Quick summary: Ethernet port speeds, own-router rules and what you lose if you swap, compared across 12 UK broadband providers, in each provider's own words.

The Router Your Provider Gives You: Ports, Rules and Whether You Can Swap It

Q: Do I own the router my provider sent me?

Almost certainly not. EE says all equipment is provided on a loan basis and must be returned when no longer required. Sky says any Sky kit is loaned to you at no cost and must be returned at the end of your broadband subscription. Virgin Media, Plusnet, Zen and BT all publish loan wording too. Vodafone is the exception, stating that you own the equipment 14 days after your service activation date. Charges for not returning it now reach 125 pounds at EE, 199 pounds at Vodafone and 550 pounds at Zen for an unused eero 7.

Checked by hand 16 August 2026
12 providers
Specs from provider pages only
Reviewed by Dr Alex J. Martin-Smith
Next check 16 November 2026

The short answer

Buy multi-gigabit broadband and the ceiling may be the socket on the back of your router. Only three of twelve UK providers publish full port speeds for every hub they ship, and four publish none. Ofcom guidance says obligatory equipment needs technical necessity, but no UK regulator has applied that to routers. Checked 16 August 2026.

The port table
The rule nobody quotes
Who lets you swap
What it costs your landline
How to swap safely
Questions

This page is for you if

You are paying for more than a gigabit and want to know whether the hardware can carry it
You want to put your own router on the line
You are wondering whether your provider is allowed to stop you
You have a landline plugged into the hub and want to know what happens if you change it

You want a different page if

You want Wi-Fi generations compared: read Wi-Fi generations explained
You want the login and settings for a specific hub: use the router login and settings hub
You want to know what you will be charged for not sending it back: read router return charges after a switch
You are mid-switch and want to keep your existing router: read can I keep my router when I switch

Almost every UK broadband package now includes a router. Almost every provider talks about the Wi-Fi and says nothing about the ports. That is the wrong way round, because for anyone on a fast tier the wired socket is usually the harder limit, and it is the one you cannot fix by moving the box to a better shelf.

We opened every provider's own pages on 16 August 2026 and pulled the published hardware specification, the own-router policy and the small print about what stops working if you swap. Nothing below is inferred from a model name. Where a provider publishes nothing, we say so, and on ports that turns out to be most of them.

3 of 12publish full port speeds for every current hubEE, Virgin Media, Plusnet

4 of 12publish nothing usable on ports at allTalkTalk, Community Fibre, UW, NOW

5 Gbpstop tier sold with no published port specCommunity Fibre

£550highest published charge for not returning a routerZen, for an unused eero 7

The finding that matters most

Community Fibre sells a 5 Gbps package and publishes no Ethernet port information for any of its four routers. Four providers publish nothing usable at all. And the page you would naturally check before buying is not always the page with the right answer: Sky's comparison table on its Gigafast+ page shows "Max ethernet speeds: 1Gbps" against all three hubs, while Sky's own launch announcement states the Gigafast+ Hub "includes two 10 Gbps ethernet ports (1 x WAN and 1 x LAN)". The announcement is the specification. The table row appears to be stale.

The port table, which is the one nobody publishes

Two numbers matter here and they are different. The WAN port is the one facing the fibre box, and it caps what the whole house can pull. The LAN ports are the ones facing your computer, console or NAS, and they cap what any single wired device can pull. A hub with a 2.5 Gbps WAN and four 1 Gbps LAN ports can carry a 2 Gbps package for the household while limiting any one machine to a gigabit.

Wi-Fi rarely rescues this. If you want the full number on a multi-gig tier, you want a wired port that matches it, which is why our guide to 2Gb and 8Gb broadband keeps landing on the same conclusion: the ceiling is usually inside your house.

Ethernet ports on the router each provider suppliesExactly as each provider publishes them. Blank cells are genuine publishing gaps, not zero ports. Checked 16 August 2026.

