Will off-the-shelf, normal Linksys's work with Gigaclears'

Hi folks!

Apologies for the dumb question. I'm hoping to get Gigaclear later this year when it comes to my village - which apparently has been approved, they tell me. It might not arrive for 6 months or so. Before then I have to boost some wifi around the house - actually outside the house through some thick wall. I figured it might be nice to try to future proof a little and buy some kit that would integrate well with the kit I'd likely be getting with a new Gigaclear connection.

I believe that Gigaclear use wifi 6 Linksys mesh devices. I suspect that they are locked down in some way, but have no idea if that's true. Does anyone know if one can buy normal Linksys kit that would integrate into a Gigaclear wifi mesh in a nice way please, or even which ones Gigaclear use?

I asked Gigaclear support and they didn't really answer - they suggested I wait until I have their broadband. They didn't volunteer what models of Linksys kit they use either. I will go back and press them, but thought the clever folks here might know.

Thanks all, and hope you've had a lovely Easter.

Ask Gigaclear if they are using using the Linksys Atlas Pro 6 Wifi router. If so you could possibly buy one now.

You could also ask Gigaclear if they are using a separate ONT. If so you may well be able to use any router you like.

Ive just had Gigaclear installled and have a LinkSys Velop Wifi6 mesh node that I wanted to use with it.

They currently supply MX5500 routers and i have a Wifi 6 LinkySys MX4200 connected to it as shown below

I could not get it to join a mesh via wireless with the Gigaclear supplied Linksys Velop router. My understanding is Gigaclear lock this function out and require you to pay an extra £10 a month to use its "Smart wifi" feature.

I was however to setup a mesh network by connecting my linksys velop node to the Gigaclear Linksys router via a ethernet cable. However on disconnecting, it wont again connect to the mesh via Wifi! So it remains connected via ethernet. But I do have the ability of using a mesh network.

Interestingly with the one Wifi6 Node "Ethernet connected" to the gigaclear LinkSys Velop, I am then able to add additional nodes to the LinkSys Mesh via the LinkSys App as normal and have a fully functioning mesh network. But the moment I unplug the one wired node - it stops working

hope this makes sense

Edited by guidcruncher (Tue 11-Apr-23 11:41:30)

Thanks Michael. Appreciate the help.

I've had Gigaclear for just over a year - the NTE provides the endpoint connection, and allows any router to be attached by ethernet which is allocated a DHCP address, so any router can be used. The Linksys velops they provided sit unused in a cupboard.

Hi guidcrusher. Thanks! This is top information. Much appreciated!

After a quick shufty at the Linksys website losing Mesh Wi-Fi systems for home I can see models called AX5400 (SKU: MX5501-KE or “Atlas Pro 6”) and AX5300 (SKU: MX5300-UK, or “Velop”) that sounds like an MX5500, but I can’t see that listed there exactly. Do you reckon that Atlas Pro 6 is the nearest equivalent?

Cheers!

In reply to a post by sheephouse:

I've had Gigaclear for just over a year - the NTE provides the endpoint connection, and allows any router to be attached by ethernet which is allocated a DHCP address, so any router can be used. The Linksys velops they provided sit unused in a cupboard.

Can you just change the router and will the replacement with a different MAC address connect immediately?