Topic: Third Party Routers

[Clive]

Does anyone know anything about third party routers to solve a weak internet connection in London?  The router under consideration is a WAVLINK AC3000 which is a triband router.  All this is pretty meaningless to me.   

[Simon]

What do you mean by third party?   Do you mean like a Wi-Fi extender?

[Clive]

Yes, but he's already tried the BT version which are supposed to be good.  He has full blown FTTP with download speeds of 100 Mps.  There are four in the family and all are streaming or gaming and they are experiencing buffering and dropouts. I've made the suggestion of using NetSpot to switch the router to a different channel to see if that helps.  Everyone uses the ISP Hyperoptic and consequently they are all on the same channel. 

[daveeb]

Yes, but he's already tried the BT version which are supposed to be good.  He has full blown FTTP with download speeds of 100 Mps.  There are four in the family and all are streaming or gaming and they are experiencing buffering and dropouts. I've made the suggestion of using NetSpot to switch the router to a different channel to see if that helps.  Everyone uses the ISP Hyperoptic and consequently they are all on the same channel. 

Clive do you mean he wants to use the router he has in Modem mode and do the routing with a third party router (which I have done in the past with Virgin Media).
Or is he replacing the router with a different one entirely ( I think you can do this with some Adsl providers, though not sure).
Either way I've heard that Asus routers are good.
A good mid range one is the Asus RT-ac86U  or a bit cheaper is the ac68U.

[Clive]

He wants to use the router in modem mode.  But how difficult is it to set up? 

[Simon]

I've never done it, but I don't think it's difficult.  I would agree with Dave, in that Asus routers are very good.  I can't remember the model number of mine, but it's the one with the internal antenna, and it seems to cover the whole flat better than the Billion Router that I had before.

[Clive]

I'll pass that on to him when he phones in the morning. 

[Clive]

OK, I've got it wrong.     He wants to change the router to a 3 band version. 

[daveeb]

It's easy to go into modem mode (from the routers admin page).

I still don't understand if he wants to entirely remove his current router from the setup and just use a new router or use the old one in modem mode with the new router.

[Clive]

I believe he plans to buy a new router to replace the one supplied by the London ISP Hyperoptic.  All the properties at his development have full fibre installed by that ISP and the modem he has in mind is a WAVLINK AC3000 which is a triband router.

[daveeb]

I believe he plans to buy a new router to replace the one supplied by the London ISP Hyperoptic.  All the properties at his development have full fibre installed by that ISP and the modem he has in mind is a WAVLINK AC3000 which is a triband router.

I've read that it can be tricky replacing the router with FTTH (FTTP) setups, he'll probably need to contact the service provider for advice on what settings to use on his new router.
Some providers don't allow it as it makes troubleshooting difficult for the technical help bods with non proprietary equipment.

[Clive]

Thanks for that advice Dave.  He's coming home tomorrow evening for a long weekend with No.1 grandson so I can discuss it with him further then. 

[Clive]

In conclusion to this thread, I suggested that he changed his router channel and gave him a link to scan all the connections in his vicinity.  Almost all were on the same channel so he switched to an empty one and it's made a huge difference to his speed.