Broadband supplier routers - any good?
Discussion
TL;DR - are the routers provided by broadband suppliers any good with and without their own wifi extenders?
I have had Sky Broadband (FTTC) for the past few years and while it is generally ok I am noticing some dropouts and now being out of contract I'm looking at alternative providers. Part of the reason for staying with Sky is that I need decent wifi over 3 floors; I have Sky Q miniboxes on all 3 floors that work as repeaters for the wifi but as I say the reliability isn't there at the moment.
So what are my options? The main providers (voda, BT, Plusnet, EE etc) all seem much of a muchness price-wise (£26ish per month for Fibre 2, plus another £7-10 if you want a "whole home" solution).
Mesh solutions seem to vary massively in cost and I don't really want to spend £100s on a solution if the "whole home" solutions are decent enough but would consider if not.
Other points to note:
- It's a 4 bed 3 floor house with me and 2 children most of the time
- Usual streaming and working from home during the day (no gaming etc)
- I am in contract with Sky Q until September but then may move to Sky Stream (so streaming demands will be greater)
- According to Openreach I will be upgraded to FTTP between now and March 2025. I've not heard anything on this yet but it could be soon.
I have had Sky Broadband (FTTC) for the past few years and while it is generally ok I am noticing some dropouts and now being out of contract I'm looking at alternative providers. Part of the reason for staying with Sky is that I need decent wifi over 3 floors; I have Sky Q miniboxes on all 3 floors that work as repeaters for the wifi but as I say the reliability isn't there at the moment.
So what are my options? The main providers (voda, BT, Plusnet, EE etc) all seem much of a muchness price-wise (£26ish per month for Fibre 2, plus another £7-10 if you want a "whole home" solution).
Mesh solutions seem to vary massively in cost and I don't really want to spend £100s on a solution if the "whole home" solutions are decent enough but would consider if not.
Other points to note:
- It's a 4 bed 3 floor house with me and 2 children most of the time
- Usual streaming and working from home during the day (no gaming etc)
- I am in contract with Sky Q until September but then may move to Sky Stream (so streaming demands will be greater)
- According to Openreach I will be upgraded to FTTP between now and March 2025. I've not heard anything on this yet but it could be soon.
Given your three-floor home and upcoming FTTP upgrade, an ISP whole-home package like BT Complete WiFi would likely be sufficient for your immediate needs without significant investment. The £7-10 monthly add-on is reasonable for interim coverage. When FTTP arrives, this might be the ideal time to invest in a quality mesh system (£150-300) that will provide better coverage, management features, and reliability than ISP solutions.
Or you could buy a mesh system now and use it on whatever platform you move to & then on fttp when that arrives or if you change provider again.
It’s often a minor change to get it working when moving providers, it means you don’t have to update the wifi password when you move providers & you’ll not need to worry about how well the new systems wifi performs each time you move.
It’s often a minor change to get it working when moving providers, it means you don’t have to update the wifi password when you move providers & you’ll not need to worry about how well the new systems wifi performs each time you move.
We're in a 19 year old four-bed, three-floor house and towards the end of last year changed to EE FFTP, 900 Mbps download, 110 Mpbs upload. EE supplied a Smart Hub SH32b and it's rock solid all on all floors.
O/H WFH on the ground floor and is on-line 8:00 - 5:00, my office with two (sometimes three) computers on all day is on the next floor and both our phones are on non-stop + a TV in the evening. Our bedroom is at the top, no problems with anything, anywhere.
ETA: router is in a corner of the lounge on the ground floor.
O/H WFH on the ground floor and is on-line 8:00 - 5:00, my office with two (sometimes three) computers on all day is on the next floor and both our phones are on non-stop + a TV in the evening. Our bedroom is at the top, no problems with anything, anywhere.
ETA: router is in a corner of the lounge on the ground floor.
Edited by Riley Blue on Friday 7th March 07:27
Our Vodafone branded router is pretty good.
It's in one corner of a fair sized house.
The previous one, voda branded but Hauwei made was not so good, I found it best to use a repeater with that.
It's not just signal strength, but also channel contention with neighbours.
In our case ,the router doesn't get a great view of the neighbours, the old router used to keep wandering to busy channels resulting in poor performance upstairs.
It's in one corner of a fair sized house.
The previous one, voda branded but Hauwei made was not so good, I found it best to use a repeater with that.
It's not just signal strength, but also channel contention with neighbours.
