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Replacement router instead of new 2026 EE hub

topbrewer — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 07:20:42 GMT

Hi all, first post here. I have full fibre 1 gbs to router, this has been verified and tested hardwired. But even at 2 m away from the home hub 6 I only get 300mb maybe very rarely 450. Been on the phone to BT yes they sent me an EE hub and had an engineer around, pointed it to the limitations of the router, which I can accept.

advised to buy this TP-Link Archer AX55 WiFi 6 Router, AX3000 Mbps wifi Booster, Dual Band Gigabit Ports, Internet Booster, Wi-Fi Extender, Ultra-Low Latency, 160MHZ Bandwidth, EasyMesh Compatible, Works with Alexa

by the engineer. But do I simply unplug the home hub and plug this one in?

if there’s already a thread for this, please post link into here.

thank you for your help people

Mod note: Removed link

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

Kimberlin — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 13:25:41 GMT

@topbrewer TP-Link routers are easy enough to set up, well, I would say that as I have one, albeit a beast compared to that, but all the same should you purchase it, setting it up out of the box is a fairly simple affair when you know what you are doing.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/faq/3841/

I would advise you to download the TP-Link Tether App on your smartphone (if you have one), that will give you an element of control over the router once it is set up. Effectively, with the App, you can do certain things with your router no matter where you are in the world should you have the need to, reboot it etc. Fully access to the router management page can be done via logging into it via a PC/Laptop/iPad etc.

In order to connect it to your BT fibre, all you need to do, is put in your username and the BT password and you should be good to go as long as you have selected the correct settings. There are plenty of tutorials available on the web. There is also a TP-Link Community forum.

There are a whole list of settings I would advise you to change during setup but until you have actually purchased one, there's little point.

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

topbrewer — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 13:44:11 GMT

Hi Kimberlin, just gone ahead and bought one, should be here later today, I hope it’s as easy as you say.

thanks for your response

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

Kimberlin — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 14:05:23 GMT

I've used my own TP-Link router (I've had my current one 4.5 years) on both BT and Plusnet without any issues whatsoever. Indeed being on FTTP, I have not had a dropped connection once. Some may find that hard to believe, but it is true, it just never drops, but that is the model I have, I cannot speak for other TP-Link models. I'm on 500mbps and it is a consistent 500mbps at the router.

As you have now purchased one, when you are setting it up, I would absolutely change the default DNS resolver for something different. You can set it at router level, once done, it will only change again if you change it.

Make sure you update the router to the latest firmware. If there is a firmware update it will let you know anyway. You can update it directly either from the Tether App or by logging in to the router management web access page. Obviously, make sure the update isn't interrupted, otherwise you may brick the router.

Use a good quality Ethernet cable for connecting the router to the ONT. I'd personally recommend a quality Cat6 cable. You never know, the supplied Ethernet cable in the box may well be decent, I just prefer Cat6 or Cat7 cables.

I would also advise that you change the default router password as soon as possible and your router SSID for something that doesn't identify it as a TP-Link router.

Set up correctly, it should serve you well.

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

imjolly — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 15:18:29 GMT

@topbrewer

The BT username to enter in new router is

bthomehub@btbroadband.com. and password can be anything your router will accept many Just use BT

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

Edinburgh-wg — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 15:27:02 GMT

There are much better replacement routers than TP-Link. TP-Link is a Chinese make and also classed as budget. I suggest UniFi, Fritz!box etc. which are much better in terms of quality and offer a long support period with new firmware, especially the latter.

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

Kimberlin — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 15:51:18 GMT

@Edinburgh-wg So what if TP-Link routers are made in China? Tesla cars are also made in China along with a good deal of other electrical products and components. My upright fridge/freezer was made in China and it’s still going strong after 5 years.

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

TimCurtis — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 15:53:44 GMT

@Edinburgh-wg

Whilst there are many better than TP-Link - I use Asus - TP-Link products do seem to be reliable and perform quite well and for most home users would be more than adequate and far better (in terms of performance & functionality) than any ISP supplied devices..

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

topbrewer — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 18:19:27 GMT

Many thanks for all your help all the people who have took the time to reply. I’m looking forward to the route to arriving and I hope it is as simple as just put the username and password in. Unplugging the old router plugging the new one in and let’s see what it can do.

I must Admit I am surprised I’m getting nearly one gig at the router wired but just stood 3 m away . Only 300 MB It’s a fantastic drop in speed for such a short distance

Re: Replacement router instead of new 2026 EE hub

gg30340 — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 18:34:08 GMT

@topbrewer

You have not mentioned which type of device you are using to test the speed.

Have you checked what Wifi standards your devices network card can use?

