Fair point! Thanks for helping....

And I just read in other threads about the Billion 8800AXL R1/2 - well it'll be R2 new now. You seem to have had good things to say about that in the past, still positive? TP Link vs Billion?

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

In reply to a post by aks:

I read the Amazon review and then did a bit more research and it seems that TP Link VR900v2 has many WiFi issues.

Utter rubbish, the VR900v2 is one of the best 3x3 routers for wifi. I think its fair to say every router on Amazon - no matter how good or bad - will get poor reviews. You have to remember some users on Amazon won't be good with technical things, so if they've set up the router incorrectly and it doesn't work properly, its far easier to blame the router.

I have to agree with babyfrog, I have been using the VR900V2 for almost a year. Excellent wifi performance in both bands and a very easy to use GUI for those who may not be technically minded. I have mine running in bridge mode, but did initially use it to do the modem function as well, and with its Broadcom chipset, it performs well on FTTC.

In reply to a post by aks:

Fair point! Thanks for helping....

And I just read in other threads about the Billion 8800AXL R1/2 - well it'll be R2 new now. You seem to have had good things to say about that in the past, still positive? TP Link vs Billion?

The Billion 8800XL R1/2 is a budget router and its wifi performance won't be as good as the VR900v2, probably ok though if you don't care about wifi. If you really want a Billion then I would recommend the 8900AX but its not cheap though due to its high spec (> £200). IMHO the VR900v2 is your best bet as its a good balance of performance v cost. Just be aware that the VR900v2 is currently on sale at Amazon @ £99.99, after the holiday period, its price will probably creep back up to £120-£130.

Edited by deleted (Mon 31-Dec-18 13:05:16)

Thanks for all the advice - I will look at the VR900v2 then !

Unfortunately Amazon "helpfully" consolidate reviews. So the reviews / star rating that you see are an accumulation of several TP Link routers, perhaps even all that Amazon sell, and not the specific model you are looking at.

Most people don't name what it is that they are reviewing thinking,quite reasonably, that if they have been asked to review a TP Link model a, that's the heading it will appear under and not under models b and c and d and... The game is given away by the occasional review which names what the reviewer is writing about.

JH

Hi

The trouble with domestic routers is they are just that domestic, stacked high and sold cheap, or sold expensive with lots of go faster aerials that are mostly empty!

Netgear tend to be no exception, with their domestic routers made by the cheapest OEM in China, and neither the OEM or Netgear will have the model in production long enough to get the firmware solid, and they simply aren't built to last as they will be wanting you to upgrade to the next faster model before the warranty is up.

You get what you pay for, and for kit that is needed to run 24/7 and reliably given how we have so many gadgets and entertainment needs reliant on an internet connection, this kit isn't from the likes of TPLink or from Netgear's domestic range.

Best thing for range and stability is to install or get installed a ceiling mounted Wi-Fi point on the upper floor of a typical house of the type designed for commercial deployments, often not that difficult given power of Ethernet options. We did this is in our new house which is large enough to make Wi-Fi coverage patchy over the entire house from a domestic router sat on a table in the hall no matter how large the aerials it sported. But the ceiling mounted one (signals tend to travel better vertically in a typical house than horizontally and the higher the Wi-Fi point the better) gives us whole house coverage with no issues even on 5GHz, extending a good signal well outside our house boundary and garden, not only that it's rock solid and built like a tank, and blends in like it's a smoke detector. Next door are following our lead and doing the same (same style house), in their case replacing 3 Wi-Fi points (main and repeaters) with one on the ceiling.

Regards

Phil

I like to try different routers and they all have some sort of compromise, I also use WiFi as little as possible, I've bought an Edgerouter and can't rate it high enough for stability for the cost, I use a modem, edgerouter and a WAP, not ideal if folks want an AIO unit but personally now I couldn't go back and its the setup I would recommend if not wanting to spend big money, edgerouter x cost me £50 and a Ubiquiti WAP will be my next buy, feels like I will have a business class setup for under £200, I'm happy as mentioned its on 24/7 and its like the world ends in my house if the internet is playing up lol

Hi

In reply to a post by gmangt4:

I like to try different routers and they all have some sort of compromise, I also use WiFi as little as possible, I've bought an Edgerouter and can't rate it high enough for stability for the cost, I use a modem, edgerouter and a WAP, not ideal if folks want an AIO unit but personally now I couldn't go back and its the setup I would recommend if not wanting to spend big money, edgerouter x cost me £50 and a Ubiquiti WAP will be my next buy, feels like I will have a business class setup for under £200, I'm happy as mentioned its on 24/7 and its like the world ends in my house if the internet is playing up lol

Sounds like a good solution and similar to what I ended up with my kit and doesn't need to cost that much more than a go-faster packaged all in one The benefit with separates also makes it easier to upgrade or change, i.e. more from ADSL to FTTC or G.Fast or to cable, or update the Wi-Fi access point.

With regards to the Ubiquiti WAP, I had nothing but various niggles with an UniFi AP AC Pro, things like odd compatibility issues with some devices, very limited tweaking options to the Wi-Fi settings, a fairly complex setup routine requiring use of their own Java software installed on a PC, which might be worthwhile having that software for centralised management for a company with dozens or hundreds to manage, was over kill for a home network in my opinion. Constant updates to the firmware dealing with loads of bugs and often needing an update to the desktop client, sometimes breaking something else. Bug fixes are good of course but they never seemed to cease finding bugs, bugs should be fixed as the exception and not the rule.

The main disappointment was the hardware quality, it was poor, just like a poor example of cheap domestic kit. It ran very hot, it could only have been even hotter at the top of house on the ceiling that is insulated behind and no where for the heat to go by convection and already the hottest part of the house. I opened it to see if I could improve heat dissipation, and all they had was some gel pads on the back of circuit board that then pressed up against the plastic case in the hope the heat would be moved elsewhere, that was all there was for heat sinking. The pads were placed behind each chip that was on the front of the board, with one so misaligned it was doing nothing as it was not directly below the chip. For commercial kit that wasn't particularly cheaper than the competition I can't recommend their Wi-Fi APs.

In the end I did some research and bought a ZyXEL NWA1123 ACv2, reassuringly heavy, and they actively promote the internals of this device with exploded views showing shielding, lots of metal plates for heat-sinking and forming the antenna array. Absolutely no comparison to the cheap plastic AP from Ubiquti. The other benefit is it doesn't require "cloud" software or an app on the PC before you can set it up, it will work via it's own web page.

Regards

Phil

Thanks for the reply, currently have VM Hub 3 as modem, was HG612 when on VDSL, Edgerouter X and 2 Asus RT AC68u's as the WAP's, works well and have plenty tuning options on the Asus routers WiFi so will probably continue with that setup until it breaks lol
Ubiquiti router was a steep learning curve so might avoid the AP's if there as complicated as you say.