In our case ,the router doesn't get a great view of the neighbours, the old router used to keep wandering to busy channels resulting in poor performance upstairs.
Routers will vary according to which particular package you go for - I wouldn't be put off a good deal by the router, as it's easy to add a 2nd router or repeater and then you can keep it for the next change in supplier.
Placement of the router is pretty key though. For a 3 storey house, if you can have the router on the middle floor, I doubt you'll have any problems.
But if it's on the ground floor, the top floor may well get patchy - in that case an easy fix will be a repeater on the middle floor.
Some care can be taken in setting up the router - eg. 2.4ghz travels through floors/walls better than 5ghz so is a better bet for some devices which don't need the extra speed.
Placement of the router is pretty key though. For a 3 storey house, if you can have the router on the middle floor, I doubt you'll have any problems.
But if it's on the ground floor, the top floor may well get patchy - in that case an easy fix will be a repeater on the middle floor.
Some care can be taken in setting up the router - eg. 2.4ghz travels through floors/walls better than 5ghz so is a better bet for some devices which don't need the extra speed.
They don't dish out rubbish as a rule because it just results in support calls. For establishing, maintaining and sharing an internet connection, the kit they give out is usually absolutely fine.
The real difference between the stuff they hand out and higher end kit is the level of configurability. Where a household needs anything beyond 'The WiFi works' is when provisioning your own kit comes in.
The real difference between the stuff they hand out and higher end kit is the level of configurability. Where a household needs anything beyond 'The WiFi works' is when provisioning your own kit comes in.
Probably going O/T now but Fritz!box (German company) make extremely good routers - configurability is on another level.
Some UK ISPs use them now - Zen Internet for example.
It also seems that UK fibre connections connect via ethernet- therefore I believe any primary router can be used?
Some UK ISPs use them now - Zen Internet for example.
It also seems that UK fibre connections connect via ethernet- therefore I believe any primary router can be used?
I've found Plusnet to be the epitome of understated competence in the FTTP domain—reasonable tariffs coupled with refreshingly effective service delivery. Their standard router performs admirably in my modest Kensington flat, managing to support multiple devices simultaneously without noticeable degradation.
However, at an Aunt's Cotswolds property (parts of which predate the Glorious Revolution), I found it necessary to implement a mesh network solution. The ancient stone walls, laden with centuries of aristocratic disapproval, are remarkably effective at signal attenuation. The Plusnet-provided extenders performed adequately, though I ultimately opted for a more comprehensive third-party mesh system to ensure proper coverage in the east wing and conservatory.
I might add that Plusnet's upload speeds have proven particularly suitable for certain surveillance activities of a sensitive nature. The transmission of high-definition video footage and encrypted financial records proceeds with remarkable efficiency, even during peak usage periods. Their customer service representatives also display a commendable lack of curiosity when one requests technical support for "specialised data transmission requirements."
For a family residence across three floors, I would suggest their "whole home" solution represents satisfactory value, though do insist on FTTP rather than FTTC if available—the performance differential is rather like comparing a properly tuned BMW to a mobility scooter with questionable maintenance history.
However, at an Aunt's Cotswolds property (parts of which predate the Glorious Revolution), I found it necessary to implement a mesh network solution. The ancient stone walls, laden with centuries of aristocratic disapproval, are remarkably effective at signal attenuation. The Plusnet-provided extenders performed adequately, though I ultimately opted for a more comprehensive third-party mesh system to ensure proper coverage in the east wing and conservatory.
I might add that Plusnet's upload speeds have proven particularly suitable for certain surveillance activities of a sensitive nature. The transmission of high-definition video footage and encrypted financial records proceeds with remarkable efficiency, even during peak usage periods. Their customer service representatives also display a commendable lack of curiosity when one requests technical support for "specialised data transmission requirements."
For a family residence across three floors, I would suggest their "whole home" solution represents satisfactory value, though do insist on FTTP rather than FTTC if available—the performance differential is rather like comparing a properly tuned BMW to a mobility scooter with questionable maintenance history.
Just in case no one has pointed it out - the Virgin "super hub" routers are terrible for wifi. Best to put them in "modem mode" and use your own wireless solution. I bought a netgear nighthawk router back in 2017 (supports 802.11ax - wifi 6 before it was called wifi 6) and even when I updated the Virgin super hub to the latest box I still ended up plugging in my 7-8 year old router.
TL:DR - buy your own wifi solution if you want peace of mind.
TL:DR - buy your own wifi solution if you want peace of mind.
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