Setup guide

    Setting up your router

    Everything you need to get connected. No technician required.

    What's an ONT?

    Optical Network Terminal. The box that brings fibre into your home, usually small and white.

    ONTPOWER
    FIBRE
    1
    2
    3
    4
    Connect your router here

    Which port do I use?

    We use the next available port on your ONT. This means your old provider can stay connected while we set up. When you're ready, their connection gets disconnected without touching yours.

    • Port 1 · Your Um connection (if you're the first connection)
    • Port 2 · Your Um connection (if there's already a connection on Port 1)
    • Port 3 · Used if Ports 1 & 2 are taken
    • Port 4 · Not usually used

    Not sure which port? Just plug into Port 1 first. If it doesn't connect, try Port 2.

    Router settings

    Configure your router's WAN/Internet connection with these settings.

    WAN / Internet Configuration

    These settings go in your router's WAN or Internet setup page. Connection is DHCP with VLAN 10.

    WAN Connection Type
    DHCP (Automatic IP / Dynamic IP / IP over Ethernet)
    802.1Q
    Enabled
    VLAN ID (802.1Q)
    10
    802.1P (Priority)
    0
    IP Version
    IPv4
    MTU Size
    1492 or 1500
    NAT
    Enabled
    Username / Password
    Not required, leave blank

    Most routers just need three things: set the WAN type to DHCP, enable 802.1Q VLAN tagging, and set the VLAN ID to 10. Everything else can stay at defaults.

    No username or password is required. Um uses DHCP, not PPPoE.

    Was your router on Spark before? Then it's almost certainly still set to PPPoE, and that's the one thing stopping it from connecting. Switch the WAN type to DHCP and you can delete the old Spark username and password while you're in there.

    Need a router? Check out our recommendations.

    View Recommended Routers

    Keeping your old router?

    Plenty of people do. Here's where these ones hide the settings above.

    One catch: some providers lock the routers they hand out. Open your router's internet settings and look for Edit, Add or Delete buttons. If there aren't any, it's locked and can't be changed. Time for a new one.

    Router not on this list? No problem. The settings above are all you need, whatever the brand.

    What decides the speed you get

    The plan sets the ceiling. Everything below moves what arrives at your device.

    WiFi, or a cable

    A cable from your router to your laptop or TV gives you close to the full line. WiFi always costs you some of it, even on a new router in the same room, and more once there are walls in the way. If a speed test looks slow, plug in and run it again before anything else.

    Where the router sits

    A router in a hall cupboard or behind a TV covers less of the house than one out in the open. Big places and thick walls do better on a mesh, which uses several units instead of one, so the far rooms aren't relying on a signal from the other end of the house. There's one on our router page.

    Your router's own ceiling

    A router can only pass what its ports handle. A gigabit WAN port tops out under 1,000 Mbps, which is plenty for Fibre and FastFibre but not for HyperFibre. That one needs a 2.5 Gbps WAN port. Older boxes cap lower again: some of the ones providers handed out years ago stop around 100 Mbps whatever plan you're on.

    Time of day

    Evenings are the busy hours, on our network and on whatever you're connecting to. The speeds we publish are peak-time averages for that reason, measured when the network is at its busiest rather than at 4am.

    The other end

    A download is only as quick as the server sending it. Around 6% of any connection also goes on the overhead of moving data at all, which is why a gigabit line tests at about 940 Mbps rather than 1,000, everywhere, on every provider.