Replacing Eir F3000 Broadband Router with Ubiquiti System

BobbyT28 · 04-07-2025 02:51PM

This is my current connect, black cable is the fibre coming into the ont and the Yellow cable is the fibre from the ONT to the eir modem.

The eir modem has a sfp port which this fibre connects into. Do I just remove this sfp and put it into the new UCG

dam099 · 04-07-2025 02:54PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123604372#Comment_123604372

By modem do you mean the ONT or the Eir router? I have never heard of anyone plugging the fibre straight into their router on any network other than Virgin's FTTH.

The usual set up is fibre comes into house into a NTU and that is connected by fibre to the ONT. Then the ONT is connected to the Eir router by RJ45 ethernet cable.

Do you have a picture of the SFP module if that's not your setup?

BobbyT28 · 04-07-2025 02:59PM

The fibre from outside comes into the ONT and then I have a Fibre patch from that ONT into the eir modem/router.

here is a picture of the GPON status and serial numbers

dam099 · 04-07-2025 03:14PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123604440#Comment_123604440

Do you definitely have an ONT and not just a NTU/ODP? I would have thought the ONT is redundant if fibre goes directly into the router.

You will need an ONT to use the UCG with RJ45.

The SFP module might work with the UCG, if you had a model number you might be able to google compatibility, otherwise will just be a case of try it and see.

Edit: I missed your post with the pictures, I don't think you have an ONT just a NTU/ODP.

If the optical SFP module doesn't work you might have a problem. Possibly a good chance it will as the Eir SFP module is likely approved/coded to their network and UCG does support optical ONTs at least generally.

BobbyT28 · 04-07-2025 03:22PM

here it is open, you can see from the first pic, the black fibre has the fibre coming in and that connects into a port which in turn connects into a sfp that has the fibre patch cable into the Eir router. I take it I can just buy a SFP to work with the UCG?

BobbyT28 · 04-07-2025 03:26PM

worse case scenario, I can just bridge the eir router and use rj45 from the eir router to the UCG???

NBAiii · 04-07-2025 03:48PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123604521#Comment_123604521

That is not an ONT. It is an NTU as said earlier. The green port is just a joint where the exterior fibre cable is mated to the interior patch cable.

Your ONT is the SFP module in the router. You are the first person I have seen with this setup from eir so you will be a guinea pig. As @dam099 said it may just be a case of removing the SFP module from the eir device and plugging it into the Ubiquiti, but there is a chance it will not work so it is up to you if you want to risk it.

Does the eir Sagemcom router even have a functional bridge mode for fibre? I would not be relying on it working.

With third-party SFPs you are again going to be the first I've seen on here trying to get it to work with the Openeir network and it will require configuration and effort on your behalf.

I'm curious how you ended up on this trial, were you approached to take part by eir? Did you get any compensation or reduced rates for taking part? If you ever wanted to move to another ISP it would require another technician visit to install an external ONT.

BobbyT28 · 04-07-2025 04:07PM

it has bridge mode

BobbyT28 · 04-07-2025 04:23PM

SFP MODULE IS: XGS PON - 10GB

NotShero · 04-07-2025 06:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123604727#Comment_123604727

A normal SFP module wouldn’t work, it would have to be an ONU SFP and the only one that supports multiple ISPs around the world is the WAS-110 or the X-ONU-SFPP with 8311 firmware. It has to handshake with the OLT in the exchange.

People have gotten it to work with Virgin Media as there was a guide for Virgin Media UK that mostly matched up here. No one would have attempted this with eir yet as far as I am aware but there is a community 8311 Discord available that might be able to look into how they could support it.

It’s disappointing to see eir planning on doing away with an ONT, it just makes things more complicated for users who want to use their own router and then having to get an ONT installed when switching providers.

Edit - Sorry I didn’t realise the SFP in the eir router was removable, this then should just work connecting it to the UCG or maybe an SFP switch or media converter in between? But eir might have it completely locked down. In any case the bridge mode should definitely work.

dam099 · 04-07-2025 06:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123604958#Comment_123604958

He has a SFP module that Eir supplied though, shouldn't that have a decent chance of working?

NotShero · 04-07-2025 06:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123604989#Comment_123604989

Yeah I saw that there a few minutes ago, I added an edit a minute ago.

