Authored by Andrey Popov; Supporting technical data by Chris Mills

In this analysis, Opensignal examines how the broadband connectivity experience improves for customers using provider-issued home gateways. Some internet service providers bundle or lease their own equipment to control quality and simplify troubleshooting, while others make it optional for cost-conscious subscribers who prefer to bring their own devices. We examine the impact that ISP-provided gateways have on users' experience with wired broadband (Fiber, Cable, and DSL) using our proprietary metrics that measure what matters most for everyday home internet users – Reliability Experience and Consistent Quality. Fixed wireless access subscriptions were excluded from this analysis, to focus solely on wired connections.
 

Key Findings:
 

• Users on ISP-issued equipment enjoy better broadband experience. Across all examined providers, customers using ISP-provided gateways see overall better Reliability Experience (how well the connection handles multiple, simultaneous activities) and Consistent Quality (ability to handle common tasks like HD streaming or gaming for an individual broadband user). 
• Self-selection and network infrastructure explain differences across providers. Customers on lower or older broadband packages (e.g. DSL, legacy DOCSIS cable) frequently act on the opportunity to purchase their own routers to save costs. Meanwhile, fiber packages from companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Altice often include newer, ISP-provided gear by default, leading to better broadband experience with reduced in-home Wi-Fi issues. The biggest gaps are seen for ISPs that bundle equipment with fiber packages, indicating that these higher-tier connections combined with managed hardware result in a significantly better user experience.
  
• ISP-managed hardware drives easier troubleshooting, Wi-Fi optimization, and higher customer satisfaction. Providers can offer remote diagnostics, automatic firmware updates, and mesh Wi-Fi solutions when they control the router—leading to fewer dropouts, higher throughput, and ultimately higher customer satisfaction. Better reliability also correlates with reduced churn (fewer customers switching providers), demonstrating the business case for ISPs to supply and manage their own equipment, building on Opensignal’s previous findings.

Better broadband experience on ISP-issued equipment

According to broadband network measurements collected among our smartphone users using both the ISP-provided and Bring-Your-Own (BYO) equipment,  ISP-provided gateways show a notably positive impact across the two key experience metrics — Reliability Experience and Consistent Quality. The difference is especially pronounced for Reliability Experience, indicating that ISP-provided gateways are better equipped to handle more demanding multi-user environments. It is also significant that these metrics are measured on smartphones, as the tests occur throughout the home rather than on a single stationary device positioned in optimal line of sight to the gateway.

Opensignal’s Reliability Experience shows how well the user's internet handles multiple devices doing different things at the same time — like working, streaming, or gaming — without dropping the connection or slowing down. Reliability has been determined as the most acute pain point among users experience problems – a recent study by Ofcom from May 2023 (the U.K.'s independent communications regulator) found that among users who were dissatisfied with their overall broadband service, the most common reason (at 64%) was an unreliable connection. 
 

ISP-provided equipment is similarly linked with greatly improved experience in Opensignal’s Consistent Quality metric, which assesses if the connection is good enough to perform most common everyday use cases for an individual user. This metric looks at whether a single device, once connected, gets good enough performance for activities like watching HD videos, video calls, or online gaming — at any time of day. It's measured as a percentage of tests that exceed quality thresholds for download and upload speeds, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte. There is less of an impact here, compared to reliability, but the users with ISP-provided equipment still have a significantly better experience.

Why some ISPs see greater gains

One of the major drivers behind the observed difference is the customer self-selection at play: customers who opt for lower-speed tiers are less likely to pay for Wi-Fi router rental. Additionally, operators often provide their highest-ARPU broadband customers, particularly those with fiber connections, with premium Wi-Fi gateways at no additional cost.
 

In practice, many newer fiber packages automatically include upgraded, provider‐issued gateways, whereas legacy DSL or FTTN customers may be more varied in their device choices. This difference could help explain why some ISP‐provided equipment users see higher performance: a higher proportion of them may be on premium fiber tiers.
 

AT&T users, for instance, see the biggest boost with ISP-provided equipment in our data among the analyzed ISPs. AT&T currently bundles its ‘All-Fi’ hub equipment for all of its fiber packages. This bundling among higher tier plans is aligned with what we see in our results, where customers with ISP-provided equipment tend to be on high-performing connections.  Our users on AT&T see their Reliability Experience nearly double, at +88.4% difference in score, and Consistent Quality at +35.1% difference, when compared to AT&T users with BYO equipment.
 

Altice, similarly, is among the analyzed ISPs with higher deltas – serving its footprint with two distinct infrastructures. In recent years Altice has been building out fiber footprint under its Optimum brand, which come with Altice-provided gateways. Altice also acquired an older cable network from Suddenlink, a comparatively slower network, and on which customers were more likely to have their own routers. Aligned with this, we see significant deltas among our users on Altice of +33.5% and 15.1% for Reliability Experience and Consistent Quality, respectively.
 