Provider	Router	LAN ports, as published	WAN port	Published?
EE	Smart Hub 7 Pro	"4 x 2.5GigE LAN"	"1 x 2.5GigE WAN"	Full
EE	Smart Hub 7 Plus	"1 x 2.5Gbps LAN, 3 x 1Gbps LAN"	"1 x 2.5Gbps WAN"	Full
EE	Smart Hub 6 Plus	"4 x 1GigE LAN"	"1 x 2.5GigE WAN - select models/software"	Full
EE	Smart Hub	"3 x 1GigE LAN"	"1 x 1GigE LAN/WAN"	Full
Virgin Media	Hub 5x	"1x 10 Gbps, 3x 1Gbps"	Cable and fibre terminate inside the hub, so there is no separate WAN socket	Full
Virgin Media	Hub 5	"1x 2.5Gbps, 3x 1Gbps"	As above	Full
Plusnet	Hub Two	"3 x GigE LAN"	"1 x GigE WAN"	Full
Vodafone	Ultra Hub 7 (Pro 3)	"1x LAN (GE) -2.5Gbps" plus "2 x LAN" at 1 Gbps	"1 x LAN/WAN (GE) -2.5Gbps"	Full
Vodafone	Ultra Hub (Pro 2)	"1 x 2.5G Ethernet 2 x 1G Ethernet"	Not separately published	Partial
Vodafone	Power Hub	"4" LAN ports, speeds not published	Not published	Count only
BT	Smart Hub 3	"4 x 1Gbps LAN"	"1 x 2.5Gbps WAN"	Full
BT	Smart Hub 2	"4 x 1Gbps LAN"	Not published	Partial
Sky	Gigafast+ Hub	"1 x LAN" at 10 Gbps	"1 x WAN" at 10 Gbps	Full but in a press release, not on the product page
Sky	Max Hub, Broadband Hub	Not published per hub. Sky's comparison table shows "Max ethernet speeds: 1Gbps" across the row	Not published	Partial
Zen Internet	FRITZ!Box 7530 AX	"4 x gigabit LAN"	"WAN via LAN 1 port"	Full
Zen Internet	eero Pro 6E, eero Max 7	Not published	Not published	None
Hyperoptic	Zyxel EX5601	Port labels read "2.5G LAN1 LAN2 LAN3 LAN4"; speeds for LAN2 to 4 not published	"2.5G WAN"	Partial
Hyperoptic	Seven other Hyperhub models	Not published	Not published	None
Community Fibre	Linksys M62, M60, MX20, WHW01	Not published for any model	Not published	None
TalkTalk	Wi-Fi Hub 3	Not published. Its help page names "Ethernet ports" without a count or a speed	Named as "WAN port", no speed	None
Utility Warehouse	UW Wi-Fi Hub	Not published	Not published	None
NOW Broadband	Not named for the current product	Not published	Not published	None

Sources: each provider's own hardware, help and specification pages, PDFs and announcements, opened 16 August 2026. Quotations are reproduced as printed, except that dashes inside provider specifications have been normalised to hyphens for house style. "Not published" means we could not find it on that provider's site, not that the port does not exist. NOW Broadband's current product is delivered by Sky, so treat its row as a publishing observation rather than a separate network.

Two things this table shows that are worth knowing before you buy

BT and EE are no longer the same hardware. EE ships 2.5 Gbps LAN ports on its Smart Hub 7 range. BT's newest hub, the Smart Hub 3, publishes a 2.5 Gbps WAN port and four gigabit LAN ports, so a single wired machine tops out at a gigabit. They are the same corporate group and they publish different kit.

Entry-level hubs are still Wi-Fi 5. Plusnet's Hub Two is published as "Dual band WiFi 4/5" with "3 x GigE LAN", and it is not alone: EE's Smart Hub, Sky's Broadband Hub and Community Fibre's Linksys WHW01 are all published as Wi-Fi 5. Plusnet sells no tier above a gigabit, so the hardware is matched to the product, but it is worth knowing what arrives. Our Wi-Fi generations guide compares them properly.

The rule almost nobody quotes, and it is on your side

Whether you are allowed to use your own router is usually answered by pointing at the contract. That is right in practice, and it is not the whole legal picture.

The Open Internet Regulation survived Brexit as assimilated UK law and is live on legislation.gov.uk today. Article 3(1) reads in full: "End-users shall have the right to access and distribute information and content, use and provide applications and services, and use terminal equipment of their choice, irrespective of the end-user's or provider's location or the location, origin or destination of the information, content, application or service, via their internet access service." Article 3(2) adds that agreements between providers and end-users "shall not limit the exercise of the rights of end-users laid down in paragraph 1".

The words "terminal equipment of their choice" are still there. The EU Exit amendments to that Article changed only the cross-references to EU law, not the substance.

