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[ac427]

I am thinking of replacing my BY HH5 with another unit modem / router unit.

Are there any superior units out there for faster throughput and granular control ?

A faster booting unit would be nice too.

[Weaver]

Faster throughput means the best modem going, no compromise. Plenty of people here will have wise recommendations.

From your earlier post, I think you are an FTTC user (the language spoken down the line is VDSL2 rather than the older "ADSL" family of standards).

There are a number of ways to possibly increase your line speeds - see Weaver's Checklist in an earlier thread. The checklist also provides valuable retail therapy and helps reduce the pain caused by change weighing down your pocket.

[ac427]

Thanks Weaver, i thought i was ADSL2+ because i have copper from the front door to the BT wiring cabinet a quarter of a mile away. There is fibre from the cabinet to the exchange.

Which router modem/router do you use ?

[Weaver]

@ac427 - if there is copper to the cabinet and fibre from cabinet to exchange then this is called FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet). The marketing liars would rather say fibre whenever possible because it sounds sexy, so when a user has copper to their house they call it "fibre broadband" because they have been allowed to get away with straight lying due to the ASA's incompetence or cowardice or both.

All FTTC offerings speak VDSL2 over the copper segment, as I said earlier.

As for me, I can't help you as I don't live amongst the important people and am still stuck with ADSL (not even ADSL2). I have three lines joined together in parallel and currently I'm using 3 * DLink DSL-320B modems, which don't speak VDSL anyway. I am also thinking about doing another trial of a Draytek Vigor 130 modem.

So you need to ask for experience of modems that speak VDSL2, that's essential. ADSL modems are not an option for you. (An older family of longer-reach standards.)

[jid]

I am thinking of replacing my BY HH5 with another unit modem / router unit.

Are there any superior units out there for faster throughput and granular control ?

A faster booting unit would be nice too.

Theres a list here: http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,14436.0.html

Ones of interest are the Billion BiPac 8800nl - a very reliable modem router - however wifi coverage not the best.

Another good one is the TP Link Archer VR900 - lots of good reviews on that and apparently excellent wifi and fast performance.

[Weaver]

Who cares about wireless anyway? :-) :-) Respectfully, consider the multi-boxes approach, better to buy the best modem, best router and a really good wireless access point _or several_. That way you can choose each on its own merits without needing to make compromises all the time. There are lots of good 5GHz WAPs around and having the flexibility to park them where is best for coverage can be very important. Correct security config, encryption of wireless is absolutely vital, get help if in any way unsure. Otherwise your neighbours or their visitors will be getting a free ride on your internet connection and implicating you in things I shudder to think about.

Your router, if a separate box from the modem, should simply be parked according to convenience. It needs to be reliable, secure (default config and bug-free), fast, flexible have an effective firewall, have the range of feature you need and be comprehensible. If you go for a good ISP, they will configure a router correctly for you.

Your modem must be really close to the NTE5 (master socket) as the cable run from NTE5 to modem is critical, must be highest quality and should be kept as short as possible (buy a Tandy web shop adslnation.com RJ-11-to-RJ-11 cable). [Strictly speaking, there is a - very, very slightly larger - RJ-45 socket on the faceplate-type filter that fit onto the front of the NTE5, but the tiny difference doesn't matter, both fit fine in practice.] Best quality modem means highest speeds and freedom from hassle. Ask about something called "1500 byte MTU" (aka 1508-byte aka jumbo frames), a near must-have feature, needs to be supported by router too not just modem for it to work. I won't go into this now. BT-supplied FTTC separate modems support this. It prevents hassle with certain misbehaving servers on the internet, certain websites, services, that's the implication of it basically.

[kitz]

Having downsized my network and using more wireless these days, I must admit I do prefer a decent all in one solution.  If it has a PPP disconnect feature then you can still reconnect to your ISP without having to perform a full resync.

I personally am a fan of the BCM  DSL based routers...  but that said I'd ask first at what rate your line syncs at because Lantiq based do sometimes have the edge for stability on long lines.

The BCM63168 SoCs tend to eke out a bit more speed so look at the Billions or Zyxels, theres a new TPLink router just entered the market place which jid has already mentioned.  When I get time I will do a review for the main site, but until then I will say the DSL chip is stable, wifi is excellent.  GUI lacking particularly when it comes to stats, but ejs has been working on getting a bit more info out.  But it wont support any of the stat loggers such as DSLstats or modem stats, because theyve locked it down with their own CLI.   However you asked for superior to the HH5, which IMHO yep it would at least be that

[Weaver]

Following on from what kitz said, if the perfect all-in-one box exists then buy it as there's no performance downside to single-boxness per se.

It could be that you don't need flexibility with WAP placement or several WAPs to improve coverage becusse you live in an "easy", wifi-friendly space, and in that case the fact that you're tied to having your antennae where your router lives isn't the end of the world.