Changing to full fibre, with landline. Want to use existing ASUS router.

[Afd]

Hi, I’m currently with EE with FTTC, and a have ordered EE Full fibre. I had problems with WiFi in the past, it struggled to cover whole house and had a mixture of powerline and WiFi extenders to try and solve issues. This had mixed result and I ended up getting an Asus DSL-AX82U as it seemed like the only router that would work with a ASDL, have WiFi 6 and be mesh compatible. I was prepared to buy extra mesh units but discovered the router covered whole house.

I understandably want to use my existing router as I know it works and have been told by EE that it will, but now having doubts and have a few questions -

has anyone used the telephone adapters with third party routers? 

Can you use more than 1 of the adapters? I have a corded phone in addition to cordless.

I saw EE offered WiFi phones, do I have to buy these from EE or are there generic ones available?

Ive read that phone service is now VOIP how does that get configured? Does is happen on router, or on handsets?

If I have to go with EE router, is there a link to where I can buy Mesh extenders?

Sorry for all the questions folks 🙂

[JimM11]

@Afd The third party router has no ability to do landline DV in ANY format. The EE/BT has to be up front and primary router. The EE/BT router will be plugged into your new FF FTTP ONT module that will be installed as part of the upgrade, phone port in back of the router, DVA attaches on the DECT frequency paired to the EE router, total of 5 devices allowed phones/adapters as digital devices, phones can be found on Amazon if you do not wish to get from EE/BT shop.

Everything is ON the Router, phones and DVA are dumb devices, why would you want mesh extenders, hook up the Asus router to the EE with a RJ45 Ethernet cable. Extenders from EE £10/month on a 24 month contract.

[Mustrum]

@Afd   Hi and welcome to the forum, as it happens I have the same router, so am keen to see how you get on. Not least as I will be in similar circumstances,  later in the year.

As @JimM11  says, for DV (and TV) the EE router needs to be connected to the ONT, but you could connect the WAN port of the Asus to a Lan port on the EE Router. However this is not ideal if anyone in the property is a gamer as it will introduce double NAT.

An alternative you may wish to consider is using an independent VOIP supplier for your telephony needs. They can be a long more flexible and feature rich than the EE DV service. It also means you can use the router of your choice to connect to the ONT.

HTH

[JimM11]

@Mustrum Double NAT works fine, Asus XT8's that way present, only oops in all of the time, wireless wi-fi printing, with the printer connected on the EE Side of the router setup, everything else been ok so far...

Think your DSL router can wan output and switch over from the DSL in the setup.

[JimM11]

@Afd Be careful when you look at phones with regard to using EE if you go that way, they are dect based ((NOT Wi-Fi )) do not work on the Wi-Fi frequency in any WAY/SHAPE/FORMAT, the EE range is not voip style phones, those are different.

[XRaySpeX]

Who is your landline provider? If it's not EE, you can continue using it unchanged.

[Afd]

Thanks for all the replies.

Sounds like I won’t be using my Asus router after all, I should have known better about believing what I hear. 
@JimM11  I’ve been sent 2 adapters but think I might upgrade to a Digital Voice phone. I’d rather just use 1 router so hopefully the EE one will be comparable to the Asus. If I need to get Mesh extenders would it not make sense to buy outright rather than pay £120 a year?

@Mustrum I’ll look into other suppliers for VOIP, out install date has been put back so I have time to research. I’d want to keep number though, that might not be possible.

@XRaySpeX I’m currently with EE unfortunately. 

[Timbo45]

@Afd 

There's no real issue using your Asus modem/router and using the EE hub. It's fairly straightforward setting up the 2 to work in unison with the EE hub handling only  Digital Voice and the Asus handling everything else within your house. I did it with my Asus DSL-AC68U and the BT SH2 recently.

I doubt that the EE hub is anywhere near comparable to the Asus.

[JimM11]

@Afd You need to read again and @Timbo45 nailed the Asus for you, if you think that the ISP router will ever be as good as an Asus router you just need to think back to before you got it, the move to fibre is the really bad part with the landline AS it has to follow and ONTO the digital side now and with most if not all ISP's they implement there system, EE/BT force it on to there routers and no choice either go with it or TAKE the landline to another VOIP provider, timing of that is critical if doing so at the start as not to lose the number, or port it to EE, give it some time then move it to a voip service later. 

[Afd]

So better option might be fibre with EE and a separate VOIP service? Does that mean I don’t need an EE router? It’s been years since I got original EE router, thought they might have improved in that time?