Spec me a new router......

digitalwolf · 14 Jan 2020 at 15:34

Hi all,

I am after a wireless router to replace my BT Smart Hub which is constantly rebooting. It would be great if it had VDSL2 built in, but I do have an Openreach Modem that I can use if not.

Recently bought a TP-Link Archer VR400 but the wifi is noticeably worse than the Smart Hub. I'm only getting 6-10mbps directly above on 5Ghz.

I believe this could be due to other AP's and Routers nearby all on the same channels..

My budget is around £70. I don't mind picking one up second hand.

Avalon · 14 Jan 2020 at 22:34

You don't normally measure wifi performance directly next to the router, you'd also do at least a basic wifi survey to avoid conflicting channels. If the SmartHub is constantly rebooting, you probably want to look at the reason first - if for example it's a line fault, the first thing BT will ask you to do is plug the SH back in so they can do diagnostics - no point in spending £70 to find out its not a router issue.

Zaphan58 · 17 Jan 2020 at 14:00

I'm in the same boat so I'll keep an eye on this thread. In need of a VDSL router in the same price range.

Mcnumpty2323 · 17 Jan 2020 at 14:09

I picked up a dir~880l cheaply
Seems to do better job than my hh5 did
My other reason for dir~880lvwas it supports dd~wrt
Though yes had to shove an open reach modem on with it
No real biggie had few in the cupboard

digitalwolf · 18 Jan 2020 at 09:34

Update....

Going through the stats, line length which the BT engineer confirmed was short, I knew it was the Smart Hub at fault.

Being on a Huawei cab, I wanted to try and stay with a broadcom chipset modem. I decided to dust down my old trusty Huawei HG612 and ordered a D-Link DIR882 and the WiFi coverage is seriously impressive. On 5Ghz I am getting over 800mbps in all areas and even down the bottom of the garden.

I do have one slight problem though. I cannot configure ipv6 on it.

My current ISP is BT. Any ideas on how to configure it?