thompson 585v8

[#1]

i have now been with PN 9 months , started with the extra package as i do a lot of gaming  when i first recived the thompson router i was having no end of problems with conections and had several  questions    with PN we tried all sorts of tests wiresharks, pings all sorts of resets , then a second thompson arrived slightley better then i found out how to check router stats and more tests thanks to people here i learned  a lot more, but was stil getting loads of high pings disconections and router errors via stats page.
so eventually i was swapped to 21CN then had my upload uncapped  better connection 16down 1 up.
but was still getting loads of errors on the thompson , was suggested the router was reporting incorrectly ?
so i managed to get a home hub2 which connected to PN with no problems brilliant connection ,no connect problems,  lower pings,gaming was at last brilliant
which i have been using for the last few months.
now the other day just as a experiment i plugged in the thompson  and low and behold higher pings frequent disconects from game servers, and again thousands of router errrors turning up again,
so what i am getting at is , is it just my thompson ?, but i read here more people have trouble with the same router , are they realy up to the job they desiged for ? looks to me for general surfing they are fine but not for gaming 
The HH2 is a lot better , would it be a idea for PN to look for a alternative for them to supply ,

[#2]

I must agree that Thomson routers seem to report high error figures but 585v8 I've run, since day one, hasn't given any problems in general purpose usage.
I don't game so can't comment on that subject - you've obviously found a solution and no doubt other gamers have their answer to the problem.
Supplying what is basically a free router has to be a compromise.

[#3]

My v8 was fine yes it reported allot of errors but the ping was always alright.

[#4]

i agree the free router is a compromise but would be nice to have a choice , which i wouldnd have minded paying extra for it ,maybe its summat PN my think about.

[#5]

Free routers are ok, I agree... but why not just buy one of your own if you're not happy with it?
I've been through plenty of ADSL modems since I had ADSL, from a Zoom modem, not router, through a Belkin ADSL modem, another Belkin, a Netgear, A Draytek etc etc.    In other words, most routers that say they are ADSL compatible will work with this service.  Sure there might be exceptions, but I've yet to come across one (and as above, have tried a fair few over the years).
Sorry, in short:  If you don't like the free one, go buy a new one there are plenty out there at everything from budget basement price through to rolls royce prices.

[#6]

So how about a choice of say a couple of  routers
12 month contract Thomson v8 free
or
12 month contract,  gaming type router  at cost minus the cost  of the freebie v8
if you get my drift

[#7]

john50, now thats what i was getting at, there is a list of so called PN compatible routers but untill you go and buy it you will not know if it actually works.
as phil4 says there is plenty of choice but what one do you choose  a friend has suggested to me the netgear N300 is good for gaming but without any choice from PN its hard to say would it work on PN and give a better connection.
so if i buy a N300 at £44 am i wasting my cash 

[#8]

As I see it the problem with this suggestion is that Plusnet would have to buy loads of different routers to evaluate and I really can't see this happening.
There must be gaming forums where one can get advice on routers that work well with a BT connection and I'd suggest looking there.

[#9]

Nadger, its probably even worse than that, as the models will all change month by month.  So a massive ongoing investment in time and money.

[#10]

i wasnt sugesting PN goes out and test all routers available !
all i simply asked was that was, someone at PN must have knowledge to decide which alternative router would work better on their network than the thompson offerd free.
On my PC i know what upgrades will work and which wont as i built it to my spec,s for my use, so i woulnt ask PN for suggestions  to upgrade , but as i am not to great on networking all i asked was some advice which router would be better , therefor would it be better to offer a better router at the onset of my connection going live as an alternative to the thompson.
not to hard to ask 

[#11]

More or less what I was going to reply.
Even people on here suggest routers that perform better than others, Plusnets more techy staff will have an even better  idea what is liable to perform.
The choice could easily be narrowed down, even Plusnet could afford 2 or 3 of the suggested routers for evaluation on the network, in fact I have no doubt if Plusnet talked to the manufacturers they would be given a couple to evaluate given the possible size of new  business
Its in Plusnets interest to tie people into a contract, and some who would just go onto the no router,  monthly option,  no doubt would tie into a contract with the possibility of a upgraded router.
Although the Thompson serves my purpose I have a 15 y/o and a 12 y/o who are obviously into the gaming side of things so I for one may well have  upgraded given the choice

[#12]

am surprised that PN staff havent had anyting to say  so come on adam, jojo anything you could suggest ?

[#13]

I get the impression that the Thomson router is a bit 'variable', there have been plenty of post from people having issues with them but also plenty not posting issues because theirs is working just fine.  Mine actually gave a marginally better ping (12-13ms to bbc.co.uk) than my current Billion device (13-14ms to bbc.co.uk) and connected with a higher sync but was more prone to disconnection or erroring when my line is bad (I currently have an interference issue somewhere on the line from an unknown source), these 'issues' would be consistent with the device syncing faster.  I like the Billion because it doesn't sync at an over-optomistic speed so remeains more stable in adverse conditions.
Any ADSL2+ router should be compatible with PlusNet (the ones ofen markes as 'compatible with BT lines), there should be no need for testing.  Some are bound to be better than others as prices range from not much over £10 to well over £100 but any device containing an ADSL modem should connect to a broadband enabled BT line unless it's broken.  The lines and exchange are BT Wholesale and nothing is specific to PlusNet, the exchange equipment can be manufactured by any of several approved vendors and can contain different chipsets, different routers also contain different chipsets and some people believe that certain chipsets work better together than others, this just adds more uncertainty for most people - many router manufacturers do not say what chipset their products contain (some even change it while keeping the same model number - usually just a version change).  If you can find a router known to have a Broadcom chipset the chances are that you will get decent stable performance but expect to pay a bit more.

[#14]

cheers for the insight , walker23, i get a better idea now