Getting Fibre on Monday. Super confused router/modem-wise

Ease

Ease

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I'm getting Talktalk 38mb Fiber on Monday in my new house (so new, that I don't actually get the keys until Friday) and want a great hook-up for the internet.

Can I get a single box that will replace both the boxes Talktalk supply for accessing fiber internet?

Which one should I get? Do most the routers for sale nowadays have modems built-in? How hard is it to configure modems/routers if you're not using the supplied proprietary ones? I'm so confused!

Willing to spend any amount of money to get the best 'value'. Would prefer to spend close to the £100-mark. I'd quite like 4 ethernet ports on the back, but only 1 is really required (I have a 24-port gigabit switch).
 
There are an ever increasing range of routers with the VDSL2 modem built in which will replace both the supplied TalkTalk router (which is completely dire) and also the BTOR modem. You'll find the some ISPs send out their new hubs with both built in.

I prefer the Asus router range myself, if you look at the DSL range for starters, you need to decide whether you want Wireless N or go for Wireless AC, depends on your budget, how many AC devices you have, and whether you want to future proof.

Should be fairly straight forward to provide your username/password in the PPPoE setup of most routers. The only ISP (correct me if i am wrong) where you have to extract a specific username and password and pass this over to satisfy the MER, is Sky Fibre - i am not aware of any other ISP's doing it, and thats just to try keep most of their customers using their Sky Hubs.

What made you go with Talktalk?
 
I've been with Talktalk at two previous properties. The hub was indeed absolutely dire (hence my keenness to buy one now!), but the service I had at both properties was sublime. They've also been the (second) cheapest (on the comparison sites I've used; I'm too lazy to call a lot of different ones and beg for deals) that I've found, both previously, and now. And by quite a large margin.

The only company I've found cheaper is Virgin, and I've been with them before and experienced massive throttling nearly 24/7, despite being on an 'unlimited' tariff (stupid fair usage).

Terrier_Jimlad said:
There are an ever increasing range of routers with the VDSL2 modem built in which will replace both the supplied TalkTalk router (which is completely dire) and also the BTOR modem. You'll find the some ISPs send out their new hubs with both built in.

I prefer the Asus router range myself, if you look at the DSL range for starters
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So what you're saying is I should definitely replace the router (with a DSL modem), but keep the BTOR modem? I'm not too fussed about wireless; it'll benefit my phone a little, but all the appliances/computers/TVs in the house are being hard-wired with Cat6 (I know Cat6 isn't worth it over Cat5, but I have access to nearly unlimited amounts of Cat6 for free).
 
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If this is a new fibre contract you should receive a Huawei HG635 which is an all in one VDSL2 AC/GigE modem/router (They call it the "Super Router")

Its good, there is no reason to replace it. Google its spec :)
 
Yep, it's probably the best isp router ever released. The gui is unfortunately talktalk branded but the features are all there.

Excellent chipsets too

Edit as the op mentioned it, they don't supply a separate BTO modem these days, just the all in one HG635 I mentioned
 
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Which is something that people need to weigh up. I didn't feel that I could justify going beyond £26 on the basis that something 'might' happen that would need me to call up the support of the provider. Andrews and Arnold want £50 for 200GB on an FTTC service, which is insane considering it is a consumer service as far as SLAs and fix times go.

If internet and support was so crucial to me (e.g. running a business) that could justify spending more than a basic FTTC cost then I would be looking at EoFTTC at a minimum, not an expensive consumer service where the providers are very quick to answer the phones and give you accurate information and then still have to wait for Openreach to perform the fix to the same SLAs as everyone else.
 
Caged said:
TalkTalk and BT both have excellent bundled routers.
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Not so sure on that one, at least where BT's latest hub is concerned (bt home Hub 5 I think) my wifi has gone to pot after upgrading from the hub3 and BT ain't in the slightest bit interested when I've contacted them about it. Press and hold the reset button is usual response from them!
 
Terrier_Jimlad said:
but ultimately, they both have the worst customer service and tech support, both for the running 2 years according to Ofcom.
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Heh, ironically Talktalk is the only ISP I've ever had even passable customer service from, and they were incredible!

Sky - no internet for a month after promised date. Charged me >£60 for ringing their own customer support.

BT - 1 year of the internet cutting out hourly (dead on the hour) for three minutes. They insisted it was a fault with my computer, despite it affecting the entire house (3 x PS3s, 2 laptops, 3 desktops).

Virgin - throttling 24/7.

BigBlueSky - promised lifetime internet. Dissolved a matter of weeks later.

Talktalk - Had three times, for a year each. Any intermittency issues solved within 24 hours. Engineer spent 3 hours+ rewiring my connection after builders bodged it, with no additional charge. Always dirt-cheap. Have provided above advertised speeds for one of those years as well.
 
Terrier_Jimlad said:
but ultimately, they both have the worst customer service and tech support, both for the running 2 years according to Ofcom.
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How much technical support do you need? I have never had to call them for a technical issue, and even if you do the issue is almost certainly going to be with Openreach anyway who have a mandate to treat all ISP queries on an equal weighting.
 
Caged said:
not an expensive consumer service where the providers are very quick to answer the phones and give you accurate information and then still have to wait for Openreach to perform the fix to the same SLAs as everyone else.
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Exactly this. We are discussing consumer broadband through a standardised platform. Its a commodity at this level, nothing more.
 
Jez said:
If this is a new fibre contract you should receive a Huawei HG635 which is an all in one VDSL2 AC/GigE modem/router (They call it the "Super Router")

Its good, there is no reason to replace it. Google its spec :)
Click to expand...

Awww yiss! :D
 
Thekwango said:
Not so sure on that one, at least where BT's latest hub is concerned (bt home Hub 5 I think) my wifi has gone to pot after upgrading from the hub3 and BT ain't in the slightest bit interested when I've contacted them about it. Press and hold the reset button is usual response from them!
Click to expand...

The Home Hubs locked down firmware makes it an average router.
 
You guys were right.

The router is amazing. Service poor (no internet for the first three days; blamed on my PC (which wasn't even assembled, letalone connected to router). Customer service worse. AND included surprise charges for installation previously promised as free!
 
Ease said:
You guys were right.

The router is amazing. Service poor (no internet for the first three days; blamed on my PC (which wasn't even assembled, letalone connected to router). Customer service worse. AND included surprise charges for installation previously promised as free!
Click to expand...

Sounds about right

  • Very good network (i get no congestion on my 80/20 FTTC (single connection NNTP peak time included etc) and 6ms to london based servers)
  • Very good router included
  • Very keen pricing

With the downside being the terrible CS, but frankly who cares as a competent user who knows what they are doing? The issues are always going to lie with Openreach anyway who have a remit to treat all ISP's entirely equally.
 
Jez said:
If this is a new fibre contract you should receive a Huawei HG635 which is an all in one VDSL2 AC/GigE modem/router (They call it the "Super Router")

Its good, there is no reason to replace it. Google its spec :)
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to rubbish it, but can you do the following on it..

-Static DHCP / Reserved IP based on MAC address
-Wake on LAN through GUI

Those are the only two features I want from a router besides stability.
 
DHCP reservations based on MAC - yes

Wake on LAN via the routers GUI i really am not sure.

By good spec i mean that it features broadcom dual band AC wireless, an excellent broadcom modem similar (not sure if it identical) to the HG612 modem, gige local switching, local USB etc :)
 
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