Ofcom went further in its Net Neutrality Review guidance of 26 October 2023, and this is the sentence to keep:

Ofcom guidance, paragraph A1.121

"...Therefore, ISPs should not include commercial terms or impose any technical limitations, including fair usage policies, which restrict the use of Terminal Equipment with Internet Access Services, beyond any restrictions already imposed by manufacturers or distributors of Terminal Equipment. ISPs may only provide obligatory equipment or restrict the devices that may be used to access Internet Access Services if such restrictions result from technical necessity of the relevant Internet Access Services."

Read that second sentence again. Obligatory equipment is allowed only where there is technical necessity. Not commercial preference, not support convenience, not because the app looks better. Technical necessity.

Now set it beside what one provider publishes. Vodafone states: "You must use a Vodafone router with our Pro Broadband plans, 5G Broadband plans, and any plan with Digital Voice". Digital Voice is a plausible technical case, and a fixed wireless 5G product plainly is. Pro Broadband is harder to read from the outside, but Vodafone does publish features on those plans that depend on its own hardware: automatic failover to 4G if the line drops, a mesh of up to three Vodafone boosters, and a guarantee of at least 10 Mbps of Wi-Fi in every room with a penalty-free exit if it is missed. A guarantee like that is difficult to underwrite on equipment the provider did not specify. Whether that amounts to technical necessity in Ofcom's sense has never been tested, and Vodafone does not use the phrase, but it is not an empty restriction.

Where this stops short, and we will not overstate it

Here is the honest limit, and it is a real one. Whether "terminal equipment of your choice" reaches your router depends entirely on where a regulator decides the network termination point sits. BEREC makes that conditional explicit: "If the definition of the fixed NTP location stipulates that the fixed NTP is located at point A, then the end-user and not the network operator decides which equipment (e.g. modem, router, media box) will be used." Where a regulator instead places it further into the home, BEREC says the opposite applies and "the network operator and not the end-user decides which equipment will be used." So even in the EU this is a choice each national regulator makes, not an automatic right. Germany legislated for it separately.

Ofcom has made no such determination. We could find no use of the phrase "network termination point" anywhere in its net neutrality statement, its guidance annexes or the 2022 consultation, and its only worked example of a terminal equipment restriction is mobile tethering, not routers. Ofcom also treats router functions as inside the service where they are needed to deliver it: "Any functions provided in the modem and the access router, where these are required to provide the Internet Access Service, are considered a part of the Internet Access Service."

So the position is: a real argument on paper, and no established right in practice. There is no Ofcom determination, no guidance aimed at routers, and no enforcement precedent. What you can actually do is set by your contract and by whether your provider hands over the credentials.

One thing to be clear about before you act on any of this. Where your contract says you must use the provider's router, replacing it anyway is a breach of that contract, not the exercise of a right. In practice that means the provider can refuse to troubleshoot, can withdraw features that depend on its hardware, can charge you for an engineer visit if the fault turns out to be your equipment, and can in principle end the agreement. Ask the question by all means. Do not assume the answer you want is one you can act on.

None of this is a reason to stay with a provider whose hardware does not fit what you are paying for. If your hub cannot carry your tier and your provider will not let you replace it, see what else reaches your address.

Who lets you swap, and who gives you the credentials

The practical question is simpler than the legal one. Two things have to be true: the provider has to permit it, and you have to be able to authenticate. On a full fibre line your own router usually plugs straight into the ONT on the wall, so the credentials are the whole game.

Own-router policy, provider by providerWhat each provider publishes, and what its own page says you give up. Checked 16 August 2026.

