Looking for an ADSL/VDSL router.

swanseajack · 7 Mar 2017 at 23:15

What are people using these days, at the moment I'm using an Archer D7, it's been rock solid connection wise but the 5ghz channel disappear's now and then and requires a reboot.

My exchange should be getting fibre soon so need a dual router.

Been looking at the Netgear D7000 Nighthawk, how are people finding it?

Got a budget of around £150.

Cheers.

SJ.

bremen1874 · 7 Mar 2017 at 23:41

If you only have a wireless issue I'd wait and see how good the ISP supplied router you eventually end-up with is. Many of them a pretty good nowadays. Depending on who you choose as an ISP you may find that a third-party router won't work at all, or you need to picking from a very limited number of options.

swanseajack · 7 Mar 2017 at 23:48

Well at the moment I'm with talktalk but they seem to be taking ages to upgrade to fibre, so I'm left with BT as the only provider.

bremen1874 · 7 Mar 2017 at 23:51

You should find that as soon as BT Openreach upgrade the area to fibre it'll become available from all the usual suspects (BT, TalkTalk, Sky, Plusnet, etc.).

swanseajack · 7 Mar 2017 at 23:55

Nah it's been BT upgraded for over a year but no one else will offer it, I've been pestering talktalk as it would be easier to stick with them but they say they have no plans at the moment.

It's mad as I'm only one street over from the exchange so getting around 20meg on adsl but I want the upload to stream.

bremen1874 · 8 Mar 2017 at 00:08

It'd be very unusual for the area to be FTTC/VDSL enabled and only be available from BT. Is it available from other providers that aren't TalkTalk?

If you're that close to the exchange there's a chance you're on a exchange only line and that fibre isn't actually available. Impossible to say without your disclosing information you probably wouldn't want to on a public forum.

If your current router is playing up have you checked the warranty? It should be covered for three years.

Another option is to separate the wireless off to another device. Search this forum for UniFi.

swanseajack · 8 Mar 2017 at 00:54

Nah, only BT offer it at the moment, guess it's being in a small welsh village thats the problem.

I'm happy to stick with it for now, just wanted to future proof.

I've tried plusnet, sky, talktalk but only BT offer it.

Vimes · 8 Mar 2017 at 08:08

I could never see an advantage worth considering when thinking about buying a combined router and modem. They generally seem to be more of an issue than just leaving the Open Reach modem to do its job and then connect your own router to it. Of course you need to be on fibre for that to happen but still the Nighthawk D7000 quoted is one that I would not prefer over the R7000 - which I own.
The R7000 on std firmware is "ok" but with the ASUS-WRTMerlin firmware it is very responsive and, for me, very rock solid. You don't tend to see custom firmware for those routers with a built in modem.
For the cost of the R7000 you could have bought a Asus AC3200, it was on sale for around £142 at Amazon a little while ago.

After using a router with the firmware noted I am impressed with that interface. I do tend to steer towards a router where you have alternative firmware options.

BradShort · 8 Mar 2017 at 08:24

For me, anyway, the D7000 router is better than the supplied Openreach Modem / Superhub (from TalkTalk), not only because of the addition of gigabit ports over 100mb ports on the superhub, but I find that the Upload sync rate is better with the built in modem.

Again, it is environment specific, but as a combined VDSL modem/router goes, the D7000 covers by 3 bed semi without the need for a mesh network.