Replacement for Sky Broadband WIFI router

[EdGT]

Hi 

I currently have Sky Superfast Broadband with Router Hub SR203. In parts of the house the wifi strength is awful, or non-exisitent. Moving the router improves it but not enough. I have tried Devolo DLan wifi boosters but, if anything, they make it worse!

I am considering buying a replacement router.

Please could anyone recommend a good router that would do the job and (hopefully) make a satisfactory imrovment. Also, any advice on setting this up - I am a novice.

thanks for your help.

[cookiemonsteruk]

@EdGT 

Depends on requirements eg gaming or just better wifi

My choice would be asus  rt ax88u for gaming with wifi 6 wtfast gamers vpn . Would require vdsl modem for superfast or plug into ont for fttp

[EdGT]

thanks for your reply. Unfortunately you completely lost me beyond 'My choice would be asus rtax88u...'

this wuold be for some gaming but mainly improved wifi coverage for internet TV in rooms where the wifi is poor. 

If you could explain in laymans terms what you mean by... "with wifi 6 wtfast gamers vpn . Would require vdsl modem for superfast or plug into ont for fttp" that would be appreciated. 🙂

[cookiemonsteruk]

@EdGT 

An asus dsl router eg dsl ac55u will suffice if you are superfast.  If you are ultrafast full fibre then you would already have a wall mounted ont modem and a standalone router would suffice. The wtfast is a gamer vpn that forces the shortest path between your router and game server therefore bypassing skys sometimes obscure routing. It depends how serious a gamer you are.

Others are asus dsl ax82u combine modem and gaming router 

[cookiemonsteruk]

@EdGT 

Wifi 6 is the latest wifi standard which provides wifi speeds faster than 5ghz for compliant devices such as ps5

[murfo]

Hi Everyone,

I'm in Ireland on Sky Ultrafast Max (1Gb/s), and have an ONT with an SR200 router . I'm looking to change the router as have been having horrid issues over the past year or so with connections dropping frequently, dhcp issues, access point temporarily full, etc...

I don't have VOIP and don't intend getting it, so that's not a concern.

Having read many threads on here, I discovered the issue is the poor performance of the router when connecting to over ~16 devices, the 5Ghz AP randomly dropping the connection to under 1Mb/s for hours on end, and the 2.4Ghz AP isn't great either. I've tried assigning static IPs to any device that I can, but still end up having to power cycle the router every couple of days.

I've noticed since the latest FW update (5.14.2331.R) that the ethernet ports are now also dropping their connection. Tried reconfiguring the PS5 a few times and changed the cable to no avail, only reconnected after powering the router off for 5 mins.

The issues all started around the time I upgraded to the Q box, I've turned off the radios on that and have it wired to the SR200 as suggested in other threads, but still poor performance from the router. It was also around this time that I added a number of smart plugs/bulbs to the network, so it might be that.

Sorry for the massive rant, my question is this - I've looked at the ASUS ROG Rapture GT WiFi Cable & Fibre Router - AC 5300, the Asus RT-AX92U, the Asus RT-AX58U, and recently saw @cookiemonsteruk and @mae-3 talking about the ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 here

Any recommendations on which would best suit, seeing as I don't need to worry about VOIP. Could any of them replace the SR200 entirely? If not, which would be the best to run as my dhcp server as I'm working from home and need to configure lots of tablets (with already around 20 personal devices connected)?

[cookiemonsteruk]

@murfo 

We usually talk about those routers in context of working with sky mer authentication in the uk . Sky ireland thru Siro authenticate via pppoe so that widens the field. All those routers will work with pppoe. I would concentrate on asus ax86u , ax88u with 2.4 and 2×5ghz wifi . Thinking the rog gt ax11000 is 2.4ghz,5ghz and 6ghz wifi which has fewer clients. 

Also the netgear rax series of router are a good choice

Basically ethernet from siro ont to wan ethernet of asus or netgear complete the pppoe authentication .  Don't know if vlan id is untagged as it is here but is 10 in Ireland

[mae-3]

@murfo 

The Asus ZenWifi XT8 either singularly or in a pair depending on the size of the house would do a good job. I have a single unit for my house which is only 2 bedrooms but the wireless from the single router reaches through 2 red brick walls outside to 25 metres giving a speed exceeding 200Mbps throughput at that distance. Inside the house, it performs at about 670Mbps on 802.11ax and 470Mbps on 802.11ac clients throughput. And I have 40 clients or more connected at a time, and twenty-five or just over on wireless when guests visit.

[murfo]

@cookiemonsteruk @mae-3 thanks both for the quick replies!

[murfo]

@mae-3I went for a pair of XT8s in the end, and got them today (now yesterday). I swapped the wan cable from the sky router to one of the XT8s and went through the setup wizard on the asus phone app.

Selected pppoe and entered my admin credentials from the SR200. I skipped the vlan part as I didn't see an option for Sky, and when the config finished I got no wan ip, tried refreshing the connection in the app a couple of times then got a message saying "locked out".

Plugged everything out for a few mins (including the ont) and still got the same (no wan ip) except not getting the locked out message anymore.

@cookiemonsteruk I'm guessing I shouldn't have skipped past the vlan bit, and done some manual config for it using the id you suggested?

[murfo]

Actually @mae-3 I just found this post that explains the format for pppoe authentication

Is it "literally" anything@skydsl| or do i need to substitute my own credentials?

[mae-3]

@murfo 

Depends on whether you are in Ireland or the UK on whether you use PPPoE or DHCP Option 61 client identifier, eg: Ireland is PPPoE and UK is DHCP Option 61. The format is anything@skydsl|anything for DHCP Option 61 and as you have described for PPPoE with anything for the password.

For configuring the Asus XT8 in the UK you must use a browser for DHCP Option 61, not the App.

[mae-3]

@murfo 

For the Asus XT8 and this should only be done on the gateway router connected to the ONT (FTTP) or modem (ADSL2+/VDSL2) it's this screen for options for the UK:-

[mae-3]

@murfo 

If you have any issues with the Asus ZenWifi XT8 mesh then use Version 3.0.0.4.386.42095 firmware which is available on the Asus site if you search for 'Asus XT8 firmware' on Google and is stable with the ZenWiFi mesh.

[murfo]

@mae-3 thanks for all the help. Up and running now and happily connecting everything I throw at it. Consistent too!