Provider	Own router	Credentials	What its page says you lose
EE	Allowed, unsupported "We can't help with the set-up or troubleshooting of third party routers"	Published outright username, password and authentication type given for FTTP, part fibre and copper	EE Digital Home Phone, and it says so plainly. Also EE TV, WiFi Extender, Connectivity Backup and WiFi Optimiser
Zen Internet	Provided for publishes a full settings page titled "General Settings for a Non-Zen Router"	Shows you where links to a page for finding your own connection details, for home and business customers	Nothing published
Community Fibre	Allowed, with conditions router must support your speed, RJ45 and DHCP	Not needed "we do not use a PPPoE connection type"	May be switched back to a standard router for line troubleshooting
TalkTalk	Allowed, discouraged "unless you're a networking natural, stick with the free router we provide"	Published full settings, including VLAN 101 and DHCP/IPoE for fibre	Nothing published on the phone. TalkTalk TV needs IGMP configured
Plusnet	Allowed "It'll need to be a router that's compatible with our broadband network"	Published PPPoE username format, VLAN 101, and ADSL settings	Not applicable. Plusnet says its packages "will be broadband only"
Utility Warehouse	Allowed "Yes, you can. But you'll need to make sure your router isn't locked by your previous provider"	Not published	Nothing published
Hyperoptic	Allowed "Q: Can I use a different router? A: Yes, you can", published in its router booklet	Not published	Says its own hub "is specifically configured to enable you to use our telephone service and features"
Vodafone	Barred on some plans "You must use a Vodafone router with our Pro Broadband plans, 5G Broadband plans, and any plan with Digital Voice"	On request "you'll need to contact us for your broadband username and password"	Your phone, on any Digital Voice plan. It also says you must reconnect its router if you report speed problems
Virgin Media	Modem mode only its hub stays in circuit; "Not currently available for Hub 5x"	Not published	Intelligent WiFi, Plume Pod compatibility, Connect App features and speed testing. It says the phone still works
BT	Not published	Not published	Nothing published either way
Sky	Not published	Not published	Nothing published either way
NOW Broadband	Not published	Not published	Nothing published either way

Sources: each provider's own help and policy pages, opened 16 August 2026. Ordered by how much each publishes, most first. For the technical settings themselves, see our router login and settings hub.

Key facts, with sources attached

UK law still says you may use terminal equipment of your choice: Article 3(1) of the assimilated Open Internet Regulation gives end-users the right to "use terminal equipment of their choice", and the EU Exit amendments left those words untouched.legislation.gov.uk
Obligatory equipment needs technical necessity: Ofcom guidance: "ISPs may only provide obligatory equipment or restrict the devices that may be used to access Internet Access Services if such restrictions result from technical necessity of the relevant Internet Access Services." Ofcom has never said whether this reaches the router.Ofcom, A1.121
Ofcom has never ruled on where the network termination point sits: We could find no use of the phrase in Ofcom's net neutrality statement, its guidance annexes or the 2022 consultation. In the EU the location is set by each national regulator, and only where it sits behind the router does the choice fall to the customer.Ofcom, BEREC
EE publishes its connection credentials in full: Username "bthomehub@btbroadband.com", password "BT or leave blank", authentication "CHAP", for full fibre, part fibre and copper alike.EE
EE also says the phone stops: "If you have EE Digital Home Phone, you'll need to keep your EE or BT hub as your main router. Third-party routers aren't compatible with this service."EE
Virgin Media's modem mode does not remove its hub: "Modem mode turns the Hub into a cable modem, letting you connect your own WiFi kit to the Virgin Media Hub." It is footnoted "Not currently available for Hub 5x".Virgin Media
Your provider must keep you able to call 999 on the service it supplies: Ofcom General Condition A3.2 requires providers to ensure "uninterrupted access to Emergency Organisations as part of any Voice Communications Services offered", and its power cut guidance says providers "should have at least one solution available that enables access to emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour". That solution is built around the hub the provider supplies. Ofcom has not said whether it follows you onto a router you buy yourself.Ofcom GC A3.2
A router you buy has no battery backup: The provider's power cut solution is specified around its own hub. If your phone runs over broadband and you move it to your own router, assume there is no backup at all.Ofcom guidance
Routers are loaned, not given, almost everywhere: EE: "All equipment is provided on a loan basis and must be returned when no longer required". Sky: "Any Sky kit is loaned to you at no cost". Vodafone is the exception, saying you own it after 14 days.EE, Sky, Vodafone

The bit that costs you a landline, and possibly a 999 call

Since the copper network started retiring, a home phone plugs into the broadband router rather than into a wall socket. The House of Commons Library reports Ofcom's position on it: "The regulator says that for many customers, the only change they will need to make is to plug their existing handset into their broadband router." Our guide to digital voice and the switch-off covers how that works.

What nobody explains is the consequence for anyone swapping the box. The phone port belongs to the provider's hub. Put your own router on the line and, unless the provider has published a supported route, the handset has nowhere to go.

