommend any Draytek hardware beyond their modems.
Click to expand...

As a single box solution they are much better than Asus, Netgear etc. They are very reliable and you can just drop them in and forget about them. Only time they ever need rebooting is for the occasional firmware update.

The 2862 is a new model with improved performance etc.

http://www.draytek.co.uk/information/news/vigor2862-launch
 
How are they much better? Having used Draytek and Asus back to back I'd sooner use the Asus.

Every time I've come accross Draytek in a commercial environment they've caused problems or not performed as well as their competition.
 
Using Draytek for work and they're fine. I wouldn't exactly use them for home use though, the wifi range is not that great. Maybe if you hook it up with a Unifi AP then it will do the job but if OP wants an all in one solution, Netgear or Asus will do fine.
 
I've been using Draytek for over 10 years now at work and I've never had single issue or problem.

The WiFi is pretty decent on the new 2862 definitely better than the 2860. However I do usually deploy them with UniFi AP's....
 
Since moving to separates (I would never go back to all in one) I've come to the conclusion that routing is routing. For most home users it's not a consideration. As long as the router stays up and is easy enough to use then pick whatever. Most people's complaints are wifi related and you can't beat using something additional to the router for that. I think mesh systems will come into their own for this as time goes on, although I prefer APs for now.

I do wonder if net privacy will drive the need for more home users to consider network wide VPN on the router which would drive more consideration to that side of things. However until things improve, I couldn't see myself recommending an off the shelf consumer router for that. Even with flashed firmware, they are not powerful enough to saturate modern connections with encryption on and lack some of the policy based routing required to work in a modern connected household. So often I help someone whose netflix or iPlayer has stopped working, or Alexa suddenly thinks she is somewhere else unnecessarily because they've stuck some firmware on and not understood how to route things.

I believe if someone can nail an intuitive device to set which devices get routed via VPN or not and the device is powerful enough then that will be the router to recommend. Not sure we're there yet which is why I use pfSense.
 
I bought a cheap TD-W9970 to ditch the Hub to gain some control over my connection with the intention of using it for a little while before using it in modem only mode and using a better router for Wi-Fi.

It syncs perfectly at the highest speeds for me. Wi-Fi is average.
 
roadie said:
I bought a cheap TD-W9970 to ditch the Hub to gain some control over my connection with the intention of using it for a little while before using it in modem only mode and using a better router for Wi-Fi.

It syncs perfectly at the highest speeds for me. Wi-Fi is average.
Click to expand...

I replaced our Home Hub 5 yesterday with a TP-Link W9970. Fortunately I already had a Ubiquiti AP so the W9970 is doing a pretty job just as a modem/router for now. I'm hoping that the downstream SNR will go down after time since the Home Hub 5 forcefully reconnects once a week which upsets the DLM.
 
These are the stats it gives me. No idea if they are any good or not!

Device Information
Firmware Version:0.9.1 2.11 v0025.0 Build 170726 Rel.65343n
Hardware Version:TD-W9970 v1 00000001
System Up Time:1 day(s) 16:59:04

DSL
Line Status:Connected
DSL Modulation Type:VDSL2
Annex Type:Annex A/L

Upstream Downstream
Current Rate (Kbps) 19999 79999
Max Rate (Kbps) 31915 95163
SNR Margin (dB) 15.5 9
Line Attenuation (dB) 6.2 2.1
Errors (Pkts) 0 0
Click to expand...
 
Steveocee said:
Wifi=UBNT UAC-AC-LR or Pro

What do you mean by power?

I was always under the impression the HH6 was actually OK, raises the question of what is not working as well as you want it to?
Click to expand...
The HH6 is a really good piece of kit I'm not sure what people have against it from my point of view the spec and performance are spot on.
 
its fine as router, for me it was the lack of a few features like SSID broadcasting control and not having network connection lights on the front. plus the seemingly regular firmware updates are nice, but annoying as they happen randomly. as far as ISP routers go theres a lot worse things out there.
 
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