From AT&T Community Forums:
Re: Can I use a different modem AND router to connect with Uverse Internet?
Yes. You have to have the AT&T provided gateway.
Now, nothing is stopping you from turning both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios completely off and plugging in your own 3rd party product. Our gateways can be configured to be in bridge mode if you want yours to handle IPs, etc.
May 15, 2017 9:59 AM - edited May 15, 2017 10:00 AM
Re: Can I use a different modem AND router to connect with Uverse Internet?
Every connected device (even cell phones, tablits, i-pads, you name it) have a unique device number (sometimes called mac address) assigned to it, making it unique.
On top of that, ATT provided equipment also has a secondary identifier as well, and every wired att connection (with the exception of the legacy dsl networks) have that particular number assigned to only that connection.
It is no secret, you can buy perfectly good att gateways off of services like e-bay. However, it is unlikely you will get any att tech to actually activate that device.
However, as was already said, while you have to use their provided modem/gateway/router/residential gateway, etc. they all allow for third party routers to be connected to them.
While most are perfectly good for wired (Ethernet) connections, the wi-fi router can be a bit lacking on some models, SO, you can get around that by using your own (presumably better) wifi router of choice.
Hope this answers your question. Good luck
They don't allow us to use a different one. I'm pretty much resigned to this. I could get a second router and hook it to theirs. I found some info on how to do it. There's an IP Pass Through thing. But there are 23 devices in this house that connect to the router. There are TV boxes, Roku boxes, Cell Phones, printers and computers. I'm just going to forget about it.
The thing is years ago I bought a router and tried to get Time Warner to let me set it up. They bluntly told me they weren't going to. I was required to use theirs. This was like 15 years ago.
Update: I forgot to mention the AT&T phone line hooked to one of the printers and used as a fax.