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Guide to using your own router instead of Etisalat. Neo 1Gbps + TP-Link Archer BE6500 Wi-Fi 7

u/nondual9/12/2026, 3:28:44 PM

r/uae Look at summary at the end, if you don't care about the specifics or have already purchased a router of your choice.

This youtube set up guide helped me a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjMiGJ4cTzE

Upgraded to Neo 1Gbps (400 AED/month) as existing customer, and finally pulled the trigger on the TP-Link Archer BE6500 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router. Best decision I've made for my home setup. Getting a consistent 850 Mbps over Wi-Fi, which is the realistic ceiling you'll hit regardless of which router you use on this plan.

If you are new customer Neo plan gives you discount. Always buy/upgrade from Etisalat website or using the app. Don't bother using a different number to get the new customer discount, it will make another bill and not worth that for a 2 month discount.

I upgraded my plan to Neo using etisalat mobile app. Since i was a existing customer, i didn't get the discount for first 2 months, but I dont care, as I dont want a new etisalat account, just to get a discount, (many call agents will try to lure you into this, it's not at all worth it)

If you use Etisalat router, you have to pay 22.5Dhs/Month. So if you use it for 24 months its 540 Dhs. The router I purchased is way worth it, as my experience with Etisalat router were subpar as the range is weak. And the D-Link they gave me before was unreliable.

I bought my router model for 480 Dhs from Amazon, for bigger range specifically and it didn't disappoint. As I have many walls between the router, and I still get 300Mbps. In the router room, I get 900Mbps. If price is an issue, purchase TP-Link Next-Gen Wi-Fi 6 AX3000 Mbps for 200 Dhs from Amazon.

The Etisalat-provided router is an Arcadyan (also a Chinese brand, for those who think they're avoiding Chinese). Mine was a D-Link before that, and it would silently die every night while I slept. Restart every single morning. The TP-Link has been rock solid.

Here's the full process if you want to bring your own router.

Step 1: Request PPPoE credentials from Etisalat

Do not bother calling. You will not reach a human agent. Even X/Twitter is useless as you will get generic answers. Instead:

Download the TDRA app

Submit a request asking for your PPPoE username and password

Also specifically ask them to disable the Plug and Play (PlugNPlay) feature on your line

Once they process it, you'll receive an SMS with your PPPoE username and password. Keep that handy.

Step 2: Buy your router

The TP-Link Archer BE6500 is what I went with and it handles 1Gbps without breaking a sweat. Wi-Fi 7 is genuinely future-proof at this price point.

Step 3: Set up the router

Skip the Tether app for initial setup. The web interface is faster and gives you more control.

Connect the fiber/internet line to the WAN port on your router

Open a browser and go to 192.168.0.1

When prompted for connection type, select PPPoE (not Dynamic/DHCP)

Enter the username and password from your SMS

That's it. You should be online.

Step 4: A few settings to configure

Disable Smart Connect — split your 2.4GHz and 5GHz into separate SSIDs. Gives you more control over which band your devices connect to.

Leave TWT, MLO Network and OFDMA/MU-MIMO disabled — they're off by default and that's fine. Enabling them can actually hurt speed on most setups, though they may improve battery life on phones. It's just that when i enabled such fancy optimizations, the max speed I could reach even near the router during speedtest was 600 Mbps. So i think you sacrifice speed for range or something.

Please don't enable MLO Network too. It lowers max speed reached on internet speed test.

Change your DNS to 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare). The default DNS you get through PPPoE feels sketchy to me.

Optional: Link to your TP-Link cloud account

Ohh you also get Amazon subscription for free. So go to E& app and then go to manage plan, and then go to subscriptions, and you will see Amazon there, click to redeem it. And then it will take you to a browser asking to log into amazon. Make sure you are not already logged in to a account you don't want prime in, its not reversible.

You can log into your TP-Link account directly from the 192.168.0.1 web interface. Once linked, you can manage the router remotely through the Tether app without needing to be on the same network.

Quick summary

Step Action 1 Download TDRA app, request PPPoE credentials + disable PlugNPlay 2 Wait for SMS with username/password 3 Connect router, go to 192.168.0.1, select PPPoE, enter credentials 4 Disable Smart Connect, keep TWT/OFDMA off, set DNS to 1.1.1.1

The hardest part of this whole process is getting Etisalat to respond. Once that's done, the actual router setup takes under 10 minutes. Totally worth it.

Also chatGPT was really helpful during the setup for technical specifics, so giving this article to it, can help you answer more niche questions.

Happy to answer any questions in the comments.

Comments (14)

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:28:50 PM

Yep I upgraded my plan to NEO from etisalat mobile app, since i wasnt new customer i didnt get the 2 months discount, but i didnt care as I dont want another new bill under my name

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:29:01 PM

for product detail -> https://www.tp-link.com/ae/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-be6500/

And you can buy from whatever place you get a good price.

https://amzn.eu/d/0gya1RLv make sure seller is amazon.com and that it is fulfilled by amazon so you can do easy returns within 15 days.

