Short answer: Upload speed is usually slow because the plan was built that way: many cable and 5G home internet plans send far less than they receive, while fiber plans such as AT&T Fiber are symmetrical. Check your plan's upload figure first, then run a wired speed test with any VPN off. If a wired test matches the plan but Wi-Fi doesn't, the problem is in your home; if both fall well short, contact your provider.

Upload speed is usually slow because your internet plan was built that way. Many cable and 5G home internet plans send data far more slowly than they receive it; fiber plans are more often symmetrical, with equal upload and download speeds. So the first step is to find your plan’s upload figure. If a wired speed test matches it, your connection is working as sold, and the fix is a different plan or less competition for the upload you have. If a wired test falls well short, the problem is your equipment or your provider.

Upload is the data you send: your camera on a video call, photos backing up to the cloud, a live stream, footage from security cameras. Download is the data you receive. This guide covers how to tell which kind of “slow upload” you have and what to do about each. It draws on provider, FCC and manufacturer documentation.

Step 1: Check what upload speed your plan includes

Internet ads lead with download speed, so many people never see their upload figure. Look for it on your provider’s website, your bill or the broadband label for your plan. FCC rules require providers to show labels that include typical download and upload speeds and latency.

What you’ll typically find depends on the technology:

The CableLabs figures are network capacity in the specifications, shared across many homes, not the speed of any plan; CableLabs says deployed performance varies. By those figures, DOCSIS 4.0 has three to six times the upstream capacity of DOCSIS 3.1. Our DOCSIS 3.0 vs. 3.1 vs. 4.0 guide covers what each modem generation supports.

For context, the FCC’s benchmark for fixed home broadband is 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. It adopted that figure on March 14, 2024, and its 2026 broadband report, released August 14, 2026, kept it while dropping the FCC’s longer-term goal of 1 Gbps down and 500 Mbps up.

T-Mobile’s ranges also show how wide “typical” can be: for its main plans and latest gateway, it says 25% of customers see speeds below the range and 25% see speeds above it.

Step 2: Test your upload properly

A single phone test over Wi-Fi tells you little. To find where the bottleneck is:

1. Stop other uploads. Pause cloud photo and file backups and, if you can, anything else sending data, such as cameras or a game console uploading clips.
2. Turn off any VPN. Ring’s own speed-test instructions start with this step. A VPN sends your traffic through another server, so you’d be testing that route instead of your connection.
3. Test wired. Plug a computer into the router with an Ethernet cable and run a speed test.
4. Test over Wi-Fi in two places. Once near the router, then where you usually work or where the device that uploads sits. Ring suggests testing next to the router and again where its device is installed.
5. Compare with your plan. Ring tells customers to contact their provider if the test next to the router shows less than 60% of the speed they pay for.

Then read the results:

Step 3: Fix what you found

If your plan’s upload is simply too low

Add up what your household sends at the same time. Ring’s guidance gives a sense of scale for cameras: about 1 Mbps of upload for a 720p device, 2 Mbps for 1080p, 2.5 Mbps for 1536p, 10 Mbps for 2K and 15 Mbps for 4K. Three 1080p cameras uploading at once would use about 6 Mbps by that measure, which is a large share of a plan with 10 Mbps of upload. Our guide to how much internet speed you need has figures for video calls and other uses.

If the total is close to your plan’s upload, the options are a higher tier, a different technology if one is available at your address (AT&T, for example, says its fiber has equal upload and download speeds), or scheduling large uploads such as backups for overnight.

If uploads make everything else lag

When an upload fills your connection, video calls and games can stutter even though downloads look fine. That’s often bufferbloat: data queues up in the router or modem and delays everything behind it. Our bufferbloat guide explains how to test for it and which router settings, such as smart queue management, help.

If only Wi-Fi uploads are slow

The problem is between your device and the router, not your internet connection. Try the same fixes as for slow Wi-Fi in general: move closer or move the router to a central spot, use the 5 GHz or 6 GHz band near the router, and update the device’s Wi-Fi drivers. Our guide to why Wi-Fi is slow when the internet is fast walks through it. For a device that uploads constantly, such as a desktop PC used for streaming, a wired connection removes Wi-Fi from the equation.

If even wired uploads fall short

Restart the modem and router, then test again. Check that your modem supports your plan; on cable, the DOCSIS guide linked above lists the upload limits Netgear gives for each modem generation, and your provider’s list of approved modems shows what it supports. If a wired test with nothing else running still falls well short of your plan, contact your provider with your test results, including the time and whether the test was wired.

