Last Updated on June 21, 2023 by Tim FitzGerald
Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide a router that underperforms. There are exceptions, of course, but generally, the router that comes with the broadband service you buy is poor and does not do the job it’s supposed to do.
A ‘router’ has several jobs to do. It’s a modem, router, firewall, ethernet switch and wireless access point (WiFi) and often it does one or more of these tasks quite well but is too often poor at doing them all.
- A modem has to MOdulate and DEModulate (mo-dem) the radio-frequency electrical signals on the broadband line or the wireless of a mobile phone signal. The modem converts these to digital signals. There are different types of modems depending on the broadband service you are buying. These include cable, ADSL, VDSL, fibre, 4G-LTE and 5G to name but a few. The modem must match the service provided by your ISP. Most of the functions of a modem are done by specialised computer chips.
- A router and firewall does some technical things with IP protocols including sending data between your home network and the internet. It might prioritise different protocols and the firewall function determines whether data should flow between the untrusted (outside) network and the trusted (inside) network, according to some firewall rules. The router and firewall functions are largely performed by software.
- An ethernet switch connected different ethernet networks together. If the router provided by your ISP has several ethernet ports then these are probably connected to an ethernet switch within the router. This switch is made using specialised computer hardware.
- A wireless access point provides the link between a wired network (ethernet) and a wireless network or WiFi. WiFi allows portable devices to connect to the router without having to trail ethernet cables all over the house. Again this is a function performed by specialised hardware.
ISPs want to provide consumers with a router that is inexpensive, easy to deliver, configure and simple to use. Keeping the cost of the hardware low has meant the ISP supplied router often performs badly.
There have been some technological changes with which ISPs are trying to keep up. Hence the router being provided to new consumers is often more functional than the router being used by customers who have been using the ISP for years. The BT website lists multiple versions of the BT Smart Hub or Home Hub. ISPs are reluctant to replace older hardware for consumers unless necessary.
The technology changes include:
- WiFi – the introduction of newer, faster WiFi standards. The earlier standard WiFi-4 is known as 802.11a/n. A newer standard 802.11ac (known as WiFi-5) was approved in 2013. Since then (in 2019) 802.11ax (known as WiFi-6) has been approved. Each generation offers improvements (faster) for devices that support the newer standards.
- Mesh WiFi devices have become available. These offload the WiFi function of the router to several pieces of specialised hardware and interconnects that hardware (in a mesh) so that you might have two, three or even more WiFi access points throughout your home.
- Ethernet – older routers support ethernet running at 10/100 Mbits/s. Newer devices support gigabit ethernet.
- Broadband and cable speeds increased from ADSL’s 10 Mbps, via superfast VDSL fibre to the cabinet (FTTC at ~50Mbps), to fibre-optic cable to the home (FTTH/FTTP) which bought ultrafast gigabit speeds.
- The router and firewall functions needed to grow and get faster as the traffic through them got faster. Gigabit (1000Mbps) is a whole lot faster (100 times) than 10Mbps. The CPU and memory on the router needed to be bigger, faster and better to cope with the demand.
- The number of devices attached to the router in the home (via WiFi or ethernet) increased as we began to have more phones, tablets, PCs, printers, TVs and other devices connected.
- Working from home (WFH) and home schooling has meant these are actually in regular use for more hours in the day. A few years ago a router might have only a small handful of devices connected. Today this is likely to be 20 or more. This significantly increases the work the router needs to do.
- Gaming brings the need for low-latency to reduce the lag-time in the game. Very often gaming is an application that suffers most from underperforming routers.
- Video streaming and download applications such as Netflix, Youtube, iPlayer have significantly increased the amount of data passing through the router. The demand for HD or 4K video is increasing.
- Newer and faster routers were needed to interface to the faster broadband, cable and fibre services being brought to the home by the ISPs.
What to do if you feel your router is old and not coping?
- Try to identify the problem. What are the symptoms and when do they happen?
- Ensure you are getting what you are paying for. Is your internet service providing the speed (using www.speedtest.net) and reliability the ISP advertises?
This link’s test may be useful http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?httpsok=0 - Do your neighbours with the same ISP have similar issues?
- Is the problem due to WiFi in your home? Is your router in the best location in the home? Try working with your PC connected to the router via ethernet – do you still have problems when WiFi is not being used?
- Contact your ISP (particularly if the issue seems to be with slow broadband) and report the problems you are having and ask for the latest router to be provided.
- Ask an IT professional for advice – he/she should be able to identify the issues and recommend which of the many options available to you to replace or enhance the router your ISP provides. You might consider more than one option to address the issues. For example, to use the ISP’s router in modem-only mode, install a separate router/firewall and a mesh WiFi system.
