fibre router/modem advice please

Hi all,

I am currently in the process of completing a new self build home for me and Mrs J58 and am about to select our FIBRE ISP. We have the option of both a BT line and a Virgin line and have both choices ready for connection dependant on who we go with. It will likely be either BT, Plusnet, Sky or EE (not TalkTalk or SSE because of their poor reviews) At our previous location we had both BT & EE & other than the lacklustre BT tech support, they were fine.

At the moment I am likely to get a BT line installed first, giving me the option to go with Virgin in the future if I decide to.

What I want to do, however, is not to have to rely on the supplied router/modem from whichever ISP I go with (whichever offers the best deal at the time!), so I would like to buy my own router modem.

Research / recommends have narrowed the choice down to either...
The Netgear D7000
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ZU1T8C0
or the ASUS DSL-AC68U
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00O27PHGY

I'm no technophobe, but my experience in networking / routers is not exactly great, so assume very low knowledge levels.

What is the view on these choices please? How difficult would they be to configure for example.

Cheers & thanks in advance.

When you say FIBRE do you mean FTTC/VDSL or FTTH?

And what does the BT checker actually suggest you can get? Based on address or postcode and that of neighbours phone numbers.

I mean FTTC either BT Infinity or similar - that means VDSL doesn't it?

As far as speed is concerned, with an all new connection & fibre definitely available I'd expect up to the maximum possible... 38mbs / 52mbs

Thanks for the reply

Edited by deleted (Fri 27-May-16 13:46:00)

Yes, VDSL2 is the technology, FTTC the generic name to describe the product and Infinity is BTs marketing name.

It might be a new connection and FTTC available that does not mean full speed! It will depend on, predominantly, how far you are from the cabinet plus a few other factors which will vary that slightly. Do you know where the cabinet is? And approx how far it is by road?

The Netgear D7000 and Asus DSL-AC68 are relatively old routers now and if you would get far far better performance if you went for something like the Netgear D7800 (if on a ECI FTTC cab) or TP Link VR2600 if on a Huawei FTTC cab. If money is no object and you want ultimate wifi coverage then go for the new Linksys EA9500 hooked up to the BT open reach vdsl2 modem.

Our connection is via one new BT supplied armoured cable directly from the build to the first BT pavement "junction box" which is a length of approximately 40m. The box is another 100m away.

In reply to a post by janner58:

Our connection is via one new BT supplied armoured cable directly from the build to the first BT pavement "junction box" which is a length of approximately 40m. The box is another 100m away.

Is that the FTTC cabinet?

If so, then at 140m and add another 60m to be really sure ... you should be able to get a full 80Mbps (sync) & 76Mbps (actual speed) with a good bit of headroom.

Yes that is to the green BT cabinet. Our Virgin media box is only 2m from the boundary of our plot!

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

The Netgear D7000 and Asus DSL-AC68 are relatively old routers now and if you would get far far better performance if you went for something like the Netgear D7800 (if on a ECI FTTC cab) or TP Link VR2600 if on a Huawei FTTC cab. If money is no object and you want ultimate wifi coverage then go for the new Linksys EA9500 hooked up to the BT open reach vdsl2 modem.

Are you thinking about any particular feature with these routers? I do want to be able to stream 4K TV

To be honest if streaming 4K TV then to ensure no issues you want to be using Ethernet, no matter how expensive the WiFi router, since WiFi will always be prone to interruption.