Bottom line

Start with your plan’s upload number, not your router settings. Many plans, especially on cable and 5G home internet, are built with slow upload, and no setting changes that. If your wired results match your plan, the fix is a different plan or less competition for upload; if Wi-Fi alone is slow, fix your home network; if wired results fall short too, take it to your provider.

Sources and verification

Short answer: For most cable plans bought today, a DOCSIS 3.1 modem is the safe choice: Netgear lists DOCSIS 3.0 at a 1 Gbps download maximum and 3.1 at 10 Gbps, and 3.1 modems also work on slower plans. DOCSIS 4.0 matters only where your provider has upgraded its network and offers 4.0 plans. Whatever you buy, check that it is on your provider's approved list and supports your speed tier.

If you have cable internet and are buying your own modem, a DOCSIS 3.1 model is the safe choice for most plans sold today. DOCSIS 3.0 tops out at 1 Gbps down, and DOCSIS 4.0 only matters where your provider has upgraded its network. Before you buy anything, check your provider’s approved device list for your speed tier.

This is a research-based buying guide built from CableLabs, Netgear and Comcast documentation. We have not tested cable modems, and we don’t quote prices.

What is DOCSIS?

DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) is the standard cable modems use to talk to a cable provider’s network. It’s developed by CableLabs, the cable industry’s research group. It applies only to cable internet; fiber and 5G home internet use different equipment.

The version number tells you the maximum speeds a modem can handle.

DOCSIS 3.0 vs. 3.1 vs. 4.0 at a glance

Netgear notes these are “maximum speeds and are not guaranteed.” Your plan, your provider’s network and your home wiring set the real limits. Netgear’s own DOCSIS 3.1 explainer gives the 3.1 upload maximum as 2 Gbps in one place and 1 Gbps in another; we use the 1 Gbps figure from its support article.

The big change in DOCSIS 4.0 is upload speed. Comcast says its DOCSIS 4.0 approach uses a technology called Full Duplex to raise upstream speeds without reducing downstream speeds.

Which one do you need?

Netgear says DOCSIS 3.1 is “backward compatible with DOCSIS 3.0,” works “just fine on lower-speed plans,” and that “in some cases your ISP may recommend or even require” a DOCSIS 3.1 modem. That makes 3.1 the safer buy unless your provider says otherwise.

Check your provider’s list first

A cable modem has to be approved by your provider and support your speed tier, or it may not work at all. Xfinity puts it this way: “Before you buy a device, make sure it works with Xfinity services and supports your internet speed.” It points customers to its My Device Info lookup, where you can sign in or enter your address to see compatible devices. For Gigabit plans, Xfinity says the device “must support Gigabit speeds.”

Other cable providers publish their own lists. Search your provider’s support site for “approved modems” or “compatible devices.”

Owning your modem also makes you responsible for it. Xfinity lists keeping the device updated and secure, using equipment that supports your speed, and troubleshooting as the owner’s job. Our guide to buying your own router vs. using your provider’s covers equipment fees and the trade-offs.

Is DOCSIS 4.0 available yet?

In some places. Comcast announced its first DOCSIS 4.0 deployment on October 12, 2023, starting in select neighborhoods of Colorado Springs, with parts of Atlanta and Philadelphia to follow. In March 2026, Light Reading reported Comcast saying the service reaches “millions” of homes, out of a network that passes about 65 million homes and businesses.

So most cable customers can’t use DOCSIS 4.0 yet. Buy a 4.0 modem only if your provider offers 4.0 service at your address and lists the modem as supported.

Modem, router or gateway?

A modem connects to the provider’s line. A router creates your home network and Wi-Fi. A gateway combines both. If you buy a standalone modem, you’ll also need a router or mesh system. If your plan is faster than 1 Gbps, check that both have multi-gig ports; see do you need a multi-gig router. If you keep the provider’s gateway and add your own router, our bridge mode and double NAT guide explains the setup.

Not sure you need a faster plan at all? See how much internet speed you need and fiber vs. cable vs. 5G home internet.

Fact-check notes

Bottom line

Buy a DOCSIS 3.1 modem that your provider approves for your speed tier. Skip DOCSIS 3.0 unless your plan is slow and your provider still supports it, and wait on DOCSIS 4.0 until your provider offers it at your address.

