Using Unifi Cloud Gateway Fiber (or similar) in Dublin - options?

R75MM

Hi All,

I'm currently living in Dublin 12. My home is only now "passing" for fiber broadband with both "OpenEir" and "Virgin Media" wholesale options now available. I currently use Virgin Media cable 500mb (not fibre).

Internally I have a number of devices running native 2.5G ethernet as I would do a lot of large transfers of video files etc. Now that fibre is avaiable and my broadband contract will be up in a few weeks I'm looking at options.

I want to make the most of of either a 1gb or 2gb internet connection & I suspect whatever provider I go with will just give a modem/router with 1GB ports "out of the box"; so I'm just exploring options.

I'm fairly technical but have not messed with fibre at all. So, my question is - should I go and buy the Unifi UCG-Fiber (30W) and hopfully plug the new fibre directly into that? Would that work regardless of which retail provider and wholesale network I'm on?

Again, I have a few weeks' before I press the big button so just looking for advise and looking through other forums has me a bit confused! (Not helped by the really poor "search" on Boards.ie)

Home setup:

Virgin Media cable modem in normal (not bridged) mode.

Home phone with Virgin Media

Unifi WiFi7 APs running off 2.5G LAN

2 x servers and one big PC all with 2.5G LAN NICs

2.5G LAN switch holding my life together

Various wifi 7 client devices; smart home devices, etc., etc..

1 CCTV DVR with 1gb port

1 Sky TV PUC (their streaming box) on 1gb LAN - toally seperate contract

1 Internet radio on a 1gb port or Wifi

I do want to maintain my home phone but do not need to keep it with the same provider as the fiber per-se.

Anything I need to look out for before I order?

Thanks,

-R7

dam099

Virgin Media don’t install an ONT if you use their wholesale network and them as the retail ISP (ONT is built into their router). It’s been reported here that it’s possible to get a UCG working with a SFP+ fibre unit but it seems a bit hacky.

If using Virgin wholesale with another retailer you will get an ONT so easier to set up.

All Openeir installations have an ONT so you can connect a UCG Fiber direct to them.

Phone is possible but you’ll usually need to use the retail ISP router alongside your own.

R75MM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123709165#Comment_123709165

Good afternoon,

Thanks for the response. So VM retail on the VM wholesale network is to be avoided is what I'm reading there; however any other option/combination should be good. I'm fairly sure I may go with Vodafone fibre on either of the wholesale networks so in that instance I should be golden.

When I do get either VM wholesale or OpenEir wholsale - do I just buy a short fibre patch and connect directly into the ONT or does it connect via some other media? I'm sorry that maybe a very dumb question. Additionally, if I need to use the ISP's modem for the phone service; how would that be physically cabled up to the ONT?

Sorry for the dumbass questions

-R7

NotShero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123709177#Comment_123709177

The fibre goes into the ONT and then you use an Ethernet cable from the ONT to the router. The home phone connects to the provided router so If you want to keep it you’ll have to go through the provided router and put it into “bridge mode”, if the Vodafone router has it.

As you can use both PPPoE and IPoE/DHCP with eir, there are workarounds for them specifically for using the home phone without having to use the provided router in between the ONT and your own router.

As @dam099 has said Virgin through Virgin FTTP uses the integrated ONT in the Hub 5x instead of a separate unit on the wall, there is also CGNAT and DS-Lite to contend with. There is no “bridge/modem mode”. You can’t connect the fibre directly, you’d need a WAS-110 etc. which is an SFP ONT that can clone other ONTs.

You said you currently are connected to the Virgin router not in “bridge mode”, doing this is usually okay but you will have double NAT and that can cause issues with port forwarding. You can have this set up with Virgin through Virgin FTTP also if you haven’t noticed any issues with double NAT so far.

R75MM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123709274#Comment_123709274

Hi @NotShero,

Again many thanks for the replies on this query.

If I was to use the ISP provided modem with double NAT would I not be presented with the exact problem I'm trying to avoid - i.e. the ISP's modem usually only provides 1GB LAN ports?

