NBN-ready DSL routers compared

IF YOU’RE ON A FIBRE TO THE NODE CONNECTION, YOU’LL STILL NEED A DSL ROUTER TO CONNECT TO THE NBN. WE TEST FIVE COMPATIBLE MODELS.

IN SPITE OF the brief promise of a fibre future, good old copper is going to remain the primary connection method for a large chunk of Australians. Fibre to the node (FTTN), fibre to the building (FTTB) and fibre to the curb (FTTC/FTTDP) will comprise the largest chunk of the NBN, and for all those services, you will need a DSL modem. Your old ADSL modem is probably not going to cut it, however.

These new services require VDSL2 support, so a lot of you will be looking for a new solution. There are plenty of options available, from sub-$100 “just the basics” cheapies to a handful of wireless powerhouses. We’ve looked at some of the options available to you.

HOW WE TESTED

We tested DSL modem routers the same way we tested broadband routers. We performed a straight file copy test from a server attached to the router via Gigabit Ethernet. At both 5m and 15m (with two intervening plaster walls), we copied a 1GB file from the server to a laptop attached to a Linksys WUMC710 wireless bridge. The WUMC710 is capable of 1,300Mbps wireless AC. The exception was the Billion router, which does not support 802.11ac — for that, we used a 300Mbps Intel wireless adapter.

As always with wireless tests, there is certainly a case of ‘your mileage may vary’. The numbers presented are only useful for comparison, and are not necessarily an indication of what you might get in your specific home environment.