Thanks very much for that. Time to get on eBay. One problem I may encounter is that my rather ageing Dell desktop PC, which I use for work, doesn't support wifi. The other devices in the house - laptops, phones, tablet - will be happy enough with a wireless modem-router, but I need a physical ethernet connection to the PC (which I do intend to replace, but one thing at a time). Am I right in thinking the Billion models are wireless only?
I believe my TP-Link does have a Broadcom chipset. At any rate my ISP has previously been able to monitor the line stats.
Am I right in thinking the Billion models are wireless only?
No, have never seen any router, modem/router that did not have 4 LAN ports, some have a WAN port also to facilitate usage in bridge mode or use with a cable system, this is the case with the Zyxel VMG3925-B10B, all ports being Gb.speed capable, from memory, the Billion 8800NLr1 has only one Gb. ethernet port (+ 3 X 10/100 ports), the 8800NLr2 has 10/100 Gb. ethernet ports only.
The Billion models have 2.4 Gb. Wi-Fi only, the Zyxel unit have 2.4 and 5 Gb. Wi-Fi.
Ethernet, cable connection to your desktop PC is preferable in my opinion, no worries with not having Wi-Fi on your PC, I don't either.
The Zyxel's Wi-Fi performance is not supposed to be exceptional by any means, I have not had any issues so far, only using 2.4 Gb, no 5 Gb. devices currently on hand.
I believe my TP-Link does have a Broadcom chipset. At any rate my ISP has previously been able to monitor the line stats
Your ISP will have access to sophisticated server based diagnostics for line monitoring regardless of your modem model, local access to your modem to harvest line stats is a different concept which is subject to access permissions and chipset technology.