Should I bother with the PN router as I join fibre?

I already have experience of the TG582n, and to be perfectly clear I don't much like it. I find the wireless range to be poor (compared to previous routers), and the fact that it has only 3 useable 100Mbit LAN ports means I need to use a switch anyway. (I have a NAS which works much faster with gigabit, yes I know this sounds obvious, but some NASes don't, or so I read).

Anyway, I am joining the fibre unlimited product. I don't see any point paying £6 postage for this box, and would rather put that money to a better router.

However, the PN sign-up process does not allow an option to not take their router. So, is their router essential in some way?

I have my MAC (from BE) and just checking before I hand it over.

In the event of having to report a fault, having the standard hardware to hand might help, and gives you a spare device if your primary one goes bang without any warning

don't bother with its useless ive been using it the past 2 week because my own router that i had been using for many years from my cable days finally packed in, in the last 8 years of me having broadband ive never had such a [censored] router and that includes VMs superdud router

as you've said you've had experience before and i dont know if PN have customised the firmware totally or just changed a few logos to technicolors own but to me its a horrid router to set things up on and mines factory reset its self 3 times in 2 week,

you dont have to use their router but if you ring CS up they usually ask you to use it im saving up for a Gbit and dual bang router my self.
I can never get over 65meg out of the wifi on mine even when sat next to it with device that i got full 300 with on my old router so yes i agree the wifi on is pants

sorry for the little essay long story short you can defo use your own router

Ash

When I signed up recently it was possible to deselect the router during the sign up process.

In reply to a post by NormanB:

When I signed up recently it was possible to deselect the router during the sign up process.

Even on fibre? That's new.

Not sure. I accepted the PN router to avoid potential PN fault finding issues, however it is not installed. I'm connecting directly to the BT modem, HG612, from my pfsense firewall.

From the PN FAQ:
Fibre broadband

If you sign up for fibre broadband we'll supply a wireless fibre router (P&P £5.99). You'll get a free BT fibre modem for your service. The engineer who installs your fibre broadband will bring this.

We advise against using your current broadband router for fibre. The majority of existing broadband routers won't work with fibre optic broadband. Most cable broadband routers will work, if they can use PPPoE and have an Ethernet WAN port. If you're unsure whether your router will work, check with us.

From another PN FAQ "It's not possible to order fibre optic broadband without our router"

Edited by NormanB (Wed 15-May-13 10:18:09)