New data suggests that renting internet equipment from an internet service provider may provide a smoother internet experience than buying your own router.
Research from opensignalWhat was done between January and March 2025 suggests that internet users renting equipment from ISPS are more reliable and consistent with their network than those who own the equipment.
What is the main reason for this contradiction? Network Diagnosis.
ISPs often include apps, customer care teams, or management services to facilitate network health. While it’s certainly possible to run those diagnoses yourself, OpenSignal notes that this customer care will go a long way in maintaining a reliable home network, satisfying customers, and not switching ISPs in the future.
Additionally, many ISPs leasing high-performance routers with the latest Wi-Fi technology. For example, Frontier Fiber leasing Triband Eero Wi-Fi 7 routers for several fiber plans. Its top-level router is designed to reduce network latency and support multiple devices that embrace bandwidth.
OpenSignal used two metrics to evaluate customer experiences on its Internet services. Reliability and consistency.
Research on OpenSignal It is found that users who rent internet devices reported overall reliability and consistency with their home Wi-Fi networks than users who own the devices.
Reliability metrics are the network’s ability to balance multiple devices that share bandwidth at once (heavy bandwidth, better) and are prominent delays, disruptions, or slowdowns. Consistency metrics assess the successive capabilities of a network that performs well during daily tasks.
It is also worth noting that cable or DSL internet users usually buy their own equipment to save money. This is probably because DSL and cable ISPs don’t usually include free equipment.
On the other hand, fiber internet users often leased equipment from their providers, as they are often included at no additional charge. The reliability of the fiber internet may have contributed to improving the overall experience in this case. (Note: The OpenSignal Study focused entirely on wired internet services. Fixed wireless services were not included, as you would get from 5G or satellite internet providers.)
Knowing whether to buy or rent a router is situational and usually depends on your budget, the internet speed you really need, and the options available.
I often encourage people to buy their own routers to save money on internet bills, but you only need to invest in that equipment if it makes sense to do so.
For example, Jauspan, a broadband writer and router expert, rented a router from Xfinity for six years and earned nearly $1,000 on his monthly bill. When he invested in his router, he realized he had increased speed and reliability and saved him by his monthly internet bill.
On the other hand, if you can use internet devices for free from your ISP, you can save money and headaches dealing with internet devices. There is a free gateway device from AT&Tand it saves me a lot of trouble: (rare) if I experience a stop or slowdown, the AT&T app easily troubleshoots and fixes the issue with minimal impact or interruption on my day.
For this reason, it was not surprising that AT&T received the highest customer satisfaction rating in the OpenSignal Study.
Still, if you can invest in your own high quality router and don’t mind taking care of the health of your home network yourself, you will save money without renting equipment and learn some valuable skills about troubleshooting Wi-Fi in the process.