ItHurtsWhenIP · 05-07-2025 02:11PM

@BobbyT28 Wish I new someone who would 3D print one for me as I have the CAD file for the 3D printed NVME slot

A colleague mentioned that some Public Libraries have 3D printers available for use. The only stipulation is that the print job must finish before the place closes for the night.

BobbyT28 · 05-07-2025 02:39PM

don’t think I’ll bother. Reading online you’re just going to run into trouble with it long term. I’ll pick it up when I’m ordering my AP’s

BobbyT28 · 07-07-2025 08:35PM

had a bit of a mare trying to get this connected today. Between the kids running in and out and other distractions I ended up throwing in the towel.

Initially I just tried the sfp directly into the but no activity. Now I didn’t try to connect to the UCG while it was connected but it just said no internet.

I then connected the Ethernet port on the UCG to port 1 on the eir modem (as I put it into bridge mode ) I could see I was connected to the internet so I know that bridge mode works to a certain extent.

The issue I have is, IP addresses, I use a 192.168.0.1/24 for my home network. The USG was giving itself a 192.168.1.0/24 address, I only noticed this after about 1hr (kids and Tiredness)!! In the end I threw in the towel for another day, I restored my backed to my modem and everything connected back up. But I could not connect back to my old UniFi network to manage it and still can’t after restoring original network.

Two questions,

Any decent walk through on how to set this up in bridge mode and adopt devices from another controller like Layer 3 adoption?
How do I setup the default gateway on the UCG? I thought when I connected the wan ethernet port on the UCG to port 1 on eir modem after putting it into bridge mode that everything should just work on a L2 level and the UCG would controller allocation of IP’s but when I connected the ether cable to port 1 on eir modem I still didn’t have internet. I restored the UCG and tried setup again and it wasn’t getting internet.
Any suggestions what I could be doing wrong?

Thanks in advance

BobbyT28

NotShero · 07-07-2025 08:53PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613109#Comment_123613109

Your open eir/eir set up is so new and as you said yourself you're in a trial with it, I don't know will anyone be able to give you a definite answer. The "bridge mode" on the router just might not work yet as it's still a trial etc.

Maybe try changing the LAN IP address of the eir router to 192.168.1.254

Anyone not on this trial has an NTU installed on the wall, exactly like yours, but has the fibre patch cable connected to a separate ethernet ONT on the wall instead of an SFP ONT module inserted in the router.

The only thing I can think of is getting a separate switch or media converter in between but I don't know if that would actually work. I would say the option of ordering a WAS-110, like Virgin Media FTTP, is there also but would need advise from the 8311 Discord.

BobbyT28 · 08-07-2025 08:45AM

bridge is working as I can see eir broadband on port 1 (WAN 10G) on the UCG so I know it’s working, then I see on the UCG display 22 clients connected.

The issue I’m having is IP addressing, also my AP’s and POE switch are all associated with the my other UniFi controller that I don’t have access to now!!!

Anyway, I’m gonna do a full reset on the AP’s and Switch after I’ve turned DHCP and bridged the modem and they should show in UniFi device manager.

When I bridge it, what IP config should you be using?? I wanted to start a fresh and segment my IOT devices with my day to day devices like phones and other devices. I’ve created two networks 192.168.1.x/24 (HomeWifi) & 192.168.2.x/24 for my IOT devices.

In terms of default gateways etc as the modem is in bridge modem. What default gateway do I use for internet connectivity? My modem was using the 192.168.0.x/24 but since it’s bridge mode what do I on the UniFi UCG?

Any help is appreciated and if you have any guides or links that you could share that would be great.

Thanks again

BobbyT28

NotShero · 08-07-2025 09:19AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613827#Comment_123613827

Try changing the gateway on the UCG to 192.168.1.2/24 and update the DHCP range to 192.168.1.10 - 192.168.1.250

BorneTobyWilde · 09-07-2025 01:27PM

Why is WIFI so crap on these. Literally 20ft away, and there is no wifi.You have to walk up to modem for it to find a signal, and then stay close to it

I remember a very early Eircom modem, and it would work down the garden 300ft away.

Glaceon · 09-07-2025 01:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123617417#Comment_123617417

Speed and frequency. That was probably the old silver Netopia router, which ran on 2.4 GHz and only needed to drive a 2 Mb line in a lot of cases.

