Router and mesh recommendations

As a BT customer for over 15 years I’ve always had a supplied router and currently got the hub 2 with wifi disks.
I’ve been having some issue with low speed and apparently my line will now only support 12mbs. When I took out my last contract I was guaranteed 37-61 mbps but apparently now that is no longer the case and I can get 12 tops which is frankly ridiculous for the top fibre (not FTTP) product.

So with that in mind I’m looking to shift providers and as such don’t want to be tied into their ‘tools’ in future, making it easier to switch providers if I want but retain a similar experience.

What is reasonable in terms of router setup and some sort of mesh to replace the wifi disks. I don’t need the latest and greatest but reliable and fit and forget would be good.

the bt mesh works with any router, so you can just keep using them and replace the router. I run mine with some asus thing.

that said, I’d be surprised if there was some significant difference in router performance when it comes to just running a speed test, have you tried running the test whilst hard-wired to the router to eliminate any other issues? My wife’s phone will only get ~15mbps on our setup whereas mine will do 70 (which is our actual internet speed)

Assuming you can’t get FTTP won’t all of your options be limited to the same line speed?

When I took out my last contract I was guaranteed 37-61 mbps but apparently now that is no longer the case and I can get 12 tops which is frankly ridiculous for the top fibre (not FTTP) product.

If you haven’t already, I’d be checking what other providers can give as the guaranteed download speed and estimated actual speed – if it’s still going through FTTC then it’s all using the same basic infrastructure. Unless you have the option of switching to virgin media, or fttp, or 5g then you’ll probably not see much better speeds.

Currently no FTTP but can get Virgin cable, having no experience of cable I don’t really know if it’s a standard router that is used but think the mesh would still work. All the other providers I have looked up on line say 31-40 mbps for my property but maybe that is correct that it would be throttled at 10mbps.

This is the speed on the BT test in their app and is also what the 3 people I have now spoken to says is the max I can have so it’s not an issue with a device as such.

In terms of the BT mesh, there are apparently 2 types, the type that works with any router (home mesh) and the wifi disks which I think only work with the hub 2 router. Happy to be proved wrong on that though.

pop up a picture of the back of one of your mesh disks. There might be a bt setup I’m unaware of. They have 4 “whole home” ranges that basically just vary in speed, but all of them should be way faster than your actual net connection.

if you can, test plugged into the router with a laptop, just to validate what the router is getting up/down. if its slow, I think virgin will be a better bet – assuming its virgin cable (virgin also package phone-based solutions) their speed measurements are (ime) more accurate.

Aside from moving to virgin I can’t really see that any other FTTC seller will give you anything better than you’re currently getting from BT. If you’re signed up to a package that should give 37-61 then to me it suggests hardware fault or limitation on the openreach side. All other FTTC providers will be using the same openreach hardware.

Before moving providers I’d be pushing BT to get Openreach to check out the hardware.

For a mesh system, I use Tenda mesh MW3 with our FTTC service which have been rock solid and fine. No one online games or uses concurrent high bandwidth use in the house so the MW3s are fine.

Assuming openreach can’t do anything I’d suggest Virgin with a suitable Tenda mesh system. You can put the Virgin hub in modem only mode and use the Tenda system for your WiFi.

I had the same issue with FTTC connections. Fairly limited speed and no benefit in changing suppliers as it was the same infrastructure under the pavement.

I am in a Virgin Media area, so moved over. Whilst they may not have the best customer experience in the world, I get 500mb+ connection and it’s been very reliable. Also helped by using the Virgin Media & O2 merger to my advantage with their ‘Volt’ product to boost mobile data allowance on O2 and increased Virgin Broadband speed to the next package above my contracted level.

Until BT update the copper cable in my area or go to FTTP, or 5G makes an appearance, Virgin was the only other option.

The Virgin modem is in ‘Modem Only’ mode, with my own router (running pfSense) and a Netgear Orbi mesh network in access point mode, letting my router take the load. I get full advertised rate on my phone with SpeedTest.

12mbs for fibre seems… somewhat low.

Pop your postcode into https://www.bt.com/broadband/availability/ and see what that says. Reading between the lines (and comparing their estimates with my previous line speeds): Full Fibre Essential/1/2 is FTTC (theoretical max 80mbps, with the Essential and 1 capping the service), and Full Fibre 100 onwards is FTTP.

My actual line speeds have been very close to the estimates so those estimates do tend to be realistic, unless you’ve an unusual situation. If your actual line speed and the estimates are hugely different, then scream further at your ISP.

You say “top fibre (not FTTP)” which makes me think FTTC. That last stretch of non-fibre is very sensitive and can easily break: just before our FTTP was installed our line speed fell and it dropped periodically, basically the copper pair was corroded and needed repairing. This is where I recommend A&A, who promise to make your line fast by actively harassing OpenReach until it is fixed, for basically the same price as BT for FTTP: https://www.aa.net.uk/broadband/home1/. FTTP is great: no more copper pair, a lot less hassle.

Anyway, the point was recommend a router. I’ve some Orbi mesh routers/APs and they’re working well, although now that the Amazon Eero devices do PPPoE (so actually work properly in the UK) they’re *very* tempting.

I’m using some basic ASUS routers, two AC66Us and one AC68U running as a master and two mesh nodes (Running stock ASUS AImesh software, nothing fancy).
This is cos the house is massive and i want full coverage in the garden (check) and the shed (check).

Works perfectly, the only “issue” i have is with one of my Nest devices which occasionally drops out if i put it in one particular location, but i’m pretty sure that’s a device problem, as if i put an identical unit there, it works flawlessly.

Thanks for the replies, yes it is FTTC and the cabinet is about 20meters away. I’ve just spoken again to BT, who have run some tests and there is indeed a fault. Something about strong resistance on the line affecting Broadband. open reach have been informed and a minihub is being sent for if it goes completely pear shaped. I will see what BT/openreach find with the line fault and then decide what needs done but plenty of things above to consider so thanks for the input.

Most ISPs need to be really encouraged to actually run a trivial line test. Other ISPs (like A&A, just saying…) have a big “Run Line Tests” button on the control page, which will promptly identify stuff like resistance.

Good luck, hopefully OR fix it quickly!