Only two providers say this out loud. EE states that Digital Home Phone is not compatible with third-party routers. Vodafone bars its own routers being replaced on any plan with Digital Voice. BT, Sky, TalkTalk, NOW, Community Fibre, Zen and Utility Warehouse publish nothing on the point, and Hyperoptic only hints at it. Virgin Media is the outlier in the other direction and says the phone keeps working in modem mode, which makes sense because its hub never leaves the circuit.

Power cuts: settle this before anything else

Your provider has a standing duty to keep you able to reach the emergency services: Ofcom requires "uninterrupted access to Emergency Organisations as part of any Voice Communications Services offered". Ofcom has gone further in guidance, saying providers "should have at least one solution available that enables access to emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power outage in the premises", offered free of charge to customers who depend on their landline.

That solution is engineered around the provider's own hub. A router you buy yourself almost certainly has no battery at all, and the provider's backup unit will not work with it. Ofcom has not said what happens to the duty when you substitute your own equipment, so assume the protection does not follow you. If anyone in the house could need to dial 999 during a power cut, leave the phone service on the provider's hub.

The same goes for telecare. If someone in the property uses a care alarm or a fall detector, do not change the router without speaking to your provider first. Responding to a Westminster Hall debate in December 2023, government said it had heard of "completely unacceptable" incidents where telecare devices failed when activated. Keep the provider's hub, or get written confirmation of a supported alternative before you touch anything.

On non-return charges, which are steeper than most people think

Almost every router is on loan, and the bill for not sending it back has climbed. EE publishes £125 for a Smart Hub 7 Pro. Vodafone publishes £199 for an Ultra Hub. Zen publishes £250 for a used eero 7 and £550 unused. Those are a long way from the £40 to £60 that was typical a couple of years ago. Our page on router return charges after a switch has the full picture and is being refreshed against these figures.

How to swap without breaking anything, in seven steps

Settle the phone and the power cut question first
If a handset is plugged into your hub, deal with this before anything else. Your provider must be able to offer a solution giving at least an hour of emergency access when the mains fails, free if you depend on the line, and that solution is built around its hub. A router you buy has no battery. If your provider has not published a supported route for its phone service on third-party hardware, assume there is not one.
Get the credentials before you unplug
EE publishes them. Zen shows you where to find yours. Plusnet and TalkTalk publish full settings. Vodafone gives them on request. BT, Sky, Virgin Media, NOW, Hyperoptic and Utility Warehouse publish nothing, so you will be asking. Ask in writing.
Match the port to the tier you are paying for
If you are above a gigabit, check the WAN port on your new router carries the package and the LAN port carries the device you care about. Two different numbers, and providers rarely publish either. Ask at the same time whether you are behind CGNAT and whether the line runs IPv6. A router bought for port forwarding, a VPN endpoint or remote access to a camera is wasted money if you are behind CGNAT.
Check how long it will get security updates
Your provider patches its own hub for you, quietly, for the life of the contract. Nobody patches a router you bought. Manufacturers selling consumer connectable products in the UK must publish a minimum security update period, so find it before you buy, and treat a second-hand router with no stated support window as unsuitable for the box carrying your whole household's traffic.
Keep the provider's hub in a cupboard
Do not send it back and do not throw it out. You may need it to prove a fault, and you will need it if you cancel. Non-return charges now run into three figures.
Expect to be told to plug it back in
Vodafone says so explicitly for speed or reliability problems, and Community Fibre reserves the right to switch you back for troubleshooting. That is normal and not unreasonable.
If you are told a flat no, ask about technical necessity
Ofcom's guidance says obligatory equipment is only permitted where restrictions "result from technical necessity". Ask which technical necessity applies to your plan, in writing. This is untested ground in the UK, so treat it as a reasonable question rather than a settled entitlement. If the answer is still no, your options are to accept it, complain and then go to your provider's dispute scheme, or switch. Swapping regardless puts you in breach of contract.

Who publishes the most, on what we could read on 16 August 2026

Best hardware publishedEE. Publishes a full port specification for all four hubs in its current range, including "4 x 2.5GigE LAN" on the Smart Hub 7 Pro, where BT in the same corporate group publishes gigabit LAN ports on its newest hub.

Best for swappingEE and Zen Internet. EE publishes the credentials outright and tells you exactly what stops working. Zen publishes a settings page for non-Zen routers and shows you where your own details live.

