Best 3rd party router for Telus 150 Fibre

[lucky6877]

Hi All,

Sorry to ask a repeated question but I activated my telus 150 fibre today with optic tv.  I am using Actiontec 3200m and I want to buy a 3rd party router.   I am happy to bridge it and have the actiontec only serving the opttic tv but for my wifi I want a new 3rd party router but I don't know which models are the best.

Any recommendations would be very much appreciated !!

Thank you in advance!

[Nighthawk · Accepted solution]

Your mileage may vary depending on what your budget is, how large your home is, what you plan to do with your network and the devices on it. Black Friday is on so maybe you'll find a good deal.

The T3200M should definitely be used for Optik. If an ONT was installed, you could even put a gigabit switch between it and the T3200M and whatever router you end up buying, thus bypassing the T3200M altogether. That's my plan for when I get fibre. This setup would mean you could use any router you want and you wouldn't have to bridge the T3200M.

The setup I have currently is a T3200M with a lower end Dlink router connected to it and the T3200M is NOT bridged. I have no issues at all with my devices connected to my router that way but depending on what you're doing, that may not work for everyone.

[lucky6877]

Thanks Nighthawk for your reply.

I have a small apartment, so really don't need a super powerful router.  My budget is about $150.  Alot of people have told me not to buy netgear routers (which I like personally as a brand).

How do I know which routers I need to buy will work with Telus Fiber?  Is there any specific technology term I need to look for when I am buying a router?

For example, in the UK, when we buy 3rd party routers, it actually tells you on the box whether this router will work with BT Fibre, but here I don't know which one will work with specific ISP technology (Telus 150 fiber for example), if that makes sense?

Any recommendations are very much appreciated!

[Nighthawk]

Any standard 3rd party router will work. They aren't ISP specific and fibre is basically a standard ethernet connection once it reaches the ONT. I can't recommend a specific router since I've only been using one and it works for what I need since I'm not on fibre. You'll want to look for a router with gigabit ethernet ports on it.

[couttsy]

Like others have advised, there is nothing about fibre to be concerned about after the incoming fibre router. Everything to do with the T3200M is Ethernet. I prefer hard wired connections, and there are not enough connections on most home routers, so I installed a 24 port patch panel. That was excessive, but it was the only thing I could find locally at the time. Each TV has a Cat5 video connection and a Cat5 Internet connection. The T3200M was bridged with the Internet portion run to a Netgear WNDR3400v3. From there I ran to a Netgear 10/100 hub with 8 port connections. 8 Ports is a limitation, and occasionally I have to switch ports. Neither the Netgear router nor the Actiontec router had decent WiFi, so I installed a separate Cisco router (Linksys EA3500) to handle the 2 WiFi bands (2.4 GHz & 5.0 GHx) separately. The Cisco router was obsolete when I bought it, and the Netgear router is probably obsolete by now as well, but that just goes to show you that you do not have to buy the latest and greatest to get the job done. J.A. Coutts

[lucky6877]

Sorry for the late reply @Nighthawk and thank you very much for your help with my request.

I ended up ordering TP-Link AC2600 and I am expecting it to be delivered it tomorrow, will let you know how I get on.

Thanks again!

[lucky6877]

Thank you very much @couttsy !

I ended up ordering TP-Link AC2600, my plan is to use this for wifi and will keep the T3200M for optictv.

Thanks again for the information you provided, I will keep it handy for future reference.