Can I use my own router?

Yes — we hand off standard RJ45 Ethernet or SFP, so any router you want plugs directly into the wall port.

Yes. Any router works. We hand off a standard RJ45 Ethernet port or SFP, so your router plugs straight into the wall port. There's no modem and no bulky ONT sitting in your living space.

Your router is the device that sees every request every device in your home makes. When it's your hardware, that traffic stays on equipment you control and you decide what it logs, what it blocks, and when it gets updated. We're not being generous here — it's simply how a plain Ethernet handoff works, and we didn't design around it.

It also means you keep your gear when you move, and you're not paying $10 a month for a box you already own.

• Base 300, Core 500, and Gigabit — bring your own router, or add ours for $10/mo.
• 2 Gig and 10 Gig — bring your own router by design. There's no rental option on these tiers, so plan for hardware that can actually route at those speeds. A router with a 1-gigabit WAN port will cap a 2-gig or 10-gig line no matter what the plan says.

1. Plug an Ethernet cable from the wall port into your router's WAN or Internet port — not a LAN port.
2. Power the router on and give it a minute.
3. Confirm it pulls an address and reaches the internet.

If you switch to your own router, return the rental — leave it in the unit if your building is one where we collect, or mail it USPS to PO Box 590296, Newton Center, MA 02459-0003. The $10/mo charge stops once it is back, and unreturned equipment is charged for. Full detail in How do I cancel my service?

If that didn’t work

Call (617) 693-9434 with your router make and model handy and we'll get it talking to the line.

More in Manage Services & Equipment

• How do I find my Wi-Fi password?
• How do I change my Wi-Fi name or password?
• Where should I put my router?
• Why doesn't my Wi-Fi reach my whole home?
• How do I connect a device with an Ethernet cable?
• What router does Boston Broadband provide?

Talk to us

Call (617) 693-9434, Monday to Friday 8am–6pm ET, or email [email protected]. We answer within 24 hours, and usually within an hour.

Boston Broadband is a service-area business serving Boston, Brookline and Cambridge, Massachusetts. There is no counter to walk up to — phone, email and your account at myaccount.bostonbroadband.com are the ways in.