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We've got the basic router that came free with the EE wifi package. Seems very variable in download speeds from one side of a room to another and in different parts of the house (normal semi). Are all routers equal or is it something that's worth upgrading (or am I tied to the one supplied by EE)??
No, BT ones are shite.
We're on Plusnet but after the One Hub failed, we bought a Billion router instead of getting a replacement...much better router with a more reliable connection & strong wifi (to extent we could ditch power plug adapters). Bit of googling gave us the settings required for the router...cant see itd be any harder with EE
No! I bought a TP link Archer C9 to replace our Plusnet shite. Even without using any of the more complex stuff it allows, it's more reliable, gives better signal, and handles multiple devices so much better. Then you start adding in things like guest networks, traffic restrictions, some of the more advanced routing stuff etc and it really confess into it's own.
Money well spent imho.
Are all routers equal or is it something that’s worth upgrading
The free ones are all utter crap, why do you think they are free?
So if you want decent connection best to replace, the Archer mentioned above is good choice for a familly home. If you want to hammer your connection more then Draytek are a good upgrade from them!
Ubiqui + multi AP’s if your house is on the large / complex side are great. Especially if you have 5 kids, each with 5 wireless devices
Stay away from Netgear or free hardware.
No! I bought a TP link Archer C9 to replace our Plusnet shite. Even without using any of the more complex stuff it allows, it’s more reliable, gives better signal, and handles multiple devices so much better. Then you start adding in things like guest networks, traffic restrictions, some of the more advanced routing stuff etc and it really confess into it’s own.
Money well spent imho.
My experience too.
Had a talk talk huwai one. Very buggy. Constant drop outs. Talk talk took about a year to admit they were faulty. Replaced it with a tp link jobbie which kept resetting itself randomly.
Spent a great deal of money on a Netgear nighthawk and have never looked back. Great piece of kit
Sent my BT one back and use my elderly ASUS RT N66, it’s infinitely better than the freebies.
I bought a DLink AC3200 a couple of years ago and its night and day compared to the ones you get free.
There is one exception to the free routers are crap rule. The one Zen give you is a proper small business grade one and it’s really very good.
But yeah, other than that a proper router will make a difference.
Bookmarked - I'm on BT with a Homehub something or other (5 maybe?) and its capabilities are not great. Have put range extender plugs in to boost it but still not great.
Sounds like an upgrade would be a few quid well spent.....
But I'm a numpty when it comes to internet stuff.
I found this on line for how to get a new router to connect via BT Infinity, does it sound about right?
And then I'd need to work out how to reconnect all my other devices - phones and PC's not hard but stuff like the kids Xbox, the Sky box, tv, and so on. Could be a good idea, could be a living nightmare!!
I've been very happy with my BT Hub. I'd love to get some super alternative but can't justify it. Can't remember the last time it was reset. Wireless is fine, reaches the garage no problem. I guess it depends on how thick your walls are. Used for multiple wired devices, and several wireless phones/laptops and tablets.
The free Zen one I got was pretty poor (couple of years back though), I switched to a TPLink Archer to. Draytek are good but not really any better in terms of straight performance, more they come with a load of features (but mostly useful for a small business rather than standard home use). I'd budget around £100 for a replacement decent router.
Be careful if you have Sky Q though, I think you need to keep their router if you have Sky Q satellite boxes to and want to preserve the mesh network it creates (I could be talking crap but sure I read that somewhere when was l looking into it...). Sky Q boxes can be setup to work fine without a Sky Q router though.
As BT own EE they are pretty much identical - I just replaced my BT one with an EE one and only difference was the front.
One option might be to set up a WiFi mesh. I used the BT Whole Home one and must say has been very good. It gets to the corners of the house that aren't reached by the standard router and as all my devices are connected mesh and not the router I didn't need to reconnect everything when I changed router!
They are a bit bigger than I expected though!
If you give your new router the same SSID and password as the old one, all of your devices should connect to it automatically.
The ee one is crap. If you replace it just make sure you buy the right type. E.g. ADSL or fibre depending on what you have.
Shameless plug. If you have ADSL I've a nice tplink archer D7 for sale cheaply. We changed to fibre so non-use to us anymore.
The free branded ones are generally crap.
There’s a couple of ‘gold standard’ ones I could recommend but they’re SOHO stuff, not at all plug and play and expensive.
99% of home users issues are wi-fi related rather than router per-se, there are some easy to use WAP you can connect to your router to improve speed, range and penetration, even better if you’ve got the wherewithal to deactivate the on-board WiFi.
Sorry, posted this question and should have maybe added it here:
Bit of a thumbs up for MESH in the mix here...
An embarrassingly thick question: does the TP link Archer C9 require a modem?
(I get that a modem translates data for use of over telephone wires and that a router routes signals (wireless and otherwise), but on installing the C9 all I'm getting is “WAN Port is unplugged” on the status page of the router (which apparently means the modem is not plugged into the WAN)).
Yes it looks like it needs a modem. You could use your old ISP router to do this though.
If it needs a modem then the WAN uplink will likely be an RJ45 (Ethernet) connector; if it has a modem built in it'll be a smaller 6-pin RJ11 connector.
Sorry to hijack but maybe someone can give me some advice. EE broadband, 3 to 4 gb download, all working fine according to EE technical. One minute working fine the next won’t even open a webpage and a speed test says check internet connection. Does this sound like my router is knackered and if so which one to replace it with?