Least friction technicallyCommunity Fibre. "we do not use a PPPoE connection type", so there is nothing to obtain. Two caveats: it publishes no port specification at all, and it has put customers signing up or renewing since 4 June 2026 onto CGNAT, with a public IP at £4 a month.

Most restrictiveVodafone. The only provider that bars your own router outright on named plans. It names the plans, and publishes features on them that depend on its own hardware, but it does not use the word necessity.

Publishes the leastBT, Sky and NOW Broadband. None publishes an own-router policy, connection credentials, or what happens to the phone if you swap. Sky does publish a full port specification for its top hub, but in a press release rather than anywhere a buyer would look.

What we could not verify

Sky's Max Hub and Broadband Hub port speeds. Sky publishes no per-hub figure for either. Its comparison table gives "Max ethernet speeds: 1Gbps" across the row, which is contradicted for the Gigafast+ Hub by Sky's own launch announcement, so we do not rely on that row for the other two hubs either.
Which router most new customers actually get. BT, Sky and Virgin Media do not publish a router-to-package mapping for new customers. We have listed the models each publishes rather than guessing which one arrives.
EE's Smart Hub 7 Plus non-return charge. It is the hub most new EE customers now receive and it is not in EE's published non-return table.
Ports on seven of Hyperoptic's eight Hyperhub models and on all four of Community Fibre's Linksys routers. Community Fibre's key policy pages read fine; it is the hardware pages that carry nothing.
Whether customer-supplied equipment affects the emergency access duty. Ofcom's General Condition A3.2 is written as an unqualified duty on the provider and says nothing about third-party equipment. We have reported the silence rather than filling it in either direction.
Whether any provider would actually lose a "technical necessity" argument. It has never been tested in the UK. We put the guidance and the provider wording side by side and leave the conclusion to you.
Whether a provider's power cut solution can be made to work with a customer-supplied router. Ofcom requires the solution. No provider we checked publishes whether it survives a router swap, and we would not assume it does.
Whether the phrase "network termination point" is genuinely absent from Ofcom's net neutrality work. Each of those documents is a large PDF that returns only partial text to an automated retrieval. We found no occurrence across three of them, and Ofcom does use the term elsewhere in its numbering and switching work, so read this as a search result rather than a proven absence.

If the hardware is the reason you are stuck, that is a reason to move

Router quality, port speed and whether you are allowed to swap all vary by provider. See what is actually available at your address.

Compare broadband at my address Or read why the ceiling is usually inside your house

Cite this page

This dataset is free to quote, in full or in part, with attribution. Researchers, journalists, forums and AI assistants are all welcome to use it. Please cite the check date, because hardware changes.

BroadbandSwitch.uk. (2026, August 16). Broadband router by provider: Ports, rules and whether you can swap it. https://broadbandswitch.uk/insights/broadband-router-by-provider/

In a sentence: BroadbandSwitch.uk checked twelve UK broadband providers on 16 August 2026 and found only three publish full Ethernet port speeds for every router they supply, and four publish none at all, while Ofcom's net neutrality guidance says providers may only impose obligatory equipment where restrictions "result from technical necessity", a test no UK regulator has yet applied to routers.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use my own router with my UK broadband provider?

Usually yes, though almost nobody supports it. EE, Zen Internet, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Community Fibre, Hyperoptic and Utility Warehouse all publish that you can. Vodafone bars it on its Pro Broadband plans, its 5G Broadband plans and any plan with Digital Voice. Virgin Media offers modem mode instead, which keeps its own hub in the circuit and is not offered on the Hub 5x. BT, Sky and NOW Broadband publish no policy at all. Expect to lose provider support, and check what happens to your phone first.

Do I have a legal right to use my own router in the UK?

You have a strong argument and no established right. Article 3(1) of the Open Internet Regulation is still UK law and still gives end-users the right to "use terminal equipment of their choice", and Ofcom's guidance says providers may only impose obligatory equipment where restrictions "result from technical necessity". But Ofcom has never determined where the network termination point sits, which is the mechanism that makes this reach the router in the EU, and its only worked example concerns mobile tethering. In practice your contract governs.

Will my landline stop working if I change the router?