Short answer: You need a multi-gig router only if your internet plan is faster than 1 Gbps, or you move large files between wired devices at home. To use the extra speed, every link in the path needs to be multi-gig: the router's WAN port, a LAN port, the cable and the device itself. Check the port list, not the headline Wi-Fi speed, because some routers have just one or two multi-gig ports.

You need a multi-gig router if your internet plan is faster than 1 Gbps, or if you regularly move large files between wired devices at home, such as a computer and a network storage drive. For a plan of 1 Gbps or less, a router with gigabit ports is enough.

This is a research-based buying guide built from manufacturer specifications, the IEEE Ethernet standard and providers’ published plans. We have not tested these routers.

Quick answer

What does “multi-gig” mean?

Multi-gig Ethernet runs faster than the 1 Gbps (gigabit) ports most routers, computers and consoles have had for years. The common speeds are 2.5 Gbps, 5 Gbps and 10 Gbps. The 2.5 and 5 Gbps versions are defined by the IEEE 802.3bz standard, designed to run over the twisted-pair cable many homes already have.

The point is simple: a 1 Gbps port caps that connection at about 1 Gbps. If your provider delivers 2 Gbps to a router with a gigabit WAN port, the router can only pass on about half of it.

Every link in the path has to be multi-gig

To see multi-gig speed on one device, each step from the provider to that device needs to support it:

1. The provider’s equipment. The modem or fiber terminal needs a multi-gig port. Providers that sell multi-gig plans usually supply this; check with yours.
2. The router’s WAN (internet) port. This should match or beat your plan.
3. A router LAN port or a switch. Your device has to plug into a multi-gig port too.
4. The cable. See the cable section below.
5. The device. A computer with only a gigabit Ethernet port tops out at about 1 Gbps, even on an 8 Gig plan.

TP-Link puts it in a footnote on its Archer BE230 page: actual speed “may be limited by the rate of the product’s Ethernet WAN or LAN port, the rate supported by the network cable, Internet service provider factors and other environmental conditions.”

Count the ports, not just the speed

Routers advertised as multi-gig vary a lot in how many fast ports they have.

On the Archer BE230, one 2.5 Gbps port connects to the internet and only one LAN port runs faster than 1 Gbps. If you need more fast wired connections, add a multi-gig switch.

Do you need new cable?

Probably not for 2.5 Gbps. Fluke Networks’ summary of IEEE 802.3bz says Cat 5e supports 2.5 Gbps over 100 meters (328 feet) and Cat 6 supports 5 Gbps over the same distance. 10 Gbps over long runs needs Cat 6A. Our Ethernet cable guide covers each category.

Does multi-gig help Wi-Fi?

Indirectly. Ports carry wired traffic and the connection to your provider. Wi-Fi speed depends on the router’s radios and your device’s Wi-Fi support. TP-Link notes that Wi-Fi 7 features such as Multi-Link Operation require devices that support them too. Whatever your Wi-Fi can do, a gigabit internet port still caps internet traffic at about 1 Gbps. See Wi-Fi 6E vs. Wi-Fi 7.

Mesh systems also benefit. Multi-gig ports allow faster wired backhaul between units; see wired vs. wireless mesh backhaul.

Do you need a multi-gig plan at all?

Most households don’t. Even busy homes use far less than 1 Gbps at once for streaming, video calls and gaming. Multi-gig plans help most when you move very large files or several people download big games or backups at the same time. Our guide to how much internet speed you need works through it. Multi-gig plans are available in some areas: gFiber, for example, lists 3 Gig and 8 Gig plans alongside 1 Gig, each with a router included.

If your provider includes a router with a multi-gig plan, check its ports before buying your own. Our guide to buying your own router vs. using the provider’s covers the trade-offs.

Fact-check notes

Bottom line

Buy a multi-gig router when your plan is faster than 1 Gbps, and choose one whose WAN port matches the plan and whose LAN ports cover the wired devices that need the speed. On a 1 Gbps plan, spend the money on Wi-Fi coverage instead.

Short answer: Check your bill first. If your plan already includes the provider's gateway at no extra charge, buying your own saves nothing and is worth it only for better coverage or control. If you pay a monthly equipment fee, owning your router can remove it: federal law bars providers from charging for equipment you supply yourself. Either way, confirm the device is compatible with your service before you buy.

