Best fiber router: which one to choose

You were not satisfied with the new modem / router made available by your Internet operator to surf using the fiber optic connection or the copper mixed fiber connection ">

FTTH : the best technology for fiber optic connection, to the point that it is recognized as "true optical fiber", legally sold with the abbreviation F ("Optical fiber"). With it, the fiber cable will reach the house instead of the telephone socket and will allow us to reach very high transmission speeds (always above 100 Mega per second).

The connection of the modem / router is slightly different between the two technologies: with the FTTC the connection takes place exactly as on the modems for ADSL, that is by connecting a copper pair to the telephone socket at home; with FTTH technology the twisted pair no longer exists, replaced by a fiber optic cable that enters directly into the router or by a wall distribution box, which converts the signal to Ethernet (the modem / router will therefore be connected to via Ethernet) .

If we have an FTTC connection we can use both the simple procedure and the advanced procedure; if instead we have an FTTH connection, usually we can only follow the simple procedure, since the nature of the connection is much more complex (not within the reach of normal Internet users).
We are not entirely clear about the difference between FTTC and FTTH "> VDSL, FTTC and FTTH fiber: which differences and which is better?

Connect a new fiber router (simple procedure)

This procedure is the simplest and we can apply it with any router and with any fiber connection, since we will create a simple cascade between the two devices available to us .

Without giving up on the modem supplied by the operator (which for convenience we will call the proprietary modem from now on), we connect the new router to it using a simple Ethernet cable, taking care to connect the cable to one of the LAN ports of the proprietary modem and to the Internet port or WAN of our new router.
On modern routers we will not have to do anything else, since the network configuration is completely automatic; for convenience we advise you to enter the control panel of the proprietary modem and disable Wi-Fi, since the wireless network of the new router is much more efficient than that managed by the proprietary modems. Following this procedure, we will not give up the proprietary modem (which we can still use for VoIP telephony) and we will be able to connect all our devices (via cable or via Wi-Fi) only to the new router, thus taking advantage of its features.
To learn more about the routers connected in cascade, we refer you to our article on how to connect a new router to the modem without changing the network .

Connect a new fiber modem (advanced procedure)

If instead we want to follow a more complex procedure to connect the two network devices, let's go to the proprietary modem configuration panel, disable Wi-Fi (useless, since it will be provided by the new router), delete any port mapping configurations and insert the 'IP address of the new router in the DMZ of the proprietary modem, so as to guarantee total access to the router without any kind of filtering or routing (functions that will be used on the new router).

To obtain the IP address of the new router, we can connect to its Wi-Fi network and find the address from the control interface, or we can simply access the network configurations of the proprietary modem and find out immediately the IP of the router just connected (will appear among the connected devices). Once this configuration has been carried out, from now on we will only have to access the configuration panel of the new router to carry out port mapping or other advanced configurations, since the proprietary modem is in fact "transparent" (ie it acts as a pure modem without applying filters or IP routing).
To find out more, read our guides How to find the IP address of your home router and Guide to DHCP: Assign IP manually or leave the IP automatically "> TIM

Fastweb

Vodafone

Wind 3

Tiscali

To connect a new router on an FTTC connection, simply insert the RJ11 cable (the one very similar to the telephone cable) in the classic telephone socket and in the DSL port of the router and configure the parameters, so you can surf the Internet and talk on the landline phone in VoIP.
If, on the other hand, we want to connect a new router on an FTTH connection, in most cases (for example on Fastweb-branded FTTH) it will be sufficient to use an ONT converter, so that we can navigate immediately without problems, abandoning the proprietary modem.
One of the best devices for the purpose is the TP-Link MC220L Media Converter (€ 23).

The fiber optic cable is inserted into the SFP socket, while on the Gigabit Ethernet port we will have to connect our new router, configuring the connection parameters as indicated above (we recommend that you also make a jump in the Amazon reviews of the product, where many users have shared the complete configuration process).
To get the best transmission quality with this device, we recommend you use a well-made Ethernet network cable such as the AmazonBasics - RJ45 Cat-7e Ethernet network cable (€ 7).

A guide to buying the best fiber router

After seeing closely how to connect any router to high-speed connections in Italy, we will show you in this chapter the best routers that we can buy for fiber. For completeness of information we will show you both simple routers (for FTTC and FTTH) and VDSL modems / routers (compatible on FTTC networks).
The best Gigabit Ethernet routers we can buy at the moment (great for router cascade or FTTH) are:

1. D-Link DIR-809 (€ 29)
2. TP-Link Archer C6 (€ 39)
3. Netgear R6220 (€ 49)
4. AVM FRITZ! Box 4040 (€ 69)
5. Asus RT-AC68U (110 €)

If we are looking for modems / routers compatible with Italian FTTC lines, the best models are:

• D-Link DSL-3785 (€ 59)
• TP-Link Archer VR600 (103 €)
• TP-Link Archer VR1210v (114 €)
• AVM FRITZ! Box 7530 (€ 115)
• Netgear D7000-100PES (€ 129)

To evaluate other routers or modems / routers, we recommend you read our article on the Best WiFi Routers to connect your home wireless devices .

Conclusions

As we have seen, even when we have a fiber optic connection we have great freedom of choice in terms of routers: we can make a cascade with the router provided by the operator (simpler and affordable for everyone) or we can recover the parameters of connection and connect our personal router, configuring it according to our needs.
If after following the steps described in the guide we cannot navigate, before contacting the assistance we advise you to read our guides Red modem LED (Internet absent): what to do before calling the assistance and How to understand if the modem router it is broken .