Network Kit Firm Linksys Opens WiFi 6 Routers to UK Consumer ISPs
Linksys has today announced that they’ve started offering a suite of WiFi 6 products to broadband ISPs in the UK, including routers and mesh systems. The provider has traditionally targeted the country’s consumer and business market at retail, but due to “strong demand” they’re now also partnering with full fibre altnets.
Over the past few years’ we’ve seen a growing number of alternative network providers offering Linksys routers and mesh systems to homes as part of a bundle (e.g. Connect Fibre, Gigaclear, Hey!Broadband, UpFibre, Airband). In keeping with that, today’s news also reveals that CommunityFibre, which serves premises across London via their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, is one of the early adopters, but that was already well known.
Linksys believes that many full fibre offerings are not matched with Wi-Fi that can deliver reliable and fast coverage, and they suggest that altnets can steal a march on the legacy providers by offering better Wi-Fi solutions. But that’s always been true, and we’re already starting to see a growing number of ISPs shipping WiFi 6 capable kit, even though some bigger players (e.g. TalkTalk, Sky Broadband and BT / EE / Plusnet) have yet to follow.
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Albert Farag, VP of Europe and Global ISP at Linksys, said:
“The UK broadband market is more fiercely contested than ever, with altnet providers hastening their broadband rollouts due to the unprecedented demand for connectivity brought about by the pandemic. These altnets are quickly changing the dynamics of the market and bringing fibre to the homes of millions around the UK; but they require a partner that can ensure that gigabit fibre is mirrored with quality in-building WiFi that delivers reliable, secure and widespread coverage.”
We should point out that bigger ISPs often invest much more in developing highly customised routers to match their brand, which may feature different physical designs, unique features and custom firmware. But the downside is that such devices can also be more restrictive than if the ISP were to simply supply a pre-configure router, such as from a company like Linksys.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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“We should point out that bigger ISPs often invest much more in developing highly customised routers to match their brand, which may feature different physical designs, unique features”. My experience is bigger ISPs offer you an absolute cheap pile of junk that is nowhere near the quality of any router you can buy yourself. And this has been consistent over 25 years of internet use.
But generally better than the “cheap junk” smaller ISPs provide.
FYI – My paragraph is related more to the firmware development than the hardware. Most bundled routers are generally budget devices, although a few ISPs do go beyond that mould.
I agree in above comment.
They make them cheap as chips, cutting corners quality of components.
I’ve seen over years,between a branded router Vs a modified ISP router
I’m with Hyperoptic on 1gbps but feel Nokia Hyperhub is not all that.
My uncle and cousin brother who are with Community Fibre have Linksys velop router which very premium can do speeds test from outside using the app which shows your speeds etc..
My Hyperoptic Nokia router has been reliable and stable, but it is rather basic and lacks some useful user-friendly functionality. The Nokia WiFi app isn’t bad but again, doesn’t offer much.
More frustrating is that Hyperoptic appear to deliberately block the use of Nokia Beacon mesh/WiFi extenders, forcing you to spend £7 a month to get one of their branded ones instead.
Model shown in the image (I know it’s just a stock image) can be modded for OpenWRT. I have two. They’re great! they’re not so great with the stock firmware though, in fact borderline junk.
If you have to get a new router then yes may as well get one with WiFi 6, but at the end of the day, not worth rushing out to get one, very few people have any devices that support it.
Ad47uk – chicken and egg? Widespread adoption is influenced by availability and presence and vice versa. Adoption of Wifi6 devices will trend upwards if the bundled defacto kit supports it.
I would also challenge your comment about people having devices which support it. Basically, any smartphone from the last 3 years is likely to support it. You can buy WiFi 6 adapters for PCs for under £30.
@Stephen Wakeman, there are a fair few smartphones from the last three years that don’t Mine don’t, and I just had a look at 8 different phones from different manufactures, and they don’t. If you get into the higher price range then yes you are correct, but there are still a lot of the budget phones sold. I would never buy an expensive phone as I don’t have the need for one, I would never spend over £200 and a lot less if I can.
Saying that, I have just looked at the specs of a Samsung phone that cost £400, no wifi6 on that
if buying a new router then yes, get one with Wi-fi 6 unless someone don’t want to pay out for one and go for a cheaper router, but no point in getting a new router just for Wi-fi 6./
I am thinking of making a router, depending on what Apple does with the Mac mini and how much money I have left after I get a Mac mini or update this machine.
My business provider has been sending wifi 6 routers since the start of the year and even replaced my old routers with this new wifi 6 router, it’s a dx3301-to zyxel, and wifi is so better with much improved coverage.
I have an old TP-link, 2.4Ghz wi-fi only and to be honest that knocks the socks of any other router I have wi-fi wise. i am thinking of putting it back in line this weekend, I only put the Plusnet hub back on because someone said I should not be using such a old router, but if it does the job, i need to use the old Huawei openreach modem as it is a router only.
I wish Linksys would allow their normal retail firmware to work on ISP models.
Instead, they use a different firmware version for partner ISPs – which always leads me to think that upgrades/bug fixes are slower than they otherwise would be.
I have the virgin hub 5 and speeds went from 350 in front of it to 850+. Even in the furthest parts of the house (it’s a large 7 bed property) where we never got Wi-Fi before we get around 200. So definitely worth the Wi-Fi 6 hub. We have 26 devices on an average day and a quarter of them are wifi 6