Probably, and only two providers say so out loud. Since the copper switch-off began, a home phone plugs into the broadband router, so the phone port belongs to your provider's hub. EE states that Digital Home Phone "isn't compatible" with third-party routers. Vodafone requires its own router on any plan with Digital Voice. Most others publish nothing either way. Virgin Media is the exception, saying the phone still works in modem mode, because its hub stays in the circuit. If anyone in the house relies on the phone, or uses a care alarm, do not swap without asking first. Remember too that your provider's power cut backup is built around its own hub, so a router you buy has no battery at all.

How many Ethernet ports does my broadband router have, and how fast are they?

Only three of the twelve providers we checked publish full port speeds for every hub in their current range: EE, Virgin Media and Plusnet. As published, EE's Smart Hub 7 Pro has "4 x 2.5GigE LAN", Virgin's Hub 5x has "1x 10 Gbps, 3x 1Gbps", and Plusnet's Hub Two has "3 x GigE LAN". BT, Vodafone, Zen, Sky and Hyperoptic publish full figures for some hubs and nothing for others. TalkTalk, Community Fibre, Utility Warehouse and NOW Broadband publish nothing usable for any router at all.

Will a gigabit Ethernet port limit my 2Gb broadband?

For any single wired device, yes. A gigabit LAN port caps that machine at about 1 Gbps no matter what the line delivers. The WAN port is a separate number and caps the whole household. A hub with a 2.5 Gbps WAN and four gigabit LAN ports can carry a 2 Gbps package across several devices while limiting any one of them to a gigabit. If you are buying above a gigabit for one machine specifically, check both numbers before you order.

Which UK broadband provider gives the best router?

On published specification, EE. It publishes a full port specification for all four hubs in its current range, and gives the Smart Hub 7 Pro "4 x 2.5GigE LAN" where BT, in the same corporate group, publishes gigabit LAN ports on the Smart Hub 3. Sky's Gigafast+ Hub is the fastest single item of hardware we found, at two 10 Gbps ports, though Sky publishes that in a press release rather than on the product page. Community Fibre ships Wi-Fi 7 routers on its faster tiers but publishes no port information. Availability at your address matters more than any of this.

Do I own the router my provider sent me?

Almost certainly not. EE says "All equipment is provided on a loan basis and must be returned when no longer required". Sky says "Any Sky kit is loaned to you at no cost and must be returned at the end of your broadband subscription". Virgin Media, Plusnet, Zen and BT all publish loan wording too. Vodafone is the exception, stating that you own the equipment 14 days after your service activation date. Charges for not returning it now reach £125 at EE, £199 at Vodafone and £550 at Zen for an unused eero 7.

What is modem mode on a Virgin Media Hub?

It turns the hub into a plain modem so your own router handles the Wi-Fi and routing. Virgin's wording is "Modem mode turns the Hub into a cable modem, letting you connect your own WiFi kit to the Virgin Media Hub." The hub stays in the circuit, so this is not the same as replacing it. Virgin publishes it for the Hub 3, 4 and 5 and footnotes it "Not currently available for Hub 5x", which is the hub used on its full fibre connections. Turning it on temporarily disables Intelligent WiFi, Plume Pod compatibility, Connect App features and speed testing.

What credentials do I need to put my own router on the line?

It depends on the provider and, on some networks, on nothing at all. EE publishes username "bthomehub@btbroadband.com", password "BT or leave blank" and authentication "CHAP". Plusnet and TalkTalk publish full settings including VLAN 101. Zen tells you where to find your own details in My Account. Vodafone gives them on request. Community Fibre says "we do not use a PPPoE connection type", so there is nothing to obtain. BT, Sky, NOW, Virgin Media, Hyperoptic and Utility Warehouse publish nothing.

My provider is not listed. What should I ask them?

Five questions. What model is the router and what are its LAN and WAN port speeds. Am I permitted to use my own router. Will you give me the connection credentials. What stops working if I do, especially the phone. What will you charge me if I do not return your hub. All five are reasonable questions. If the first person you speak to cannot answer them, ask for the answers in writing.

References

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Adrian James, Broadband Editor. Every port speed, policy line and charge on this page was taken from the provider's own published page or PDF and quoted rather than summarised. No specification has been inferred from a model name, and where a provider's own pages disagree with each other we say which we have used and why. Reviewed by Dr Alex J. Martin-Smith. Last checked 16 August 2026. Next scheduled check 16 November 2026. If a provider publishes a spec we have marked as missing, tell us and we will add it and log the change.