In reply to a post by sawyert:

Anyone know a good link for explaining the basics of this? I have a computing degree, but that was 20 years ago, and my comms knowledge is a little out of date...

Unless you work in networking (I do) there is probably little reason to have any knowledge of this. QoS is a massive can of worms, that you can buy entire books dedicated to. If you are interested in an overview, then the wikipedia page on DSCP is probably your best bet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differentiated_service...

Packets with QoS markings will not be given preferential treatment by your ISP unless you pay for a business grade service. BT Wholesale even threaten that they may drop your marked packets if you haven't paid for a QoS service (I've actually seen this happen).

In reply to a post by sawyert:

I definitely want an all in one box, (I'm not going near bridging with the provided free router) my choice is probably from these.

TP-LINK TD-W9980 (N600)
ASUS DSL-AC68U AC1900 - Expensive
ZyXEL SBG3300-N - reportedly hard to use, but very configurable. Expensive.

It probably makes sense to go with the TP-LINK one - anyone got a contrary opinion?

I have the ASUS RT-AC56U which I find to be an excellent router. I have changed the firmware to the asuswrt-merlin firmware. The only downside is there is no built in VDSL modem. Based on my experience I would probably go for the Asus, but I have not used the other two devices.

If toying with QoS then a vote for Asus, was able to actually get it to work and do turn it one now and then to rate limit the line and see how different streaming services cope with slower connections (sad I know)

TP Link has most of the options but interface is generally just a bit more old fashioned and annoys me, once set-up though when I've used them they are fine.

In reply to a post by sawyert:

I definitely want an all in one box, (I'm not going near bridging with the provided free router) my choice is probably from these.

TP-LINK TD-W9980 (N600)
ASUS DSL-AC68U AC1900 - Expensive
ZyXEL SBG3300-N - reportedly hard to use, but very configurable. Expensive.

It probably makes sense to go with the TP-LINK one - anyone got a contrary opinion?

While personally I have an HG612 and a Draytek 2830, you might find the Draytek 2860 does what you want. Be aware that at present I think only the beta firmware does G.INP so you'd need to be comfortable with that.

I have seen few problems with Draytek kit in the 11 years I have been using it, generally it's been solid for me except for a few silly bugs that were fixed quite quickly. Note that the Draytek international ftp site often has firmware available before Draytek UK put up links to it, granted that they do extra testing but that isn't a guarantee that they find the bugs

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The choice is larger if you are using an Openreach VDSL2 modem, but as you said VDSL router, will presume you want an all in one device in which case

TP Link All in one modem/router for £62

...however said router doesn't seem to allow routed subnets, and just has an epic tantrum as far as I can see - at least, if it's terminating an ADSL not VDSL link (doesn't seem to matter if it's PPPoA or PPPoE, it just loses the plot and refuses to deal with it. So also useless as a router, fine as a bridge to something more credible mind that can handle acting as a PPPoE client.

Using the TP link in standalone mode for fibre here and better than anything else I have used, including Billion 7800NL and both OR modems.

In reply to a post by professor973:

Using the TP link in standalone mode for fibre here and better than anything else I have used, including Billion 7800NL and both OR modems.

I'm not suggesting it doesn't work - as a standard router. But it doesn't like and support proper routed subnets as far as our testing concluded.

We also didn't find it gave better sync rates typically for VDSL - generally speaking it was around 1 meg less than the HG612 on a H matched cab, but for ADSL we found it was identical to other good quality routers.