some stuff about sky:
1) the max speed you could get on sky via DLM is 22Mb, but sky have made changes recently and this may no longer be valid as ive heard of 23Mb syncs but this could be a 21Mb line on a 3db Noise Margin as sky support 3db noise margins now (as well as g.INP which is dynamic error protecion).
2) Sky's ISAM uses broadcom chipsets, theyre may be some older Globespan DSLAMs about still, one can use the vendor id command in telnet to find out what your connected too (providing your router allows telnet) - I wouldnt say its always true that matching the chipsets is best, each line and firmware is different, but I do know that long lines are best on Broadcom as they are good at keeping connections afloat on noisey lines.
3) Sky fix speeds to 'profiles' ..e.g. 16Mb profile... you can adjust your SNRM to get slower speeds but nothing 'higher' than your fixed profile speed... reps used to be able to set 20Mb profiles so those on lower speeds could tweak 'up' to higher speeds....but im sure rizla said they can only set 18Mb profiles now and i think this is right because I can not get above 18Mb on my line anymore when I play with the SNR, I used to be able to get 19Mb, my line speed is 16.5 on the default SNRM of 7db dependant on my current router, Iam on 18Mb profile...so I can tweak it UP too 18Mb.
4) Sky's DLM used to be pants - but apparantley its a lot better now, it used to sync really fast lines with quite low speeds... i seen a few 22Mb lines getting 12-13Mb etc - it was a common thing too, my 18Mb line ended up on15Mb, my friends 20Mb line ended up on 16Mb etc etc - one could get this amended with quick call to sky (sometimes) - but I think that DLM doesnt do this any more...I think!
5) during the first 10 days line training its best to leave the router turned on 24-7 so it can do its re-syncs at 2-4am (upping your speed every night by 2-3Mb until it reaches max)
6) yes you can generate your own login details to use your own router...the problem is you can not use the sky-hubs details to generate a login, it must be the older routers details.. you could buy a 2504N from ebay for £5-£10 just too use its details, what you do is enter the routers LAN MAC Address and WiFi password into
here and it will give you a useable login which will work.