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Your choice of ADSL router can make a huge difference to the actual speed of your connection. BT demonstrated two different routers connected to exactly the same 8Mb/sec ADSL line that varied in speed by as much as 3Mb/sec - nearly half the available bandwidth of the line.

Although BT Wholesale benchmarks the performance of dozens of different ADSL routers, it claims European legislation prevents it from recommending specific models. That isn't much use to the customer at home who's wondering whether their router is to blame for their slovenly speeds. So what can you do? First, it's critical that you keep your modem/router up-to-date with the

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latest ADSL standards. BT's Ashley Pickering recalls how many customers had problems with the popular SpeedTouch 330 USB modems when BT moved its network to ADSL Max services, because they needed new firmware to achieve the maximum speeds.

Likewise, if you move on to BT's 21CN network, you should check your router's spec to ensure it's compatible with the ADSL2+ standard. "When people move from 8Mb/sec to ADSL2+, it will only work at a reduced speed [if you don't have an ADSL2+-compliant modem]," says Demon Internet's Matt Cantwell. "Most routers introduced within the last year or so should be capable of ADSL2+," claims Pickering. It's clearly a good idea to consider upgrading your hardware every time you upgrade your connection.

Pickering insists that "a lot of the difference [between routers] comes down to the chipset", but once again stops short of naming names. Zen Internet recommends Thomson SpeedTouch hardware.

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