5G router with a SIM card: the Belgian guide

A 5G router with a SIM card works in Belgium if it picks up bands n78 and n28, the only two on which Belgian networks broadcast 5G. It only works well if the SIM card you put in it is not throttled. The plan, more than the box, decides your speed and your bill.

Which 5G router picks up Belgian networks?

The one whose datasheet lists n78 and n28. Everything else is secondary.

Belgian 5G runs on two bands, awarded at the 2022 auction held by the BIPT, Belgium's telecoms regulator (IBPT in French): n78, around 3.5 GHz, which carries speed, and n28, at 700 MHz, which carries distance and goes through walls. Proximus, Orange, Telenet and DIGI all four broadcast on them. No millimetre wave is switched on for consumers. On 4G, band 20 (800 MHz) is the one that holds the signal in the countryside.

The trap lies in the variant. Netgear publishes two separate references for its Nighthawk M6: the European version MR6150-100EUS picks up n28 and n78, the North American version MR6150-100NAS picks up neither. Same name, same box, no Belgian 5G. The model is no longer sold by Coolblue Belgium as of 21 October 2026, but the lesson applies to any import.

A router ordered from outside Europe should therefore be checked on the manufacturer's official datasheet, band by band.

Do you need a 5G router, or is 4G enough?

It all depends on the SIM card, and almost always in the same direction.

Several so-called unlimited plans cap their speed by contract. Mobile Vikings Unlimited Basic (€25, Proximus network) and TADAAM Mobile Unlimited (€25, Telenet network) stop at 50 Mbit/s, according to the L'Avenir survey of 19 August 2026. An entry-level 4G router, such as the TP-Link TL-MR100 listed at €55 at Coolblue, already reaches that cap when the signal is decent, and paying €250 more for 5G changes nothing. Conversely, Orange Mobile Unlimited (€40) advertises up to 1 Gbit/s on 5G and Proximus Mobile Unlimited (€49.99) 420 Mbit/s: there, a 4G router becomes the bottleneck.

The router never goes faster than the label on the SIM.

Which SIM card should go in the router?

Not a data-only SIM. The format is almost extinct in Belgium: Mobile Vikings and Mixtus have withdrawn theirs, and the only one still listed by CallMePower in October 2026 is Neibo's, on the Orange network. An ordinary mobile plan, calls included, costs far less per gigabyte. Most of these brands are MVNOs, virtual operators that rent capacity on someone else's network: the host network is shown next to each one.

Checked between 19 and 21 October 2026 (DIGI, hey! via Selectra on 20/10, Neibo via CallMePower), yoin price list of 23 June 2026, speed caps according to L'Avenir of 19 August 2026; price per GB calculated on the included volume, or on 300 GB for unlimited plans. Proximus Mobile Unlimited is shown at full price, the thirteenth-month price, whatever the current welcome discount.

Two rows sum up this site's angle. On Orange's masts, Neibo sells the GB for €0.89 and hey! for €0.16: almost six times more for the same SIM in the same router. On Proximus's masts, Mobile Vikings Superfast costs €14.99 less than Proximus Unlimited every month, with a higher cap, or €179.88 a year. Three networks, fifteen labels.

Routers sold in Belgium, from €55 to €474

Prices shown at Coolblue Belgium on 21 October 2026, bands taken from the manufacturer's European datasheet. We have tested none of these devices: this table cross-checks datasheets, not measurements.

The Archer NX200 ticks the three criteria that matter for the lowest price: both bands, antenna sockets, an Ethernet port for the TV or the office. The FRITZ!Box is the only one to advertise standalone 5G, which is pointless as long as Proximus 5G+ remains reserved for a few approved smartphones with a dedicated eSIM, and its Wi-Fi stays at Wi-Fi 5. A "V2" edition is listed at €349: we could not verify its datasheet. The Coolblue page for the Archer NX200 shows in-store pickup.

Setting up your 5G router in six steps

1. Check fibre and cable first. If your street can be connected, a wired line beats wireless on stability and upload; we did the maths in 5G home internet or a fixed line.
2. Measure your address with a phone. Note the network code shown (206 01 Proximus, 206 10 Orange, 206 20 Telenet, 206 12 DIGI) and the signal level, window closed, in the intended room. The method is in our guide to testing coverage at your address.
3. Choose the SIM before the box. The network that reaches your home, then the cheapest label on that network, then its speed cap.
4. Buy the router that follows. Capped at 50 Mbit/s: 4G is enough. Above that: n28, n78 and band 20 on the European datasheet, and the right SIM format (nano for the Archer NX200, mini for the FRITZ!Box).
5. Place it high, facing the mast. An upper floor and a window without metal-coated glazing are often worth more than a pricier device, for the reasons detailed in 5G indoors.
6. Disable the PIN code and enter the APN. The access point name is provided by the brand; without it, some routers show the network without opening the connection.

The most frequent mistakes fit in four lines:

• buying a non-European variant without checking n28 and n78;
• paying for a 5G router for a SIM capped at 50 Mbit/s;
• putting a 15 GB SIM in a box that serves the living-room TV;
• placing the router on the ground floor, behind insulating double glazing.

External antenna or repeater: what does Belgian law allow?

The line runs between your device and everyone else's.

A passive antenna screwed onto your router's SMA sockets improves the reception of that router alone. It picks up nothing for the neighbour and re-broadcasts nothing for them. A mobile signal repeater, on the other hand, picks up the operator's frequencies and re-broadcasts them: the BIPT bans its use without the consent of the operator concerned, and its officers can seize a device put into service without authorisation. The CE mark changes nothing.

Can your operator ban the router?

Not as such. Article 3 of EU Regulation 2015/2120 on open internet access guarantees users the right to use the terminal equipment of their choice. Brands do set usage limits, however: yoin's price list of 23 June 2026 reserves its unlimited plans for "private, personal and normal" use, and the BIPT only accepts the word unlimited on mobile with a threshold of at least 300 GB a month. A household that streams TV every evening reaches it. Read the clause, get it confirmed in writing if your usage is heavy, and check the speed applied once the threshold is passed.

The reasoning is the same as across the whole site: the network that reaches your home first, the cheapest label second. That is the order of our ranking of 5G plans, with the host network shown next to every price.

Sources: BIPT, "Mobile network indoor coverage" page and repeater rules; BIPT, "More clarity on unlimited surfing", 23 February 2022; Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of 25 November 2015, Article 3; official datasheets of the FRITZ!Box 6850 5G, TP-Link Archer NX200 (V3) and Netgear Nighthawk M6; LDLC product page for the TP-Link Deco X50-5G and TP-Link FAQ 3297 on its external antennas; Coolblue Belgium, 4G and 5G routers category, prices checked on 21 October 2026; CallMePower, "Abonnement mobile data uniquement", offers checked in October 2026; Selectra, hey! Telecom page updated on 20 October 2026; yoin, GSM plan price list of 23 June 2026; L'Avenir, "Data illimitée : les 5 pièges", 19 August 2026. No link on this page is monetised.