Can you use any router for your broadband?

[Fluffycloudland77]

The cats wee'd all over ours and I can't get the smell out.

If your router plugs into the telephone socket you need a combined router and ADSL modem. A router that doesn't include a modem won't be much use to you. Also, to state the obvious, if you use (or want) wifi you will need a wireless router.

Also, you may need to 'fess up to your ISP if you don't have the login details.

(I'm assuming you have ADSL rather than Virgin cale, or fibre, at this point.)

One of the things which may be preconfigured before you get the router is a username and password. The username can look like an e-mail address, while the password may be some random string.

Some ISPs tell the user the details in a letter / e-mail and part of the setup of a new router is entering that info. In some other cases the ISP gets the router to be configured using a dummy user account (sometimes called TR-069 method), and in other cases your phone number is all that may be needed.

Which ISP is it, and do you know if it is ADSL 2+ or something else ?