Router/modem recommendation please

Hatake · 1 Oct 2020 at 15:05

I'm with Vodafone on their Superfast 2 broadband and while their advisors are helpful, they lack training. When they set up my connection, they sent the router to my mothers address. 2nd time I told them to check the address and it went to my mothers house again.

So I've been using my old router for the past year or so, a TP-Link W9970 300Mbps Wireless N. It's starting to crash occasionally and is generally quite slow, so I finally picked up the Vodafone router (a Huawei HHG2500) and set that up last week. While it's an 11ac router, the wireless connection on it sucks. I get a wired speed of around 75Mbps via a gigabit powerline adapter but barely get 17Mbps on wifi when standing next to it and constant dropouts.

My work gave me their old Draytek Vigor 2860n as the power cable was damaged and the IT guys just replaced the whole lot but I'm not sure if I should buy a new power supply or I'd be better off with a more modern one (I'm pretty clueless when it comes to router specs).

I'm assuming the latter will be better and if so, can anyone recommend a decent router? Ideally needs to have a built in modem and I got a budget of around £100 although I can go a little further if it's worth it.

Hatake · 2 Oct 2020 at 15:05

got fed up of the constant dropouts with the Vodafone router, it struggles to load YouTube occasionally and especially cannot handle streaming Netflix at 1080 and internet on other devices at the same time. Went back to the W9970 for now and getting 34Mbps on the wifi (40Mbps standing next to it) and no connection issues on wired or wifi. I'll just put up with the occasional reboot of the router when it crashes until I get a new one.

Done a lot of reading and the TP-Link Archer VR900 v2 is within budget and seems to tick all the boxes for me (built in VDSL2 modem, 600Mbps on 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz band, beamforming, gigabit ethernet for my NAS). The v3 for G.INP would be nice to have but a little out of my budget and I don't think I'll see any noticeable difference in the unlikely event BT roll it out to my area this side of the decade

Armageus · 2 Oct 2020 at 15:19

If you've already got the Draytek 2860n available, I'd give that a go - it should be a much more capable unit than either of the TP Link models mentioned or the Vodafone.

If you need better wifi, you'd then be better adding a separate AC access point (e.g. something like a Unifi)

Hatake · 2 Oct 2020 at 23:03

The range on the W9970 was never an issue for my house so I assumed I wouldn't need a separate access point. While it could be better, the wifi speed was good enough as long as no one was trying to stream Netflix in 4k or too many devices were connected.

I just figured that since I needed to get a new router, I may as well get one with a higher Mbps on the 2.4Ghz band to try and get some more speed (if my understanding of that is right) and failing that, I have an option to move the router closer to my TV for the 5Ghz band, which the W9970 doesn't have. Although I may have to either get a prettier router / access point to convince the missus as it'll be on show :rolleyes:

I'll get a new power supply and try the Draytek out, maybe it'll do better. If not, I can install it in the mothers house and get her Vodafone router in the bin too