New data suggests that renting internet devices from internet service providers may provide a smoother internet experience than buying your own router.
A study by Opensignal conducted between January and March 2025 showed that Internet users rent devices from ISPs have better network reliability and consistency than Internet users who own devices.
The main reason for this difference? Network diagnosis.
ISPs usually include applications, customer service teams, or management services to make it easier to diagnose network health. While you can certainly run these diagnoses yourself, Opensignal notes that this customer service is a big help in maintaining a reliable home network, keeping customers happy and preventing them from moving their ISPs on the road.
Additionally, many ISPs use the latest Wi-Fi technology to rent high-performance routers. For example, Frontier Fiber leases some fiber plans for the Tri Band Eero Wi-Fi 7 router. This top-level router is designed to reduce network latency and supports multiple devices with bandwidth.
Opensignal uses two metrics to evaluate customer experience through its Internet services: reliability and consistency.
Opensignal's research found that users who rent Internet devices reported higher overall reliability and consistency with home Wi-Fi networks than users who owned the device.
Reliability metrics are the ability of a network to balance multiple devices at once to share bandwidth (the heavier bandwidth is better) without significant lag, interruption or slowdown. Consistency metrics evaluate the network's ability to perform continuously in daily tasks.
It is also worth noting that cable or DSL internet users will usually buy their own devices to save costs, which may be because DSL and wired ISPs usually do not include free devices.
On the other hand, fiber internet users often rent equipment from their providers because it usually does not include additional fees. In this case, the reliability of the fiber-optic internet may promote a better overall experience. (Note: The wireless service you get from 5G or satellite Internet providers is not included, and it is fully focused on wired Internet services. Fixed wireless services are not included.
Knowing whether to buy or rent a router is a situation, it usually comes down to budget, how much internet speed you really need and what options you have available.
While I often encourage people to buy their own router to save money, you should only invest in the device if it makes sense.
For example, broadband writer and router expert Joe Supan, who rented a router from Xfinity for six years, made nearly $1,000 on his monthly bill. Once he invested in his own router, he noticed improved speed and reliability and saved his monthly internet bill.
On the other hand, if you can use Internet devices for free from your ISP, you can save money and deal with headaches with Internet devices. I have a free gateway device from AT&TThis saves me a lot of trouble: When I encounter (rare) interruptions or slowdowns, the AT&T app can easily solve the problem and solve it with minimal impact or interruption of my day.
To that end, it is no surprise for me that AT&T achieved the highest customer satisfaction rating in the Opensignal study – it usually puts customer satisfaction surveys first.
However, if you can invest in your own high-quality router and don’t mind developing the health of your home network yourself, you’ll save some money by not renting devices and learning about Wi-Fi’s valuable skills in doing Wi-Fi in the process.
