We’re with TalkTalk and getting around 3Mb. Service has been a bit carp and we’re looking to swap to Plusnet. Should save around a tenner per month as well.

Looking online a lot of people are saying the router is a bit basic and rubbish.
We’ve currently got a Netgear DG834G v3 54Mbps router, rather than the TalkTalk one. We must have had it for a decade, so I imagine it is well behind the times, but I think it was pretty good in it’s day.

Any ideas about the Plusnet router…? Would it be worth not bothering and just keep the Netgear one? Or would the Plusnet one be a step-up even though it’s considered quite basic…?
I’m wondering whether to not bother with the Plusnet router, which will save £7 delivery charge if I give it a miss and buy a decent router. The Netgear doesn’t seem to have brilliant range, so the extremities of the house don’t get brilliant reception.
Looking online Currys has a tp-link dual band router for sale at the moment for £35…

I’m pretty clueless about all this stuff so any help would be appreciated.

The plusnet one will be about the same but at least if you get one it’ll be configured when you first set up and if something goes wrong plusnet will support it. If it sucks (they are apparently “ok”), then buy a better one. Check you netgear one isn’t locked to talktalk.

Yeah, I guess having it pre-configured would be handy.

The Netgear one is my own….we used that before we were with TalkTalk and swapped back to it as the TalkTalk one was rubbish.

I’ve just had no less than 4 plusnet seagate routers sent to me in the last 4 weeks as each and every one wouldn’t accept the provided password for the Admin. The original plusnet router was okay until it started not doing its wifi bit very well. We too have poor broadband circa 2.5Mbps on a good day with the wind in the right direction, but the router got so bad that streaming on one device stuffed everything else in the household. Lag on the PS4 was fast becoming an audible issue and gave opportunity to raise awareness of teenage angst. So silver linings and all.

I control slackjr’s internet access through the router, where I want to limit time of day and day of week, by device using MAC addresses. I could just about do this with the original router. The replacements wouldn’t let me anywhere near access control or device, and from researching the issue, it’s not uncommon and I am led to understand that plusnet have locked them down so no one buggers about with them.

After the fourth one, I got fed up and bought a TP-Link w8970.

It said hello immediately to plusnet and was up and running in minutes. Further more, it’s noticeably quicker and more capable, remembering that our Internet can at times be pedestrian. It’s a marked improvement over the basic isp supplied router.

Additionally, I am now completely bossing internet access times by device by time and day of the week. The 13yr old boy is not happy, but we are and he’ll get over it. Eventually. At least we’re going to definitely give him something to ‘work through’ with therapy when he’s older.

It cost 45quid. What price sanity and an iPlayer that doesn’t spin the wheel…

slackalice – nice one. Great info, thanks.

Yes – I’m not with Plusnet, but I got a cheap TP Link modem/router (TD-W9980) when I was having problems with my ISP provided one, and I’m very impressed. Easy setup, good range of features. It even talks VPN to the Drayteks at work. (I do like a nice Draytek though)

This has motivated me to ditch sky and the crappy crappy router they provide, and go back to plusnet high speed fibre, so I can use my fancy tp link router that will actually reach the upstairs….

DrP

Do sky provide credentials to allow you to use non isp provided modems?

My BT HH5 is in use only as a modem plugged into my netgear as it suffered packet loss. I’ll order a new netgear that supports vdsl at some point as at least BT don’t tie you to their shit router. Trouble is there are some cracking deals on sky at the moment…

Captainslow maybe some help here?

Sky don’t let you use alternative routers..
I managed to get my log in details but still couldn’t get the tp link to work.
Plus, oh we crack out champagne when we get 5meg…so going the fibre route..

DrP

I am led to understand that plusnet have locked them down so no one buggers about with them

Plusnet have changed since BT took them over. They used to positively support people who wanted to customise the router settings.

You could buy one of the Openreach modems from eBay. Not just for fibre and will give the best connection.

I’ll stick with BT with netgear routers as they’ve been reliable, quick and highly customisable. There may be cheaper routes but as I w**k from home, I can’t afford reliability, latency or packet loss issues

Thanks all. I think I’ll sign up for PlusNet & forego their router.

I’ll just set the current ‘old faithful’ Netgear router up & see how it fares.
We’ve been getting random drop-outs in connection that have required a re-start of the router, so if that continues with PlusNet I’ll treat us to a new router from someone or other….

I’m not really expecting an increase in speed, but we’ve been with TalkTalk for years and the price keeps creeping up (it’s going up again next month – hence the push to move to another ISP), plus we’ve had various issues with them & there was the 2x data hacking stuff….
PlusNet will save us £10/month for the first year.

Why don’t you put the providers router into modem mode and use your own router as the errr, router, (if you can) it’s what I do with Virgin.

I have just renewed my Plusnet fibre contract and asked for their new Hub one router-apparently the same as the BT router. It connected immediately and has been running perfectly for a week or so. Much better than the old Technicolour/Openreach modem we had before. As an aside, Plusnet have been superb for all the years I have been with them.

reluctantwrinkly – Member

I have just renewed my Plusnet fibre contract and asked for their new Hub one router-apparently the same as the BT router. It connected immediately and has been running perfectly for a week or so.

Yeah, you don’t get that router on pov-spec normal broadband, unfortunately.
Although some people on forums I looked at yesterday reckoned if you took their standard router & called them complaining of poor connectivity they would send out the Hub One router free to try & resolve ‘the issue’.

From the reviews I saw of the ‘normal’ router provided by them it’s very basic, is several years out of date in terms of functionality, is locked down quite strongly so you can’t fiddle about with it & doesn’t have great signal strength.
It might have been fine for what we needed (although my main concern was poor signal strength as the walls in our house are all solid brick) but I thought I’d rather save £7p&p and stick with my Netgear.
If it turns out we could actually do with something a bit more up to date, I am happy to spend some money on something that does the job.

It’s reassuring to hear that you’ve had a good experience with them.

Bimbler – Member

Why don’t you put the providers router into modem mode and use your own router as the errr, router, (if you can) it’s what I do with Virgin.

What advantage does this give? Wouldn’t I then just have two boxes plugged in to achieve the same thing? I’d prefer an all in one solution to be honest….
As I said above though, from what I have read the PlusNet router is quite tightly locked down, so I doubt I would be able to switch it to modem mode…..dunno.

I’ve just signed up with plus net for fibre + so it looks like I will get the hub5 alike router but could anyone recommend the absolute dogs dangles of routers just in case I decide to take no chances?

wilburt – Member

I’ve just signed up with plus net for fibre + so it looks like I will get the hub5 alike router but could anyone recommend the absolute dogs dangles of routers just in case I decide to take no chances?

I think a lot of it comes down to budget.
As far as I can see, you can spend anywhere from £30 – £300 on a router.

See this review of 2016 routers….
http://uk.pcmag.com/wireless-networking-products/8151/guide/the-best-wireless-routers-of-2016

From what I’ve been looking at over the last couple of days – £40-60 will get you a decent dual band router with a decent range.

This is the sort of thing I’ll probably get if I do decide to get a new one…
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-Archer-D20-Wireless-Connections/dp/B011NLY9WE/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1475833291&sr=1-2&keywords=tp-link+router

What advantage does this give? Wouldn’t I then just have two boxes plugged in to achieve the same thing? I’d prefer an all in one solution to be honest….

Because you can get much, much better routers than ISPs give you. Although my old dear has just got a Virgin Superhub 3 and pretty impressed with that.