Start with your bill. If you pay a monthly fee for the provider’s modem, router or gateway, owning your own equipment can remove that charge. If your plan already includes the equipment at no extra cost, which is how Xfinity describes its latest plans, buying your own saves nothing and is worth doing only for better Wi-Fi or more control.

Internet providers usually supply a gateway, a single box that combines a modem (which connects to the provider’s line) and a Wi-Fi router (which creates your home network). This guide explains what the law says about equipment fees, how to check what you pay, and what changes if you switch to your own. It is a research-based guide drawn from federal law, FCC documents and one provider’s published policies. We could not verify equipment fees from provider pages, so we don’t quote any.

Can my provider charge for equipment I don’t use?

No. A federal law, 47 U.S.C. 562, says fixed broadband and TV providers may not charge you for “using covered equipment provided by the consumer.” They also may not charge rent for equipment they never gave you, or for equipment you have already returned. The law defines covered equipment as equipment “such as a router” used on your premises to receive the service.

The rule comes from the Television Viewer Protection Act of 2019. It was due to take effect on June 20, 2020, and the FCC extended that to December 20, 2020, citing the COVID-19 emergency.

So if you return the provider’s equipment and use your own, an equipment rental charge should come off your bill. If it doesn’t, ask the provider to remove it.

How do I check what I pay for equipment now?

1. Look for an equipment line on your bill. It may be labeled as a gateway, modem, router or Wi-Fi equipment charge. If there is none, your equipment is either included in the plan price or yours already.
2. Read the plan’s broadband label. The FCC requires providers to show these labels at the point of sale, and they must disclose prices, introductory rates, data allowances and speeds.
3. Check what your plan includes. Xfinity, for example, says: “The latest Xfinity Internet plans include the Xfinity Gateway at no extra cost.” If you are on an older plan, the answer may differ.

We have not listed fee amounts for any provider. Fees vary by plan, region and date, and the provider pages we tried either didn’t list them or couldn’t be opened for checking.

What are the options?

The middle option is often the easiest upgrade. You keep the provider’s equipment, which is guaranteed to work with the service, and plug your own router or mesh system into it. That gets you better coverage without any compatibility check on the modem side. Having two routers in a row can cause a “double NAT,” which some game consoles flag; the usual fix is to set the provider’s gateway to bridge mode or use your router’s access point mode. Our bridge mode and double NAT guide walks through both. Our gaming router guide and WPS and UPnP guide explain NAT.

What do I need to check before buying my own?

Compatibility. A cable modem or gateway has to work with your provider’s network and support your speed tier. Xfinity says: “Your modem must work with Xfinity and support your internet speed,” and directs customers to a compatibility lookup called My Device Info. It adds that unsupported devices won’t work. Check your own provider’s list if you are not with Xfinity, and see our guide to DOCSIS 3.0 vs. 3.1 vs. 4.0 modems. A Wi-Fi router plugged in behind the provider’s equipment doesn’t need this check.

Speed. Match the modem and router ports to your plan. A plan faster than 1 Gbps needs multi-gigabit ports; see do you need a multi-gig router. See how much internet speed you need and our Ethernet cable guide.

Responsibility. Xfinity says that with your own equipment you are responsible for “keeping your device updated and secure,” “troubleshooting problems with your device” and “setting up and managing your WiFi security.” Our router hardening checklist covers the security side.

Features tied to rented equipment. Xfinity lists several benefits of its rented gateway: app controls such as pausing devices, its Xfinity CyberSecure security service, its WiFi Extenders, and access to Xfinity WiFi hotspots away from home. Check which of these you use before returning the gateway.

Fiber and fixed wireless. Options on fiber and 5G home internet differ by provider, and we couldn’t open those providers’ support pages for this guide. Xfinity notes that in communities where internet reaches each unit over fiber, “any standard router compatible with your speed tier can be used.” Check your own provider’s support pages before buying.

Does the FCC’s router rule affect what I can buy?

Not in a way that stops you buying a router. On March 23, 2026, the FCC added routers produced in foreign countries to its Covered List. The FCC’s FAQ, updated May 12, 2026, says new foreign-produced models can’t receive FCC authorization unless they get a Conditional Approval. Routers that already have FCC authorization, shown by the FCC ID on the device, “may continue to be imported, sold, and used in the U.S.”

For consumers, the FCC says: “Consumers currently using covered routers in small and home offices do not need to do anything,” and “Consumers will continue to be able to purchase previously authorized routers.” The FCC also confirms that provider-supplied gateways that combine a modem and router “fall within the scope of the determination.”

