Providers and there routers

Little_Viking_man

I’m coming upto stay or change over time
And starting to look for new packages
I’m currently on the Bt super fibre + tv starter with free sports 42.99pm. And looking for similar or some extra entertainment package. Any suggestions?

One worrry I hAve is quality of the other providers routers over Bt does anyone know if they are better or if I did change can you opt to use the Bt router instead of the new providers ( we moved recently and the new homes walls seem to drop my connectivity even in the same room bizarrely 😞

JJ_Egan

BT HH6 probably the best router from an ISP.
Drop connections changed wireless channels ??
Sky etc do not work with BT router .


First step is to decide what channels you want .
BT Sport is generally a lot more expensive from non BT ISP.

Little_Viking_man

I’m most probably going to drop sport for entertainment package like a now tv or sky but if the routers are bad that will change my mind.

I have the homehub 6 currently but WiFi does not seem great.
we moved from a house with good overall connection to a flat above work kinda place. And we are finding it tough going getting a good connection to downstairs and even in the adjacent bedrooms.

mgfvvc

I'm on Sky fibre and I don't think you can use a different router. I have heard that most ISPs won't let you use a different router on their fibre packages. What I have done is turn off wifi on the Sky router and use a 3 disk TP-Link Deco M5 mesh system, which works quite well for me.

Butch_Dingle

OP, have a look here at this recent ISPreview article:
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/12/comparison-bundled-broadband-routers-biggest-uk-isps.html

I've heard great things about TalkTalk's latest router (its a Wave2 Mu-Mimo model with decent wifi range). Vodafone probably have the worst router (& service).

However i wouldn't be too fussed over which router the ISPs supply, far far more important is the actual quality of service as most ISPs let you use your own router.

Butch_Dingle

mgfvvc wrote: »

I'm on Sky fibre and I don't think you can use a different router..

Course you can! Yes, many moons ago it was almost impossible to use a third party router on Sky as you had to faff around extracting your username/pw from their existing router and then find a compatible router (DHCP option 60/61 compatible). However these days many third party routers (such as TP Link or Billion models) will work without much config req'd.

almillar

Course you can! Yes, many moons ago it was almost impossible to use a third party router on Sky as you had to faff around extracting your username/pw from their existing router and then find a compatible router (DHCP option 60/61 compatible). However these days many third party routers (such as TP Link or Billion models) will work without much config req'd.

I'd be interested in an update if you would please provide one - extracting username/password is the last time I looked into this - has it got easier? What needs done?

Butch_Dingle

almillar wrote: »

I'd be interested in an update if you would please provide one - extracting username/password is the last time I looked into this - has it got easier? What needs done?

Its really very easy. You simply use a modem/router which allows you to select 'Sky VDSL' from the ISP list (eg most TP Link & Billion models do) and then enter any username such as

username: abcdefgh@skydsl
password: 1234567890abcdef

and bobs yer uncle. Have a look here for proof that it works:
https://kevq.uk/how-to-use-a-tp-link-router-with-sky-fibre-optic/

If a router you're trying to use doesn't list sky/sky vdsl as an ISP option then its unlikely to work. If you're trying to use a standalone router then it must support DHCP option 60/61 in order to use on Sky, on Asus routers this is possible provided you install Merlin firmware. On non-Asus routers this would mean installing DD-WRT firmware.

Btw, if you want to use a TP Link router on Sky then I would highly recommend the TP Link VR2800. However this isn't cheap, a cheaper TP Link model to go for is the VR900v2 which isn't as good as the VR2800 but still far better than ISP supplied routers. The VR2800 costs more than 150 notes, whilst the VR900 is around 100 notes.