Verizon DSL, speed, & routers

Does anyone know whether you can use a router other than a Westell 327 (or similar) with Verizon DSL service? And whether the speed you get on Verizon DSL is somehow choked or limited by the router you can use (are told you can use)? IIRC, Verizon told me I had to get one of the routers it recommended, at least if I wanted to have its so-called tech support. Now I'm wondering just why I needed one of those "recommended" routers.

I have Verizon DSL, which has a download speed of around 850 kb, and an upload speed of around 125 kb. Similarly-priced DSL services from other vendors, such as QWest, are considerably faster, and now I'm wondering if anyone has actually tried different routers with Verizon to see what the effects are.

When I signed up for Verizon DSL service, of course, I had to install some software (or thought I had to) that the company sent me. However, I've recently discovered that on a laptop I have, which I use to connect wirelessly to my router, some software I installed from 2Wire works just as well. That's what leads me to wonder if perhaps the modem is deliberately choked--so as to push me to a more expensive Verizon service.

1. The simple answer is yes, any router should work.
2. It's not the router that is the bottle neck. Your speed is controlled by the Verizon DSL modem that the router is connected to.

You observed:

1. The simple answer is yes, any router should work.
2. It's not the router that is the bottle neck. Your speed is controlled by the Verizon DSL modem that the router is connected to.

That was my point precisely--that it may well be the router that is the bottleneck. (It would help me if you could say a few words about the difference between a router and a modem. Of course, I know what a modem is; but the only thing I have between my computer and my phone line is a router.

(And, at that, this is a router that Westell custom-produced for Verizon; that's what makes me suspicious.)

Ok having looked up your Router/Modem. I see that it is a combination of router and modem in one package. That said it really doesn't mater what router and modem you use. Your Verizon DSL plan is what controls your top speed. Verizon plans are 768 Kbps / 128 Kbps (21x faster than dial-up*) and 3 Mbps / 768 Kbps (53x faster than dial-up*) from Verizon's web page.

If your plan is 768Kbps/128Kpbs then what you have is as good as it gets, no other modem and router will make it faster.


From Wlkipeda Verizon_Online_DSL
Criticism

Some analysts are seeing Verizon's lowest DSL prices merely as introductory "bait and switch" loss leader campaigns.[1] For example, SBC and Verizon both implement these plans under a 24-month contract that, when expired, jumps to a higher monthly price. Similarly, Verizon will aggressively market to households who have signed up for the promotional-rate DSL to upgrade them to new FiOS service which, once switched to, eliminates DSL as an option to the household, from any provider

You are missing my point entirely. My point is very simple: how do we know that the speeds on Verizon's lowest-priced DSL service, might not be faster if the user used a router/modem *other than the one Verizon supplies*? Why is it so impossible to think that the hardware I obtained from Verizon, deliberately chokes the speed at which the line would operate, using other hardware?

Has anyone tried non-recommended hardware on their DSL service to test what the speed is? AFAIK, the answer is NO.