In practice, the rule limits which new models reach US stores, not whether you can buy a router at all. Our Wi-Fi 8 availability report covers which makers held Conditional Approvals as of October 2, 2026.

Should I buy my own?

If you decide on a mesh system, our guides to router vs. mesh and mesh picks for large houses cover the choice.

Fact-check notes

Bottom line

Read the equipment line on your bill before you buy anything. If there is a fee, the law is on your side: return the provider’s equipment, buy a compatible replacement, and the charge should go. If the equipment is included, keep it and spend the money on coverage instead, with a mesh system plugged in behind the provider’s gateway.

Short answer: Most US households are well served by a plan at or a little above the FCC's 100 Mbps download, 20 Mbps upload benchmark. A 4K stream needs 15 to 25 Mbps and a 1080p group video call about 4 Mbps in each direction, so even a busy evening adds up to well under 100 Mbps. Pay for more when you move large files often or several people upload at once.

Most US households need less speed than they are sold. A plan around 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload handles several 4K streams, video calls and online games at the same time. Faster plans are worth it mainly when you download or upload very large files often, or when many people are online at once.

Speed here means megabits per second (Mbps), the unit on every internet plan. Download is data coming to you; upload is data you send. The way to size a plan is to add up what your household does at the same moment, then check the upload number separately.

What does the FCC count as fast enough?

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) uses 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload as its benchmark for fixed home broadband. It adopted that figure on March 14, 2024, calling it a four-fold increase from the 25/3 Mbps benchmark set in 2015. The FCC’s next report, released on August 14, 2026, kept the 100/20 Mbps benchmark.

The benchmark is a policy yardstick for measuring where broadband is available. It is not a rule about what you must buy, but it is a sensible reference point for a household.

How much speed does each activity use?

These are the service providers’ own recommendations, per stream or per call.

The FCC publishes a more general guide, last reviewed on July 18, 2022. It lists minimum download speeds for one activity at a time:

The FCC says of its own table: “These numbers are rough guidelines and are not based on surveys or experiments conducted by the FCC.” Treat every number here as a floor for one activity, not a guarantee.

Two things stand out. Ordinary online gaming uses very little speed; the FCC lists 4 Mbps. Cloud gaming, where the game runs on a remote server and is streamed to you like video, is the exception. And video calls are the one common activity where upload matters as much as download.

How do I work out what my household needs?

Add up the activities that happen at the same time on your busiest evening, then leave room on top. Here is a worked example using the FCC’s figures, which are the more generous ones.

That busy evening fits inside a 100 Mbps plan with more than a third to spare. Using Netflix’s 15 Mbps figure for 4K, the total falls to 42 Mbps.

The spare room matters because devices also do things you don’t see: phones back up photos, consoles and laptops download updates, and security cameras upload video. This is an estimate built from published minimums, not a measurement of any real home, so round up if you are unsure.

As a starting point, based on that arithmetic:

These ranges are our reading of the figures above. They are not an FCC recommendation. The FCC’s own Household Broadband Guide still describes anything above 25 Mbps as “advanced service,” but that page dates from July 18, 2022, before the benchmark rose to 100/20 Mbps.

Why does upload speed matter?

Upload is what you send: your camera on a video call, files to cloud storage, footage from a security camera, a live stream.

Zoom lists 3.8 Mbps of upload for a 1080p group call. Two people on calls at once need about 7.6 Mbps. That fits within a 20 Mbps upload speed, but it would crowd a plan with 10 Mbps of upload once backups and cameras are added. For the router settings that keep calls steady, see our guide to router settings for Zoom and Teams calls.

Plans are usually named for their download speed, so look for the upload figure too. Some connection types offer upload speeds far lower than their download speeds, while fiber plans often offer the same speed both ways. Our fiber vs. cable vs. 5G home internet guide covers the differences.

When is a faster plan worth paying for?

Mostly when you move large files. A stream uses a fixed amount of data per second, so extra speed does not improve it. A download uses everything available, so extra speed finishes it sooner.

Here is how long a 100 GB download, roughly a large modern game, takes at different speeds. This assumes the full plan speed for the whole download and nothing else using the connection, so real times will be longer.

The math: 100 GB is 800,000 megabits (100 × 1,000 × 8). Divide by the plan speed in Mbps to get seconds.