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:29:10 PM

I dont use wifi calling i thought it wasnt available in the uae. I do use botim with no issues, but i pay 50 dhs/month to etisalat for botim subscription.

my old eitsalat router is very unreliable so I didnt think of doing so, I will update this post if i ever buy a relay/access point. Main reason i bought this router was to have good range to not have to buy relays. I heard these are easy setup to set up a mesh -> TP-Link Deco AX3000 WiFi 6 Mesh System, so i would buy these

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:29:16 PM

My router currently doesnt have wifi 6 only wifi 7, and if i got to my wifi setting i can set it to 802.11be and my wifi only use wifi7 but the reason i didnt do that because i have many older phones that cant use it and i also need long range, wifi 7 has short range i think.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wifi/comments/1eqvseh/how_do_you_know_if_u_are_on_wifi_7/

The thread above talks about how you can check if you are on wifi 7 or wifi 6. So i think Neo plan doesnt prevent it, but its not on by default on most routers so u have to enable it, if your router is wifi 6 or 7 compatible.

so i dont think by default wifi 6 and wifi 7 will be used, you have to go to router settings and then select the option.

https://imgur.com/a/ooX93Ct

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:29:30 PM

In TDRA what is the procedure to request for pppoe credentials and disable plug n play.

I can see my current etisalat wifi. So do I just call tdra?

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:29:37 PM

Basically u wanna set up a complaint request, u call them too and i guess they will make the request. So you log in with UAE Pass, select the 02 number, and then create a complaint request against etisalat, not TDRA, and then write in that request thatt you want to receive PPPoE details, and that you had upgraded to Neo already.

I think Neo plans offer the option to not pay for routers, i am not sure if other plans allow that option, like my old plan had no such option, i was forced to use etisalat router.

Once the tdra request is made, an etisalat agent will reach out in 1 day, using 101 to call you. and will talk you through it.

if you can reach etisalat in any other way, feel free to do that, tdra forces them to take ur request seriously or else agents will delay ur request

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:29:43 PM

Ohh if you dont have TDRA account, the first time u log in using uae pass u will be asked to make new account, click on it, and then go to "my accounts", select the three dots next to the number you have elife in, and click on "Complaint about Telecom providers", then "start service" -> select the account number -> In the details write the thing about how u need pppoe details and need etisalat to disable plugnplay to use ur own router -> click next and submit.

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:29:51 PM

Thank you so much. Yes indeed it makes difference. I did it last year when neo plan was first launched and then getting a human was easy in etisalat. But it was horrifying. When I called up etisalat and asked them want to use my own router they did send me username n password via sms but then created a mess of my connection.

The new credentials did not work and neither the old. Neither on their router as well. Finally had to call again and ask for home visit and that guy finally figured out that the agent sitting over in etisalat created a mess which lead to this.

So sometimes the transfer can be smooth and sometimes messy because people sitting in etisalat may not have any idea of what they are doing

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:29:57 PM

Yes they don't care about customers until tdra is involved. When my router was managed by them, randomly one day, one of their agent, I think reseted my router password and router name to my first name, and I was confused, since I have a common name, I think they confused me with another customer.

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:30:04 PM

Precisely same with me. It was reset to something else and something else was sms to me as credentials. They have zero idea what even wifi is

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:30:41 PM

This came into my mind recently already, but never did it. To clarify, you don’t connect the TP link router as an extra access point next to the main router of Etisalat, instead you make it your main router right?

I use a cable to connect my desktop pc to the wall for extra stability did you try this by any chance with no issues?

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:30:56 PM

Yes exactly, Its a one to one replacement. But now etisalatt cant control ur router remotely, so they cant change ur wifi name/password, or restart it remotely and things like that. Also I dont have to pay 22 dhs to etisalat extra every month for using their router.

Yep, so once I followed the steps to set up the router, now I can connect ethernet to my router (my router has have 4 ethernet ports + the main port) and then connect it to my laptop. So just as you would do with your current etisalat router. With Ethernet i get like 800mbps speed.

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:31:06 PM

Sounds great, do you know of any other things warranties that expires if you use your own devices? How about updates or parameters that they a change and say they frequently do? Been great help mate, thank you for this!

u/nondual · 9/12/2026, 3:31:12 PM

Nope, nothing to worry about from your end. If you buy the TPlink router as i suggested in my post, your router will automatically perform software updates as needed. You don't have to worry about wifi or anything until u decide to upgrade ur plan, as the router i suggested has maximum speed of 2.5GBPS, so if in the future u upgrade ur speed, only then will u need to buy a new router.

i will stick with my neo 1GBPS for many years, so i won't have to worry ever. My old etisalat router used to disconnect every night and in the morning I used to wake up to no internet, but since I started using my own router, I havent had to think about internet ever since.