Best Router and Switch for FTTP Smart Hub 2

[Williamsonr3]

Good afternoon all, wondering if this wonderful community could lend a hand. 

I am moving into a newbuild property at the end of the month. The property is wired for FTTP BT and I will be going onto Full Fibre 500 when I move. 

The house is wired for Cat 6 (sockets in most rooms) and the builder is terminating into a patch panel in the utility room closet, tucked away in the back right corner of the property. This is where the Smart Hub 2 will be. The property is a 4 bed detached upstairs/downstairs with your standard plasterboard wall construction. 

There will be multiple devices connected to the Wi-Fi and several devices plugged into the Cat 6 (gaming, streaming tv's etc). 

I'm looking to find a good switch and powerful wi-fi router that will work with the Smart Hub 2 to ensure my house is well connected, but more importantly, I need something that is compatible with the Smart Hub 2.

Thank you in advance, happy to answer any questions 🙂

[licquorice]

Unless you intend to use Digital Voice,there is no need to use the Smart Hub2 at all, any  PPPoE capable router with a WAN port (virtually every one on the market)  will suffice. Why do you need a second router if you intend to use the SH2? Either use a wireless access point or mesh wifi discs. If you do use a second router, all will be 'compatible' with the SH2. Any Ethernet switch will do if you need extra LAN ports.

[Williamsonr3]

Thanks for the reply, I'll be honest I didn't know you could just plug in any PPPoE router, thought the SH2 had to be there.

I'll have a look online at what is recommended and go from there. Thanks for the help.

[JamesBand5 · Accepted solution]

It sounds like you'll be in a great position since the house is going to be wired with Cat 6, so you effectively have "wired backhaul".

In that scenario, you could go for a system that doesn't need a dedicated wireless backhaul since you are providing the full speed to each node via ethernet. E.g.

1. Amplifi Alien
2. Asus Zen ET12 (has a Wifi 6E band)
3. Asus Zen XT8
4. BT Whole Home Wifi Discs (can be purchased on the BT Store and work with any broadband provider)

In each case, you could just buy as many nodes you feel is necessary to provide wireless coverage (plugging each node into the closest ethernet socket).

You can still have your BT router connected to the ONT and you can turn the Wifi on that off. So the BT router would be effectively in "Bridge mode". The new Mesh equipment would be in "Access point mode". Alternatively, you can potentially just use your own equipment as someone else has mentioned and set up the new equipment in "Router mode".

[UKViking]

I'd like to add my experience. BG TV Hub Pro Freeview channels over streaming doesn't work unless they are connected directly to the BT Hub router. I guess it's to prevent people from taking their TV box abroad or to another property.

[TimCurtis]

@UKViking 

It might just be that some other routers are not handling BT's multicast transmissions properly or that their settings are wrong.

Note that you must have a BT TV subscription to enable Freeview over the internet.

[UKViking]

@TimCurtis  thanks. You're right and I was wrong. It works over other brands of Wi-Fi equipment. The issue was a bug on my system. My other post:

https://community.bt.com/t5/YouView-from-BT/Can-t-get-Freeview-streaming-to-work-BT-TV-Box-Pro-unsur...

[Williamsonr3]

Thanks mate, I'm getting satellite freeview installed seperatly so will not require BT's solution, rest of my viewing wil be through streaming.