Can I use my own router with Plusnet Fibre?

Hi Plusnetters

I'm thinking of moving from BT to Plusnet, I just wanted to check, can I use my own router with them?

From their website I can see it says you need a 'compatible router', but doesn't say what they support.

Mine is an Asus RT-N66U


Thanks.

As long as the router can handle the type of connection you're on (ADSL or FTTC) then you should be fine. There are definitely a few current customers using that router as they've talked about it on our community site.

I'm using an Asus DSL-N16U on Plusnet, works fine, better by miles than the supplied Technicolor one.

Thank you both for the posts, that's excellent news.

I'm currently using it with BT FTTC so it should be fine!

I'm considering upgrading from the freebie technicolor router to the Asus one for the better wifi I have heard about.
My Victorian house is full of internal walls that were constructed from steel slag waste - with high metal content on the blocks you can imagine how well wifi gets around.
The technicolor is no worse than the Sky box I had before, and is adequate for my purposes, but I'd like better.

I bought some 500 Mbps powerline plugs plus wifi, but the best they gave was only about 5Mbps. The same for the free Sky wifi repeater. I gave up on all of them and just put up with a few dead zones around the house.

Do you think the Asus would do a better job in my circumstances?
I understand that wifi strength is limited by the standard (and by law?) so they all put out the same in mW, but maybe using better aerials or something?

If you want a router with significantly better range and signal strength than the Asus RT-N66U , then go for the Asus' latest flagship router Asus RT-AC87U which is arguably the best router out there currently. Not cheap, but like with many things in life, you get what you pay for...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-RT-AC87U-Wireless-Broad...

http://www.alternate.co.uk/ASUS/RT-AC87U/html/produc...

Have you thought of adding a WAP to use in conjunction with the one in the router? It needs to be connected to the router by Ethernet, but depending on your building layout you may be able to locate it somewhere where it helps a lot. Even if it's only the other end of the room the router is in.

In reply to a post by rockdoctor:

Do you think the Asus would do a better job in my circumstances?
I understand that wifi strength is limited by the standard (and by law?) so they all put out the same in mW, but maybe using better aerials or something?

Yes, I would recommend the new 4 antenna Asus in your situation. I don't know the Plusnet technicolor but many ISP free routers (apart from the BT HomeHub 5) are made to a price, which means they only have one or two antennas inside the box.

The Asus has 4 physically external antennas which are used for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz signals. This supports G and N at 2.4, and N and AC at 5ghz. The extra antennas means that when signals bounce, there is more chance of collecting enough to make a usable signal. (MIMO).

The Asus RT-AC87U would plug directly into a BT FTTC box, but if you are on ADSL you would need a DSL- router, and I don't yet see an 87 version for ADSL.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-RT-AC87U-Wireless-Broad...

Try to avoid extension leads with Powerlines, and absolutely avoid surge protected extension leads.

One curiosity I found with Powerlines is that they behave much worse if plugged into one half of a twin socket with your computer equipment in the other half (eg via surge protected extension) . This is a natural setup to keep ethernet cables short and tidy. Just move the powerline to another socket in the same room/same ring and it will work much better. I didn't believe this when I first read it on a post on the BT forum, but tried it and it made a huge difference. If I remember correctly I went from around 20Mbps to around 80Mbps using 500Mbps powerlines; that is over some pretty old wiring and between two consumer boxes in different parts of the house.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Have you thought of adding a WAP to use in conjunction with the one in the router? It needs to be connected to the router by Ethernet, but depending on your building layout you may be able to locate it somewhere where it helps a lot. Even if it's only the other end of the room the router is in.

That sounds interesting. I didn't know about WAPs. I have an old O2 router that may be configurable as a WAP. I'll look into it.

As a more general question, it seems that replacing aging routers [say 5+ years old] might give a better internet experience. Is there any anecdotal evidence that an all in one router is the best option rather than retaining the Openreach modem?

From the FTTC performance point of view there seems to be a (small) body of evidence that suggests it it best to keep the Openreach modem, at least where HH5 is the alternative. Not sure for more advanced combined modem/routers. From the neatness and energy efficiency point of view a single box is clearly better.

The BT modem actually does a decent job as a modem.
Much of the evidence suggests that many all-in-one boxes struggle to beat the connection speed of the BT modem (some appear to give equal or better performance on some lines though).
I guess the Openreach modem will eventually be withdrawn (when engineer install is no longer available) and people will no have the option to use something else.

O2 modem worked fine as a WAP when I set it up - turning off dhcp and setting a static ip address of 192.168.1.2. Unfortunately I can't find a way to get power and ethernet cables to where I need them (assuming I want to stay married - otherwise I could drape cables everywhere, drill holes through walls etc!).

Then I tried the tip above with my '500MBps' TP-Link gadgets - plugged the 'transmitter' directly into a socket away from my computer, and the receiver where I needed it on the same ring.
It worked just as it was supposed to - I now have high speed wifi even in the hard-to-reach corner that the router can't see.
I might consider buying another wifi receiver for another dead spot now.