If you download a game like that once a month, the difference between 300 Mbps and 1 Gbps is about half an hour a month. If you do it weekly, or work with large video files, a faster plan starts to earn its price.

Does more speed fix lag or buffering?

Often not. Three things are commonly mistaken for a slow plan.

• Latency. Lag in games and delays on calls come from latency, the time data takes to make a round trip, measured in milliseconds (ms). NVIDIA, for example, requires less than 80 ms of latency to its data center for GeForce NOW, separately from its speed requirements. A faster plan does not lower latency.
• Wi-Fi. Your plan’s speed is delivered to the modem. The wireless link to each device is separate and often slower. If a laptop plugged into the router gets full speed and your phone doesn’t, the plan is fine. See why Wi-Fi can be slow when your internet is fast.
• An upload queue. One device uploading a large file can make everything else stutter. That is a router traffic problem, which our bufferbloat guide explains.

Before upgrading, run a speed test on a computer connected to the router by Ethernet cable. If the result is close to what you pay for and things still feel slow, more speed is unlikely to help. Our slow Wi-Fi checklist walks through the next steps.

How do I check what a plan really delivers?

Read the plan’s broadband label. The FCC requires internet providers to display these labels at the point of sale, and says they must disclose “broadband prices, introductory rates, data allowances, and broadband speeds.” Most providers had to comply by April 10, 2024, and providers with 100,000 or fewer subscriber lines by October 10, 2024.

On the label, check three things:

1. The speeds listed, for both download and upload. Compare them with your total from the worksheet above.
2. The price after any introductory rate ends. A cheaper plan at a faster speed is not cheaper if the rate rises later.
3. Any data allowance. A household that streams 4K daily can use a lot of data, and a cap changes the value of the plan.

Fact-check notes

Bottom line

Add up what your household does at once, compare it with the plan’s download and upload speeds, and leave some room. For most homes that points to a plan at or a little above 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up. Pay for more when large downloads or uploads are a regular part of your week. If things feel slow on a plan that already covers your total, look at Wi-Fi and latency before you look at a bigger plan.

Short answer: If fiber is available at your address, choose it: it is the most consistent and the only type that routinely offers fast uploads. Cable is the safe second choice, and 5G home internet is a good fit when you want to skip long contracts or fiber and cable are not available. What you can buy depends on your address, so check before you compare plans.

The right type of home internet depends mostly on what is available where you live. Once you know your options, the choice usually comes down to upload speed, consistency, and how much you want to avoid contracts.

How do the three types compare?

When should you pick fiber?

Pick fiber when it is available and the price is fair. Video calls, cloud backups, and online gaming all benefit from fast uploads and steady latency. A fiber connection also gives you a better foundation for a mesh system, since any slowness you see is more likely to be your WiFi than your line.

When is cable the right call?

Cable is widely available and fast on download. If your household mostly streams and browses, a cable plan can be great value. Watch for two things: the price after the promotional period ends, and any monthly data cap. Both should be spelled out on the provider’s broadband label.

When does 5G home internet make sense?

5G home internet works well if fiber and cable are not available, or you want a simple plan without a long contract. Place the gateway near a window where signal is strongest, and test speeds at the times you actually use the internet. If you live in a large house, pair the gateway with a mesh system. Our guide to choosing mesh for a large house covers placement.

How do you check what you can actually get?

1. Look up your address on the FCC National Broadband Map to see which providers report service there.
2. Check each provider’s own address tool for current plans.
3. Read the broadband label for the plan. It lists the monthly price, any introductory pricing, and typical speeds.
4. Ask neighbors which provider works well on your street.

Should you rent the provider’s equipment?

Check your bill for an equipment charge first. Our guide to buying your own router vs. using your provider’s explains what the law says about equipment fees and what to check before you buy.

Before you blame your provider

If your speeds look low, test with a cable first. Our guide to fixing slow WiFi shows how to tell a provider problem from a WiFi problem.

Short answer: A Starlink firmware update lets bypass mode work with a third-party mesh system without the old DHCP-conflict workarounds. Early reports say the problem is gone; we'll update this once we've tested it on our own Starlink connection.

Starlink pushed a firmware update this week that changes how its router handles bypass mode when a third-party mesh system is chained behind it. Previously, users reported intermittent DHCP conflicts that required manual static IP workarounds.

Early reports from users who’ve received the update say the conflict is gone without needing PPPoE bypass tricks. We’ll update this once we’ve tested it directly on our own Starlink connection.