Do better research
The issue with companies like Sky is, you get what you pay for. I have been a very loyal customer of Zen of a good few years and they are brilliant. When I signed up, they gave me the option of their routers, but advised not to and go get my own, they even offered to help set it up for me, which I didn't need. But went out, got a Draytek 2860, I think the uptime has been a few months, and the only reason it has to go down is for firmware upgrades.
Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of people aren't technically minded, or want to be, but when your ISP will happily walk you through it, it's a bit hard to say you can't do it.