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In 2018 Shell acquired First Utility, taking on First Utility’s broadband business as well as its gas and electricity offerings. Now called Shell Energy Broadband, it offers three Standard broadband packages. One 11Mbps, entry-level ADSL package, and two mid-range fibre broadband packages with download speeds of 38Mbps or 67Mbps. It also offers speeds of up to 900Mbps under its Ultrafast and Full Fibre packages, but they are available only in certain areas.

So what can we expect from the routers provided with Shell Energy Broadband packages? The router is the clever little box that takes a fast internet connection and passes it onto the devices in your home. If the router is slow, or has bad wifi range, it can waste some of the fast internet speeds you are paying for.

How to get a Shell Energy broadband router

Shell Energy broadband provides its customers with either a Technicolor DWA0120 or Technicolor TG588 v2 router, depending on which package you choose. If you would like to get your hands on a Shell Energy router you can sign up for one of its broadband packages. Alternatively these routers are available to buy from technology retailers.

Once you have signed up with Shell Energy broadband, your new router should arrive within a couple of days. If you are also having a new phone line connected, it can take a little longer to get set up as you will need an engineer to visit.

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Shell Energy broadband router features

Shell Energy broadband packages come with either a Technicolor DWA0120 or the older Technicolor TG588 v2 router. The DWA0120 supplied with Shell Energy’s fibre broadband packages is a fairly up-to-date router with many of the features one would expect. The router supplied with the ADSL package is an older type. It is sufficient for the package with which it is supplied, since it only needs to deal with 11Mbps download speeds. Let’s take a look at some of the main features of these two routers.

Technicolor DWA0120

Customers who subscribe to Shell Energy’s 38Mbps and 67Mbps fibre broadband packages will get this router.

• Next generation wifi – Connect your wifi devices using older wifi standards or with the newer 802.11ac wifi standard
• Smart channel selection – The Technicolor DWA0120 automatically connects your devices to the fastest wifi channel and frequency available
• Dual band – Like many modern routers, the Technicolor DWA0120 uses both the 2.4Ghz and faster 5Ghz bands
• Two USB ports – This useful feature is often missing from routers supplied by broadband providers. You can plug a hard drive and a printer into the USB ports, making them available to all the computers in your home
• Four gigabit ethernet ports and one WAN port – Four gigabit ethernet ports for fast, wired network connections to your computers, plus a WAN port if you need one

Technicolor TG588 v2

This router is supplied with Shell Energy’s lowest priced, 11Mbps ADSL broadband package.

• Older generation wifi – This router supports wifi up to the older 802.11n standard. Most modern routers can also use the newer 802.11ac standard
• Single band wifi – The TG588 v2 beams it’s wifi signal over the 2.4Ghz band. A lot of wifi routers use the 2.4Ghz band, which can cause interference as the band becomes crowded. Newer routers tend to be dual-band, using both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands to avoid interference
• One USB port – Allows you to share a hard drive, printer or other USB peripheral over your network
• Four ethernet ports – Use an ethernet cable for a fast, stable connection to the router

If there are any unfamiliar terms you'd like a more in-depth explanation of, check out our jargon-busting guide.

Setting up a Shell Energy broadband router

Setting up either of the routers supplied by Shell Energy is an easy process. In most cases it can be accomplished in minutes.

If there is already a router in your home, unplug it from the phone and power sockets, and put it to one side. If you have a microfilter hanging from your wall-mounted phone socket, remove it as well. Now locate the new microfilter that came with your Shell Energy router and plug it into the phone socket on your wall. Next, take the grey cable and plug it into the router at one end and the microfilter at the other.

Now you need to connect the power. It’s best practice to switch off the power socket before you plug in the router’s power supply. Once the power is plugged into the wall, attach the other end to the router. Now switch on the power socket, followed by pressing the power button on your router. Wait a minute for the LED lights to all turn the same colour and you should be up and running.

You can log in to your new wifi network using the details on your router.

Once your router is up and running, we'd suggest you start making it as secure as possible. Our guide to securing your wifi router can help.

Legacy Shell Energy broadband routers

Shell Energy took over First Utility’s broadband service, so we need to look at First Utility’s previous routers. However, Shell Energy is still using the dated Technicolor TG588 v2 for its ADSL broadband package. This is the same router that First Utility/Shell Energy has given its customers since they first offered a broadband service in the mid 2010s. The features of this router are listed earlier in this guide.

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