See link

Wi-Fi Standards: IEEE 802.11ac, 802.11ax, and Wireless Internet Standards | Dell UK

Have you checked that your device's network card's drivers are up to date using the card's manufacturers drivers and not those supplied by Windows if you are using a Windows operating system?

Is your devices network card capable of using Wifi 6. If not you will most likely not notice any difference in speed.

Re: Replacement router instead of new 2026 EE hub

topbrewer — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 18:37:29 GMT

Thanks for replying, I have been testing the speed to the router wired directly into the laptop using Speedtest. This came out At 850 MB. Bolt when I test the speed with my iPhone 16 pro 3 m away max I can get is 300. Also, I have tested it with my iPad which is only 12 months old and I’m lucky if I get 250 MB on this. also upstairs which in a straight line is only 5 m away but it has to go through plasterboard walls and wooden floor. My son can only get about 120 MB on his brand-new Xbox.

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

Edinburgh-wg — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 09:23:40 GMT

@Kimberlin There is always someone who doesn't do close reading, is there?

So, let me clarify:

I didn't say TP-Link was made in China, did I, but that it was a Chinese make, as in it's a Chinese brand. There is nothing wrong with products being made in China, as nearly the whole world is made there (even if it's one part of a product).

Anyway, TP-Link is a budget brand aiming to produce a product quickly with as little support afterwards as possible, as it's costly to do that. This means that firmware upgrades are fewer, if any at all, potentially being a security issue at a later stage. For this reason alone, I do not recommend TP-Link.

If you also care whether it's a European brand, so to support something (relatively) local, then I mentioned Fritz, who have a long history of supporting their oldest products with annual firmware updates, which also introduce new features, hardware-permitting.

UniFi is an American brand and has a very good reputation. DrayTek used to have a good reputation but their focus now is getting products out as quickly as possible with a number of firmware issues being regularly reported. Devolo, which is known for its power line adapters, have recently released a very good and capable router that is worth attention.

All in all, just because Currys sells TP-Link, it doesn't mean that that's the only brand out there. It's a budget brand for a reason, too.

Also, with our homes now being connected to the Internet more than before and relying on that connection big time, I'd personally choose security over price and inflated specs, which TP-Link is good at promoting and taking advantage of - for them, it's all about what the new router's WiFi chip is. But, for your devices to take advantage of the ax standard (for example), they need to be ax, too; so, if most of your devices are in ac standard, there is no point in getting something much better as you won't see the benefits of it at all.

The same applies to WiFi7 - if none of your devices use WiFi7, then there is no point getting that kind of router. Finally, getting a router with a 2.5 gig LAN port so that you can connect to the fibre network, even if your ONT isn't capable of that kind of speed, you won't see the advantages of that.

So, getting a router to be future-proof - who knows what the future will be and what will be become the standard. History shows that it's not always what companies think it will be... Plenty examples of that.

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

gg30340 — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:09:13 GMT

@Edinburgh-wg and @Kimberlin

Can you please stay on topic. The OP has stated he now has a TP-Link so your debate is not relevant to him.

If you want to continue your debate I'll move your posts to another more relevant board.

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

Kimberlin — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:14:38 GMT

@gg30340 Ahhh, with respect, I’ve literally said nothing else on the subject and I’m done with it anyway, I’ve moved on already 🤷‍♂️

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

HHGTTG — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:01:34 GMT

Practically everything you can lay your hands on in your home in made in China, especially electricals.

Re: Replacement router instead of Home Hub 6

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 19:10:49 GMT

You do realise there's a massive difference between made in China and Chinese made.

Re: Replacement router instead of new 2026 EE hub

TimCurtis — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:48:39 GMT

@topbrewer

Are the devices you're testing with on the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands as 5GHz is the much faster but with a lower range?

One thing that's important is to split the bands, ie different names, then you know more of what's going on and some older devices might have difficulty connecting to wifi.

Also the channel they're on can make a difference so sometimes an auto setting for this is not a good idea. There are apps that scan for other wifi signals so you can see what channels might be busy with neighbour's wifi.

With non-ISP routers you have much more choice on how you set things up .

Re: Replacement router instead of new 2026 EE hub

topbrewer — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 06:11:18 GMT

Thanks Tim. The router I have doesn’t seem to be able to split the frequencies, they auto select 2.4 or 5. I’m open to learning how to split them of course.

just an update the to link router hasn’t arrived yet, been delayed until Friday!

Re: Replacement router instead of new 2026 EE hub

gg30340 — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 07:07:24 GMT

You can not split the channels on the newer BT hubs so I would think it will be the same on the newer EE hubs.

Re: Replacement router instead of new 2026 EE hub

topbrewer — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 08:45:59 GMT

Thanks for confirming Sage. Hopefully I can on the new TP Link I’ve purchased