Replacing smart hub 2 with my own equipment

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@sumpsimus wrote:

I do have an old Home Hub 5 knocking around (which did work OK, so maybe that means that I'm not on G.Fast?). I just didn't want to 'downgrade' routers to get everything working again - hence wanting to know about compatible alternatives.

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Some would consider the "smart" hubs as a downgrade.

[sumpsimus]

So BT have confirmed that I've got fiber to the cabinet. Does that mean I have VDSL the rest of the way? Or does that not make sense? Sorry to keep asking questions! I feel like I've got a decent grasp of what's going on inside  my house - it's just the connection coming into the house that I'm confused about...

I don't really care about the speed so much, I mean more than 80 would be great, but 80 (which is the fastest I've seen) is totally fine for my needs. It's more knowing what I would need to get if I was to go the 'own modem' route...

[rbz5416]

FTTC is VDSL so the original Smart Hub would work fine. I found it to be BT's best effort in the time I ran one.

[licquorice]

If you still have the home hub 5 and you simply wish to split the wifi bands, just use the HH5.

[sumpsimus]

Thanks all for the very helpful replies. I'm going to mark Keith's original response as the solution because a) I think that's probably what I'm going to do, and b) it will probably be the most useful for people searching this topic who don't happen to have an old home/smart hub sitting around. 

[Leasty]

If you have faster than 80Mb but are FTTC, then it's likely you are on G.fast. I'm not sure about the HH5, but some other VDSL modem-routers will still work on a G.fast service but only at VDSL speeds (<80Mb) as they negotiate downwards.

I've replaced my SH2 on my 140Mb G.fast service with an OpenReach branded MT992 modem and then used an Asus device as the router and it works fine. Advantage of the MT992 modem is that BT can still manage it and do line tests etc whereas some of the third party G.fast modem/routers wont do that and you would have to put the SH2 back in place  for diagnostics. Once the MT992 is in place you can use almost any router you choose.

[licquorice]

No, VDSL modem/ routers won't work at all on G.Fast, it is a totally different protocol.