BailMeOut · 09-07-2025 01:44PM

get yourself a UCG Ultra and 1, 2 or 3 x U7 Pro APs and place around your house. You can mesh or hard wire these APs.

https://eu.store.ui.com/eu/en/category/all-cloud-gateways/products/ucg-ultra

https://eu.store.ui.com/eu/en/category/all-wifi/products/u7-pro

No need to bridge the Eir router, you an just double NAT from Eir to your UCG and it will work fine.

This is what I do and it's the best Wifi system you can do. Ask any IT person what Wifi they use and most will say Unifi.

BorneTobyWilde · 09-07-2025 02:00PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123617431#Comment_123617431

So things for 10 times worse with new tech. /?

What's the answer

NotShero · 09-07-2025 02:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123617517#Comment_123617517

Some sort of wireless "mesh/extender" set up, if you don't want/have hardwired ethernet around the house. Extra ethernet wireless access points would be superior.

Glaceon · 09-07-2025 02:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123617517#Comment_123617517

It's worse because there's a lot more data to move around, and a higher frequency band to accommodate that speed. It's fairly simple to move a 2-8 Mb connection around wirelessly on 2.4 GHz with a Wi-Fi 3 device (802.11g, max speed 54 Mb/s) over long distances. It's not so simple when it's a 1 Gb connection, you could use that same Eircom router over the same distance but you'd only get a fraction of the speed.

I have three UniFi access points in a modern 3-bed semi, the insulation in new builds doesn't help with this sort of thing either.

BorneTobyWilde · 09-07-2025 05:00PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123617612#Comment_123617612

Does that device need it's only power supply, or is it just connected directly to modem via ethernet cable ,as to move the signal closer to a point in home

NotShero · 09-07-2025 05:14PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123618041#Comment_123618041

You are thinking of PoE (Power over Ethernet). You would need to add a switch or a router that has PoE ports or the power supply that can be bought separately does similar. None of the ISP routers would have a PoE switch built in.

BobbyT28 · 09-07-2025 05:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613827#Comment_123613827

No it's just not gonna work.

When I bridge it, I lost Internet connectivity and I get no DHCP IP address from ISP. I might just ask them to take me off this box and reinstall the F3000 as I want to use this UCG

Glaceon · 09-07-2025 06:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123618041#Comment_123618041

As @NotShero mentioned above me. I have a PoE switch to power the access points over the Cat6 cabling.

NotShero · 09-07-2025 06:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123618260#Comment_123618260

Why is the primary WAN - 192.168.0.204, that seems like it is just getting an IP address from the eir router’s DHCP and modem mode is not working correctly. Have you tried resetting the eir router and then putting it into “Bridge Mode”?

Also, Did you have VLAN 10 configured when you tried just plugging the SFP directly into the Ubiquiti?

https://community.ui.com/questions/Configuration-help-needed-for-ISP-that-uses-VLAN-IDs/be2e28d9-41c7-444e-81b7-8b05397476a4

If you really wanted to just get it to work, but you will have double NAT, which causes issues with port forwarding -

Eir router - Bridge Mode Disabled. Turn off all WiFi. Turn off DHCP. Turn off uPnP. LAN IP address set to 192.168.0.254.

Ubiquiti - LAN IP/Gateway set to 192.168.0.1. DHCP range - 192.168.0.5 - 192.168.0.250.

You currently don’t have an ethernet ONT with that trial. You don’t need to still have the F3000 connected with a normal ethernet ONT installation. So you can just connect whatever router you want directly to an ONT on the wall.

Dero · 09-07-2025 06:28PM

Hmm. That's strange. A few things to check:

Have you got the WAN connection tagged as VLAN 10? I think Eir require that (along with most Irish ISPs I think).?

Have you tried using the Eir SFP in the UCG? It's possible that the connection is authenticated via the SFP, much like the ONT authenticates on other GPON setups.

For the gateway issue, the default gateway for the UCG itself is whatever it receives from Eir and should be automatic. The default gateway for each LAN network should be it's own address. E.g. for your 192.168.2.0/24 network, the gateway will be 192.168.2.1. Again this should be handled automatically by the DHCP server for that network (assuming you're using one).

One thing to check is for each network apart from the default, make sure the router is set to UCG Fiber. This bit me because I had restored a UniFi backup which had been using pfSense, so all the networks were set to third party gateway. Took a bit of head scratching before I figured out why I had no internet.

EDIT to add another thought. Does the Eir modem bridge through any port, or do have to connect the downstream router to a specific port?

Replacing Eir F3000 Broadband Router with Ubiquiti System

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