If I were to connect directly to the ONT via Ethernet onto the Unifi UCG-Fiber would that run at 10GB or do I need some adapter (SFP or similar)? I know, this is a very basic question!. At least the Unifi gives me the 2.5G LAN ports.

I could move the home phone to a seperate SIP provider if that was a better option so that I'm not limited to the ISP provided modem only for a dial tone!

Thanks again.

-R7

dam099

Vodafone (and possibly others) will let you pull an IP on 2 routers as well (both PPPoE) so you can also put a switch between the ONT and connect the 2 routers to it avoiding double NAT (use the Vodafone router for phone only and switch off the WiFi and use the ICG for internet). Vodafone don’t seem to support bridge mode.

dam099

One other consideration is at higher speeds the UniFi Routers seem to struggle with PPPoE (although that has improved in the last year). DHCP doesn’t suffer as badly.

NotShero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123709304#Comment_123709304

The eir router has a 10Gb WAN port and 10Gb LAN port.

The Vodafone router only has one 10Gb Ethernet port. So they require you to buy the SFP module they sell to keep the 10Gb Ethernet port for LAN. You just connect the fibre directly to the module into the router but then it’s the same as Virgin through Virgin FTTP.

http://vodafonefaf.ie/products/sercomm-10g-ethernet-sfp-transceivers-silver

R75MM

Hi @dam099 ,

Thanks for both replies on the above. I think what I'm fundamentally trying to usderstand is:

1. If I connect the ONT with a switch inbetween the 2 devices as you suggested - what switch would I be looking for? some kind of 10G fiber switch? Sounds expensive?
2. I Perhaps I'm just not really grasping the Ethernet "media" bandwidth from the ONT to the switch and then from the swith to the two devices.

I get what you are saying with the PPoE, understood somewhat.

The above set-up sounds a bit complex just to keep a dial tone though if I'm being honest.

Thanks again.

-R7….learning slowly

NotShero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123709333#Comment_123709333

I’d go with eir if I was in your situation. There’s 5Gb instead of 2Gb. You can connect directly to the ONT and you can connect their router to your router with an Ethernet cable and just connect the phone to it with the eir router in PPPoE mode.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123427652#Comment_123427652

dam099

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123709333#Comment_123709333

I wasn’t thinking about the switch needing to support 10gbps, while it doesn’t need to be a fibre one even no name 10gb Ethernet switches probably run €100ish.

I would follow the approach @NotShero outlines above.

R75MM

Thanks all,

I think I'm rounding out on a solution now. Vodafone FTTH with either VM Wholesale or OpenEir; doesn't really matter.

Use a ethernet cable to connect from the ONT onto a brand new Unifi UCG-Fiber. The Ethernet from the ONT as far as I understand runs at 10GB without any need for any SFP etc. I hope this is correct!?

Put in vLAN, PPoE etc into the Unifi and then the rest is up to me internally to connect up using the 2.5G LAN ports on the Unifi.

Regarding 5GB internet @NotShero - I live alone and the max any of my devices will ever pull down is 2.5G so I'd hold off on 5G for now anyway. I do want to ensure I get full "line speed" of 2GB so that's why I'm obsessed with 2.5G ports!

As I'm a Vodafone mobile customer and a "new" broadband customer the deal looks good if I'm honest. Eir 5GB is overkill for me right now.

Regarding phone line - I'll go with a 3rd party SIP provider and just seperate that out. I have a Grandstream ATA 801 somewhere I think….

-R7

NotShero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123709370#Comment_123709370

Yes the ONT will be 10Gb, ethernet from ONT to your Unifi router.

PPPoE username - vodafone@vodafone.ie OR (Serial Number of Vodafone Router)@vfieftth.ie

PPPoE password - broadband

VLAN ID 10

You could still have the set up @dam099 has mentioned if Vodafone allows multiple IPs to one ONT through PPPoE -

ONT > Ethernet cable > 2.5Gb Ethernet Switch > One port to Unifi and another port to Vodafone router with home phone attached.

R75MM

Many thanks again. All is clear now.

-R7