We strongly recommend using one of our FRITZ!Box routers, as they’re battle-tested and we know that they work well on our network to get the best possible speeds. If you use our routers, our support team can also provide extended support for your router even as far as helping you with things such as changing your Wi-Fi settings, configuring port forwarding, helping you set up your VoIP service, and more.
You might have bought your own router or have one from your existing ISP, and you may be wondering if you can use it on our network. We offer a standards-based service and we don’t do anything to block third party routers. Provided your existing router is compatible with the technical standards relevant to the service you’re ordering from us, then you may find your existing router will work with our services. There are some caveats however:
- Many third-party routers falter at ultrafast speeds due to having hardware that cannot keep up with such high speeds. We recommend checking the maximum WAN-to-LAN routing speed for your router, as this is often different from (and sometimes significantly below) the speed of the WAN interface.
- We do not provide configuration support for third party routers beyond the PPPoE connection configuration settings. This means that if you need help managing your Wi-Fi network, changing port forwarding settings, etc, you will need to resolve this on your own. If this is something you’re likely to need help with, you should choose one of our routers instead.
- Some ISPs provide routers that are locked to their network, or use different technologies. These routers can usually only be used with the service provider that issued the device, so you won’t be able to use those routers with us. Examples of companies that provide locked or incompatible routers are Virgin Media, BT, Plusnet, and Sky, although they are not the only companies that use locked routers.
- If you encounter any technical issues that turn out to be caused by your router, we might need to suggest that you use one of our routers instead.
