TalkTalk HG635 Super Router review

We’re often disappointed by the performance of ISP-provided routers, but TalkTalk has made some bold claims when it comes to its Super Router, claiming it provides a stronger signal and on average 56% faster throughout than its rivals. The router is free with a fibre broadband contract and supports the latest 802.11ac standard.  

The diminutive box doesn’t look like much, but it’s a real powerhouse in a small package considering it’s free with a fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) contract. The router can simultaneously broadcast over 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, with throughput of up to 450Mbit/s and 1,300Mbit/s respectively. Inside are 3×3 MIMO antennas.

On the back of the router are four Gigabit Ethernet ports, a WAN port and an RJ11 port. This means you can connect the router directly to TalkTalk’s ADSL and VDSL services via your phone line or with a separate modem through the WAN port. There’s also a USB port for connecting external storage if you want to share media across the network, and the router supports both SMB and DLNA servers.

The router admin page is unexciting to look at but is perfectly functional. Annoyingly, by default the router broadcasts both its 2.4GHz and 5GHz under the same SSID, so you aren’t able to choose which network you connect to. You can change this using the router’s admin interface, but you still don’t have the choice of setting different password for each network.

The rest of the admin interface is well laid out, and it’s fairly simple to find the settings for commonly used tasks such as Port Forwarding or Dynamic DNS. Disappointingly, there’s no guest network option, so you’ll have to trust visitors with having access to everything on your main network rather than limiting them to purely internet access.  

Performance on the 2.4GHz band wasn’t particularly remarkable. Using our laptop’s 802.11n adaptor we saw 16Mbit/s at 10m and 10.5Mbit/s at 25m, which are below-average speeds. Wireless performance on the 5GHz band was stunning, though. At 10m we saw 181.8Mbit/s dropping to 151.8Mbit/s at 25m – the 25m result is the best we’ve seen from any router.

To test 802.11ac performance we switched to a Trendnet TEW805UB 802.11ac USB adaptor (£10 inc VAT from www.ebuyer.com). On this band we saw saw 279.6Mbit/s at 10m and 233Mbit/s at 25m, which are some of the best speeds we’ve seen.

It may not have some of the useful features of third-party routers we’ve seen, such as guest networks, but Talk Talk’s Super Router has seriously impressive performance on 802.11n 5GHz and 802.11ac modes. Unless you want fancier features or more fine control over your network, you shouldn’t be in a hurry to upgrade.