Hi Mike,

I was reading your thread with interest as I've just signed up and been connected with BeFibre.

I've had some initial issues getting and staying connected as my router was getting no IP address from the network, but now they have resolved that.

I'm now getting some issues where every 12-24 hours the DNS stops working similar to what you mentioned.

I have the same Nokia ONT on my wall and I have the Adtran router cabled to my Deco X20 mesh system (access point mode). I tried changing my DNS manually as you suggested hoping it would stabilise, but a few hours later I've had to reboot the adtran again to restore connectivity - very annoying!

I have seen others that have got rid of the Adtran router altogether and put the VLAN ID into their Deco and set it on router mode. I believe you would also have to spoof the MAC address of the Adtran on the Deco settings too as the MAC lock the network. I've not found out full instructions on how to attempt this yet anywhere.

I dont think I'm getting the best of performance from my Deco's either but I'm working my way through various tests on that too - I just need things to be stable for a few days first.

As our setups are so similar, I thought I would let you know my experiences too - maybe we can find some solutions between us!

Thanks,

Jon

Just some further news from me that may help others. My Adtran router was slowly losing service every 12-24 hours and eventually needed a reboot to get full service restored again.

I got sick of this today and converted my Deco to be the main router and took the Adtran out of the loop. This was suprisingly easy, but I did have to spoof the MAC address in the Advanced settings. As soon as I did the internet came straight up! I'll see how this goes for the next few days but hopefully its a lot more stable than the Adtran!

I tried doing exactly this and found that no vlans were involved and that they were locking the network down by mac address instead.

I was expecting to be connected up with an SFP module direct to the Adtran so was pleasantly surprised when they fitted an ONT.

For the CGNat issue, I had confirmed before ordering that they didn't use CGNat so had something in writing for when it turned out they did. They resolved issue within minutes of my email to support.

Apologies for the late reply but the email notifications have been going to my junk mail.

As i think you've now found out, no Vlans are used and it's just the mac address that's required.

I only had the Adtran in situ for a couple of days so didn't get to play with it much but was seeing some weird issues where DNS was working and I could ping a website but couldn't open same site in a browser. Then DNS wouldn't work. Then I was getting an Ipv6 address despite BeFibre not using Ipv6. Nightmare.

What speed are you seeing through your Deco? I was seeing it capped at roughly 250Mbs but eventually got it sorted and now get 850+ on occasion when wired and 550Mbs wireless.

Edited by mikeycrawford (Tue 09-May-23 23:58:17)

Mine has been very stable this past week. The Decos were one of the best IT purchases I've made. No more kids complaining about wifi.

When I was seeing poor speeds with the M4s I was ready to upgrade them but it looks to have been a combination of the QoS settings and an odd issue involving the wireless backhaul.

I posted about it over in the Deco forums. Search M4 capped at 250Mbs.

Hello,
I just thought I'd jump on board this thread and share my experience with them now I've had it a couple of months, as I'm aware information out there is a bit thin on the group for this ISP in terms of feedback.

The Service:
I've got the full speed package and independent speed tests from my Raspberry Pi acting as a home server hardwired to the router tend to show about 900Mbps down stream and 750-800Mbps upstream most of the time so the speeds are good, as is the latency. Connection reliability is now solid, the first two weeks were very ropey with repeated drop outs but support have told me there was an issue with some hardware in the area that has now been fixed. Since then, I have experienced no drop outs.

IP Address / CGNAT:
They did confirm with me that I was on a public facing IP address which I have since confirmed now that my Raspberry Pi is up and running as a server (including VPN), it wasn't static however which was fine as I never expected that. I know others have reported being behind CGNAT, I wonder if this depends on what package you sign up to.


**

The Router:
This is what lets the service down. The connection is an ONT connected to the wall and then the Adtran router connects to the ONT using a CAT 6 (or higher) cable. The router is basic at best. It supports 802.11ax but in terms of functionality is very limited. My suspicion is the router is capable of more but the Be Fibre firmware they have flashed it with really limits it.

I tried connecting my own router to the ONT however, Be Fibre can't/won't provide credentials for authentication and I can't find a way to get it to work. The Adtran router does not support Bridge Mode so you're stuck with it. I have to use my Asus wireless mesh setup in AP mode which is frustrating as it is capable of delivering so much more functionality as a router than the Adtran (or at least, what the Adtran is being allowed to do).

Their website says they are partnering with Linksys to use the Velop as a router instead but this hasn't entered the testing phase yet. Hopefully it will soon.

**
Support:
The bulk of their tech support is done through a ticketing / email system which is absolutely fine for non-urgent issues / queries and a couple of the people I've communicated with through this platform are very helpful.

If however you have a more urgent matter and need telephone support, that is truly lacking and they need to work on this significantly.

**
Overall:
I'm happy with the service but they really need to sort that router out or allow you to connect your own TP router.

Edited by ManTimes (Mon 15-May-23 20:06:25)

Thanks for the input. Still early days for me but was glad to be able to get rid of the ADTran router. Did you try using its MAC address in your own router? Not all routers let you, but the TP Link Decos do. No credentials were required, just DHCP on the Wan with a known Mac address.

We had BeFibre successfully installed last week. First installer was a contractor and had not used a drill before. Totally messed up the installation and it took about 2 weeks for a competent engineer to fix the issues.

Now we are up and running but also getting into intermittent dropouts and DNS failures. BeFibre have flashed the router but the errors are still occurring.

Support have identified an issue with the assigned IP and have raised a ticket to get this resolved.

I have also purchased the Deco XE75Pro mesh system and will attempt to follow the advice on here to set this up to replace the BeFibre stock router.

I've found support by phone and email to be fast and responsive.

Mikey, I cannot thank you enough. I have spent hours trying to configure my own router without joy and had subsequently resorted to using my own mesh in AP mode. I had completely overlooked the obvious of cloning the MAC address in the DHCP settings until you put this.

Sure enough I tried it and am now Adtran free using my own mesh back in router mode. Big thanks for making this suggestion.