hi
you are correct about zen, and when I looked at the two rec'd boxes (fritzbox 3490 £138 and zyxel vmg8924 £150) I thought it was worth looking at some alternatives, as they don't give them away, and past experience of taking what's offered has been that the offering is usually adequate but not exciting. I'm pretty sure that I will want top of the range wireless capability so I think that means ac, mimo, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, good range, single seamless SSID, good config options, plus good monitoring and reporting options for when things go pear shaped. The 8 gigabit ports plus separate wan port sounds good also for connecting nas, sonos, humax, etc.