Community Fibre 3Gbps SFP+

Hi,

I'm looking to move to their 3Gbps tarrif this summer. Looking at the Zyxel router they provide , it seems to have an "SFP+ cage". I'm wondering do they supply an XGS-PON module for this which I can then plug into my own network equipment rather than use their router. I know it's a bit of a niche product but maybe someone out there has experience with it.

Cheers

Can you provide the router model number?

I don't know the specifics of CF's service, but I'll just point out that any 3Gbps service needs to provide a high-speed connection to *your* local network in order to be able to use it. Therefore I'd imagine that the SFP+ port is provided to connect their router to your own 10G switch, or to a 10G NIC on your PC.

This can be done over short distances (<7m) using an SFP+ Direct Attach Cable, or for longer distances over fibre, using a pair of SFP+ transceivers.

Yeah my network is 10Gbps ready (actually have 40Gbps running on part of it). I'm wondering how easy it would be to slot their SFP+ module in.

Looks to me like the SFP+ pluggable is a simple transceiver and requires host functionality on the AX7501-B0 router they supply to perform ONT/ONU duties.

In short, it won’t work outside of the AX7501-B0 box. It’s not the same functionality as a pluggable ONT like for example a Huawei MA5671A

https://service-provider.zyxel.com/global/en/product...

Looking at what Community Fibre publish here:
https://communityfibre.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles...
It looks like the router supplied is "3GBPS ZYXEL AX7501 ROUTER"
https://service-provider.zyxel.com/global/en/product...

This model does indeed have an SFP+ for the WAN side, which they say can either be XGS-PON or point-to-point at the network operator's choice. The LAN side is 10G on copper (RJ45), plus four 1G RJ45.

So you *might* be able to plug their XGS-PON module into some other router with SFP+, like the Mikrotik RB4011, but it depends very much on what that router supports.

It may be possible to put their Zyxel into bridge mode, and then connect your own router into that using 10G on RJ45.

Finally, you could leave the Zyxel in place, put your own router behind it, and then add a static route on the Zyxel pointing to the subnets which are behind your router.

Also, you could ask if they would supply the ADTRAN 621X instead of the Zyxel.

This is an XGS-PON pure ONT. It would be perfect for hooking up an existing router, as long as it has 10G RJ45 WAN interface.

However as far as I can see, it also relies on an SFP+ XGS-PON module:
https://portal.adtran.com/pub/Library/Data_Sheets/In...

I've asked CF this before (when I was pondering upgrading to their 3Gbit service). The SFP+ module is not a pluggable ONT in itself - the Zyxel router itself does the authentication against their OLT rather than the SFP+. You'd need to stick it in bridge mode if given the Zyxel. They also have an Adtran ONT with 10G handoff but unsure if they still supply it.

Edited by branflakes (Sat 21-May-22 10:23:41)

Yeah the most likely will be be 10Gbps via RJ45 and put the Zyxel in bridge mode. The only issue is the RJ45/SFP+ transceivers get a bit hot.

I have a leased line with them and I have the non-10Gbps version of the ADTRAN. I might ask for that 10Gbps version. Might be worth seeing what they say

In reply to a post by roundrobin:

Yeah the most likely will be be 10Gbps via RJ45 and put the Zyxel in bridge mode. The only issue is the RJ45/SFP+ transceivers get a bit hot.

I have a leased line with them and I have the non-10Gbps version of the ADTRAN. I might ask for that 10Gbps version. Might be worth seeing what they say

Do they use a 621X to terminate their DIA circuit? Interesting..

All 10G stuff gets quite hot; 10GBaseT RJ45 transceivers are the worst. I'm setting up a 25G switch and that's scalding to the touch with empty SFP28 cages.

They do yeah. My 40Gbps ones are very warm even when transferring minimal data. It's why I like FS.com as things are cheap to replace. lol