Grain Broadband - use own router?

Hello

I recently had Grain broadband installed and has been a good service with exception of supplied router combo wifi signal is not the best.

I have two Eero 6 pro which I'd like to use as have used these on my old connection and were quite solid and worked for me.

My Grain connection uses Point-to-Point fibre, the fibre comes into the inside of property to a termination box, a fibre cable runs from the termination box direct to the back of the Zyxel 5601 router which is connected with SFP module which slides into the rear of the router.

The router is fairly large, sticks out of place and attempts to hide it arent proving well. So I purchased a SFP media converter to ethernet. Upon trying this the other day, the Eero just wouldn't connect (even though the Eero worked when the Zyxel was in bridge mode)

Does anyone know if its possible to do away with the Zyxel 5601 router for something more compact or any connection settings I could try on the Eero to work it with the SFP converter? Or whether an SFP converter is simply unsuitable in this setup.

I consider myself to have some reasonable knowledge or DSL/FTTC connections, however fibre connections and set up have left me with my head scratching.

Thanks in advance
NE.

Did you get anywhere with this?

I'm joining Grain soon and would also like to avoid using their router.

Hey!

Yes I did, I purchased a TP Link SFP converter from Amazon

I then disconnected the SFP module from behind the grain router and inserted into the TP link and connected up the Eero 6 router via ethernet.

Seems to work, but I had to disconnect and reconnect the ethernet cable between converter and router as my router would say it was offline. So anytime I power off the router/converter I have to re-insert the ethernet cable. Not sure if this is just my eero router though.

Works a charm though, stable connection and great speeds.

Let me know if I can help you any further.

Thanks, I may come back once I've had my install completed

My ideal scenario is to use my current router which has an SFP+ port on it.

I got connected today.

My router (Ubiquiti dream router 7) has an SFP+ port so I was able to use my own router without any issue.

I just unplugged the SFP from the grain router and plugged it into my router.

What is it like speed wise? Any issues? And latency or BQM graphs - how do they look?

831Mbit down and 914Mbit up when testing now. Ping was 10ms.

I’ve not had a chance to setup a BQM yet - not sure it would work as I have CGNAT until my static IP is provisioned.

I’m liking it being integrated into my dream router - not having to run a ONT or router in bridge mode is nice.

The UDR7 can also do dual WAN so I’ve got two connections for now.

Been using a UDM-Pro since mid-2020 and there is so much information available to me from it. I also have UI APs and cameras. I do't use Dual WAN - but can, if my FTTP goes down, power up the BT hhub and 4G dongle.

Good that teh UDM-Pro can be set to run a speedtest (basic) every night, latency is continually monitored and when connected to an AP a speed test runs in two parts: Device to AP and Gateway to Host Server.

Once you have your Static IP - if you have problems with BQM, let me know and I will give you some pointers..

Yeah I moved from an Eero to this UDR7 and I love the level of data I can see.

It has been a little buggy (it freezes once a week) but I can live with that whilst they iron out the bugs in the firmware.

I’ll let you know if I need help with the BQM.

How did you get the static IP to work with your UDM? I tried cloning the MAC of the router that previously had a static IP assigned (Zyxel router) but it doesn't appear to work.

Just in case someone else wants to get a static IP working:

Check out the configured broadband networks in your Zyxel routers (Network Setting/Broadband). You will find two networks there: One labelled MANAGEMENT and the other one labelled INTERNET. One of them has a VLAN assigned (in my case 36). Take note of that VLAN ID.

Next, go to the "System Info" from the router homepage and note down the MAC Address of the INTERNET WAN.

In your UDM, go to "Settings"/"Internet". Select your WAN port and select Manual settings. Enable the VLAN ID and set it to the one you wrote down earlier. Then enable MAC Address Clone and set it to the MAC Address you noted down earlier. Disable IPv6 Connection and set the IPv4 Connection to DHCPv4.

That's it. You should now have access to your static IP.

Sorry I was away for the weekend, you’ve already worked out the steps needed.

Hi
I just joined grain and despise using ISP routers, I want to switch to using my own router. I have an Asus Router AX82U and plan on getting the SFP converter. when using the SFP converter do you just connect the ethernet to the WAN port? Also does it work right away or are there any configurations needed on the WAN settings? Does Zyxel router need to be set to bridge mode too?

Edited by Shader123 (Fri 07-Nov-25 14:49:59)

In reply to a post by Shader123:

Hi
I just joined grain and despise using ISP routers, I want to switch to using my own router. I have an Asus Router AX82U and plan on getting the SFP converter. when using the SFP converter do you just connect the ethernet to the WAN port? Also does it work right away or are there any configurations needed on the WAN settings? Does Zyxel router need to be set to bridge mode too?

??? A little confused by your question I think you have this:

Grain Fibre -> SFP -> Zyxel -> Your LAN

and you are looking at doing this:

Grain Fibre-> SFP -> SFP Converter -> Your ASUS AX82U -> Your LAN

In which case you just unplug the Zyxel and keep it safe in a cupboard, where it doesn't need to be in bridge mode. Or are you intending to do this, in which case you wouldn't need the SFP converter:

Grain Fibre -> SFP -> Zyxel in bridge mode-> Your ASUS AX82U -> Your LAN

Has anyone who has removed the monstrosity of the zyxel router and used their own router has any issues with Grain Support? They had been trying to contact me repeatedly and finally left a message about an update, and that they couldn't see my router (of course - it's connected to my UDR7). I contacted them to advise they wouldn't be able to see it and they quoted T/C's and security risk (standard speil). It is true in the T/C's it does mention not to connect your own equipment. Anyone else had the same, I really don't want to be using their router in bridge mode as I have no space for it.

In reply to a post by Tupe:

the monstrosity of the zyxel router

I know nothing about Grain, but yes, it is a monstrosity, especially if you want it in bridge mode and you compare it with an ONT. I wouldn't want to give it house room either. The security risk thing is rubbish. Their network is probably safer with a diversity of routers with no single vulnerability to exploit.

I was using my UDR7 via the SFP module without any issues.

I’m currently using the grain router (with dual NAT) as I moved to the 2Gbit product. At some point I’ll remove the grain router and go back to the previous setup, but wanted to be “normal’ for when I got upgraded as it needs an engineer visit.

Whilst it’s an extra box to power, I don’t see a huge issue with security as your UDR7 will be managing your network.

Thought I would update, well after 3 days grain just switched me off 🤣. Then sent me an email and hour later saying they had deactivated the connection due to a breach in terms and conditions, and they wouldn't reactivate me until I connected their equipment back up, then had a right faff getting it reactivated as it wouldn't get an IP from them, but got it sorted eventually with support.

Anyhoo. I have ended up using their router as a modem. They put it into bridge mode, it's still single NAT and get my dedicated and I had to give them my UDR7's MAC for them to allow it their side.

This has actually turned out positively in one way as I now get much better WiFi and wired throughput from devices. E.g I could only get 500 or so max throughput on any device wirwd/wireless and now I can max out the full 900 (the router itself would always test fine directly at the full 900). I assume this is because the wan routing is offloading onto the zyxel allowing the UDR7 to just deal with the LAN/WLANs

Have to put up with the 2 devices and bulky zyxel but I have managed to hide it away somewhere.