Cable operators Charter (Spectrum), Comcast (Xfinity), and Cox predominantly operate coax-based DOCSIS networks. Unlike DSL or fiber, customer equipment for these networks has historically been straightforward to purchase and self-activate. So there has long been a culture of BYO gateways among those providers – especially among the cost-conscious segment. As an example, Comcast by default offers Xfinity Gateway equipment for an extra $15/mo as an option during the buyflow, although it does frequently subsidize the same equipment so that customers pay no extra charge. Additionally, as cable companies upgrade their networks to newer DOCSIS versions, they typically do not require replacement of customer premise hardware, in the same way upgrades from copper to fiber do. In turn Xfinity, Cox and Spectrum see more modest deltas for Reliability Experience (+15.7%, +9%, +17% respectively)  and Consistent Quality (+6.3%, +4.5%, +1.7% respectively). For these cable providers, the greater differentiation in Reliability Experience suggests that ISP-provided equipment is especially impactful in supporting multiple simultaneous connections — such as households juggling work, streaming, and gaming — whereas gains in Consistent Quality, which reflects individual device performance, are more limited.
 

Verizon shows the second largest delta for our users on provider-issued equipment, having gains of +50.8% in Reliability Experience and +18.8% in Consistent Quality. Given that very nearly all Verizon customers today are on its fiber-based Fios service, this result suggests that Fios network is performing significantly better with its proprietary issued gateways. Those customers who bring their own equipment, on average, are not fully able to benefit from service’s intended configuration. This finding underscores that Fios delivers its best performance when paired with the gateways Verizon has designed and deployed for its fiber network.
 

Frontier is a fiber/DSL provider. Frontier acquired a lot of DSL territory from Verizon and AT&T (2009–2016), which the provider has been rapidly transitioning to fiber footprint in recent years. Frontier also sold four states’ worth of infrastructure to Ziply Fiber in 2020 (which included legacy copper). Since Q4 ’21, eero bundling has driven high ISP-provided gateway attach rates in Frontier’s densified fiber markets, while its shrinking DSL base still skews toward BYO routers. Because DSL now represents only a small share of Frontier’s overall footprint, the equipment gap is modest — +16.6% Reliability Experience and +7.2% Consistent Quality for ISP-issued vs. BYO. 

Better home connectivity with managed gateways 

Beyond the inherent performance advantage correlated with better tier connections, there are additional reasons why users experience improved service on ISP-provided gateways. One key factor is that providers' customer care teams can more easily diagnose in-home Wi-Fi issues when dealing with their own issued equipment. Additionally, ISP-supplied gateways are more likely to support the higher-capacity 5GHz band and are typically Wi-Fi 6, 6E, or even Wi-Fi 7 capable today—compared to older gateway generations that are often sold at a discount. ISPs that manage the gateway can also push firmware updates, perform remote diagnostics, and optimize Wi-Fi channels, which helps reduce dropouts and increase average throughput—both of which are reflected in the performance metrics.
 

Furthermore, ISPs with managed Wi-Fi offerings actively publicize the ways they mitigate interference. For instance, AT&T Smart Home Manager app, Verizon’s Wi-Fi Health Check tool, and Comcast’s xFi platforms use in-app monitoring to run network and Wi-Fi coverage tests, determining whether the customer’s household has grey spots and needs Wi-Fi extenders. Those subsequently offer heavily discounted mesh Wi-Fi systems, in the case of AT&T offering coverage of up to 5,000sqft with five extenders for $10/mo. 

The business case for ISP-issued equipment

Opensignal has previously published research for the U.S. market, which showed that ISP‐managed gateways among our users were tied with faster broadband download speed and lower non-mover loss ratios — a metric assessing customer churn among those who switch providers without relocating. Specifically, cable companies that expanded their use of ISP-provided gateways experienced a decline in non-mover loss ratios, indicating enhanced customer retention. When reliability improves, support calls fall, satisfaction rises, and customers are less likely to switch. 
 

By controlling Wi‐Fi hardware and firmware, providers can offer a more stable broadband experience, which is directly linked to happier customer satisfaction. As competition from overbuilders and 5G FWA grows in U.S. broadband, delivering a strong in‐home experience has never been more important — and ISP‐managed equipment is a proven way to achieve it. Opensignal is able to offer deeper, user level analytics – reach out to us for more information.

Definitions:

Reliability Experience 

Opensignal's Broadband Reliability Experience measures the ability of a household to connect to the internet and to successfully complete 'uninterrupted' tasks across multiple devices, encompassing work and recreational activities. While Reliability incorporates and expands upon elements akin to Broadband Consistent Quality, it uniquely includes assessments of initial connectivity and continuous completion of tasks, making it more comprehensive in scenarios involving multiple simultaneous connections.
 

Consistent Quality

Broadband Consistent Quality measures how often a network, from the perspective of a single device once connectivity is established, meets the requirements for common applications. Broadband Consistent Quality uses six key performance indicators: download and upload speeds, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte, setting thresholds appropriate for individual rather than multiple device usage. Metrics represent the percentage of users’ tests meeting these performance thresholds to support activities like watching HD video, completing group video calls, and gaming across all hours of the day.