Best router for BT FTTP
Discussion
I currently have BT FTTP 300Mbps. However using a Netgear Nighthawk X4S D7800 I can't seem to get anything above 110Mbps using CAT 6 directly connected to the router. All ports are running at 1Gbps and I have tried multiple different cables.
If I swap back to BT HH it is showing 300Mbps so something is definitely not correctly setup with the Netgear router. I have switched off QoS, but there does seem to be a few issues on Netgear forums with FTTP and getting full speed.
Yes I could use the BT HH but it is not configurable enough and the Wifi is shockingly bad compared to the rock stable netgear router.
So any advice or should I change to a different WiFi routers like WSUS or DrayTek?
If I swap back to BT HH it is showing 300Mbps so something is definitely not correctly setup with the Netgear router. I have switched off QoS, but there does seem to be a few issues on Netgear forums with FTTP and getting full speed.
Yes I could use the BT HH but it is not configurable enough and the Wifi is shockingly bad compared to the rock stable netgear router.
So any advice or should I change to a different WiFi routers like WSUS or DrayTek?
Iirc I believe there is a throughput problem with PPPoE on the Netgear firmware, you could try flashing it with a different firmware and see if you can get the decent throughput - save you buying anything. I had good results on my R7000 with it.
https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_R78...
https://openwrt.org/toh/netgear/r7800
https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_R78...
https://openwrt.org/toh/netgear/r7800
Edited by Rojibo on Friday 30th October 11:42
Rojibo said:
Iirc I believe there is a throughput problem with PPPoE on the Netgear firmware, you could try flashing it with a different firmware and see if you can get the decent throughput - save you buying anything. I had good results on my R7000 with it.
Thanks I had forgotten about DD-WRT, but sadly doesn't support my ADSL Router - D7800 only R7800 which is Router only. OpenWRT does seem to work.Edited by SwissJonese on Friday 30th October 12:15
Bit hacky - but could you just use the BT router as a modem? I've done this with a Sky router:
Sky router (DHCP disabled, Fixed IP and DMZ enabled) -> Asus router
WAN is configured on the Asus as a fixed IP pointing at the Sky router. Asus router is in the DMZ so it handles firewall and DHCP leasing.
Has been rock solid since I configured it this way. We used to have all sorts of issues with the crappy Sky router.
Sky router (DHCP disabled, Fixed IP and DMZ enabled) -> Asus router
WAN is configured on the Asus as a fixed IP pointing at the Sky router. Asus router is in the DMZ so it handles firewall and DHCP leasing.
Has been rock solid since I configured it this way. We used to have all sorts of issues with the crappy Sky router.
Ynox said:
Bit hacky - but could you just use the BT router as a modem? I've done this with a Sky router
This is FTTP so no modem as such as it is optical cable to the cabinet and always on. I just use the CAT cable directly into the router. From what I read this Netgear is just really bad for UK FTTP speeds.So looks like I am in the market for a new router.
Did you actually get the full speed on the BT Router?
I was having major issues only getting a third of my expected speeds - turns out the motherboard LAN manager software was strangling my throughput. As soon as it was uninstalled it was straight up to the expected Fibre speed.
Have you tried a speedtest on a different PC and/or a different port?
Have you tried the Command Line Speedtest? - https://www.speedtest.net/apps/cli
I was having major issues only getting a third of my expected speeds - turns out the motherboard LAN manager software was strangling my throughput. As soon as it was uninstalled it was straight up to the expected Fibre speed.
Have you tried a speedtest on a different PC and/or a different port?
Have you tried the Command Line Speedtest? - https://www.speedtest.net/apps/cli
I'm on gigabit FTTP and I replaced the Smart Hub 2 with an Asus RT-AX88U. It works well with the BT PPPoE implementation, including IPv6. Just jumped on fast.com and immediately got 910Mbps on this wired PC. Wirelessly I've seen 650+ with a WiFi-6 client.
It was rather expensive (I wanted Wi-Fi 6 for a PC that I couldn't get a wire to) but I gather the older/cheaper versions are just as good with a fast WAN link
My Linksys WRT3200ACM also manages >900Mb just fine on this connection, but I can't in good conscience recommend it as they completely buggered the wireless chipset in OpenWRT builds due to abandoned proprietary firmware.
Plugging another router into the BT router is best avoided if you do much gaming as you'll probably have Double NAT.
It was rather expensive (I wanted Wi-Fi 6 for a PC that I couldn't get a wire to) but I gather the older/cheaper versions are just as good with a fast WAN link
My Linksys WRT3200ACM also manages >900Mb just fine on this connection, but I can't in good conscience recommend it as they completely buggered the wireless chipset in OpenWRT builds due to abandoned proprietary firmware.
Plugging another router into the BT router is best avoided if you do much gaming as you'll probably have Double NAT.
Yesterday I bought a ASUS RT-AX82U AX5400 WiFi 6 router. Plugged it in and straight away I was getting 309Mbps via Lan, and around 270Mbps via WiFi from a few rooms away.
So yes looks like the Netgear router was doing something weird, like Rojibo possibly some duff fireware with PPPoE at bottoming out at 100Mbps.
A bit of a pain I had to buy a new router but the Netgear was a few years old anyway and WiFi 6 upgrade is worth it.
So yes looks like the Netgear router was doing something weird, like Rojibo possibly some duff fireware with PPPoE at bottoming out at 100Mbps.
A bit of a pain I had to buy a new router but the Netgear was a few years old anyway and WiFi 6 upgrade is worth it.
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