- Buying and installing a new router is a task to be undertaken by someone with a good knowledge of the issues and products on the market.
INCREASE BROADBAND SPEED Tips and Guides
http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?httpsok=0
WiFi Bandwidth comparison – 2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz signal
| Frequency | Theoretical Speed | Real-World Speed |
| 2.4 GHz (802.11b) | 11 Mbps | 2 – 3 Mbps |
| 2.4 GHz (802.11g) | 54 Mbps | 10 – 29 Mbps |
| 2.4 GHz (802.11n) | 300 Mbps | 150 Mbps |
| 5 GHz (802.11a) | 6 – 54 Mbps | 3 – 32 Mbps |
| 5 GHz (802.11ac) | 433 – 1700 Mbps | 210 – 1000 Mbps |
| 5 GHz (802.11n) | 900 Mbps | 450Mbps |
WiFi Range comparison – 2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz signal
| Frequency | Theoretical Distance | Real World Distance |
| 2.4 GHz (802.11b) | 460 ft | 230 ft |
| 2.4 GHz (802.11g) | 125 ft | 62 ft |
| 2.4 GHz (802.11n) | 820 ft | 410 ft |
| 5 GHz (802.11a) | 390 ft | 195 ft |
| 5 GHz (802.11ac) | up to 820 ft (amplified) | up to 410 ft (amplified) |
| 5 GHz (802.11n) | 460 ft | 230 ft |
Broadband Speed Needed for Streaming Services
A good broadband speed for streaming is at least 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) for TV services such as BBC iPlayer for standard streaming, or 2.8Mbps for HD quality. For Netflix, the minimum speed required is about 3Mbps for standard streaming and 5Mbps for HD. If it’s Ultra HD you’re after, you typically need at least 15Mbps for YouTube, while it’s 25Mbps for Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, if you want to avoid buffering.
| Service | Needed for non HD | HD | Full HD/4K |
| BBC iPlayer, etc | 1.5 Mbps | 2.8 Mbps | Not available |
| Netflix | 3 Mbps | 5 Mbps | 25 Mbps |
| Amazon Prime Video | 0.9 Mbps | 3.5 Mbps | 25 Mbps |
| YouTube | 2.5 Mbps | 4 Mbps | 15 Mbps |
Broadband Speed Needed for Video Calling
Video calling (Zoom, MS-Teams, etc) has doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, with 71% of adult internet users making video calls at least once a week and four in 10 of us making video calls daily. Skype, Zoom and FaceTime are some of the most popular video-calling services. If you use one of these, you need to be aware of both your download and upload speeds. This is because your connection will be receiving and sending data at the same time. Below are the minimum download and upload speeds you’ll need:
| Type | Recommended download/upload speed |
| Skype (HD 1-1 video call) | 1.2 Mbps |
| Zoom HD group video call | Download 2.5 Mbps Upload 3.0 Mbps |
Broadband Speed Needed for Gaming
| Service | Minimum Download Speed | Recommended Download Speed |
| Xbox Game Pass Cloud Gaming | 10Mbps | N/A |
| PlayStation Remote Play | 15 Mbps | N/A |
| Google Stadia | 10 Mbps | 35 Mbps |
| Shadow | 5 Mbps | 25 Mbps |
| Nvidia GeForce NOW | 15 Mbps | 25 Mbps |
Number of subscribers
BT (PlusNet, EE) 9,300,000
Sky Broadband 6,200,000
Virgin Media 5,365,400
TalkTalk(on-net) 4,220,000
Vodafone UK 838,000
Glide 400,000
Post Office 400,000
Zen Internet 150,000
Ask4 130,000
KCOM 126,900
INCREASE BROADBAND SPEED Tips and Guides
Speed Tests.
https://speedtest.xfinity.com/
http://internethealthtest.org/
http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?httpsok=0
Remember
- Many ISPs (Sky, BT, EE, PlusNet, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen) use the BT/Openreach network to deliver broadband services. You might change providers within this group but you’ll be using the same physical infrastructure. after any change of ISP. Changing ISPs within this group will only change the company to whom you pay the monthly bill and from whom you get customer service and technical support.
- If your ISP is an AltNet provider (usually of FTTP services) then you’ll probably need to work with your altnet ISP.
AltNets include B4RN, Cityfibre, Gigaclear, Hyperoptic, CommunityFibre, G.Network, toob and many more. - If your ISP is Virgin Media then VM is the only provider of your cable service and you’ll need to rely on VM to resolve any issues.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am7xT-zU1Q0