Thanks. I've had the Linksys MX4200 router confirmed in writing from Matt in support. I did ask about the CGNAT but didn't get a reply - but I wasn't too worried because I think it's possible to check this after install and ask them to give me a dynamic public IP at that time if it proves to be CGNAT.

In reply to a post by Graz279:

Secondly I got an IP address which is CGNAT - the router connects directly to some bit of hardware at their end which then provides the routing function (I think) which means your hardware is not directly accessible from the Internet.

Out of interest has CGNAT causes any issues for you? Do websites/streaming etc all work as expected? No captchas just trying to view webpages and other problems that can be caused by CGNAT? Thanks

I was with Befibre briefly. I found their Customer service one of the worst I have experienced. It was almost impossible to speak to them, I never got to speak to Technical support, Customer support were not able to ask Tech support to call me back.

On the 900Mbs package, most evenings the download speed dropped to less than 10Mb.

Even when the speed on the router was reported as good, browsing was very 'laggy' as I still had the BT ADSL I compared some popular sites on two laptops, pages loaded much quicker on the BT service.

Technical Support only contacted me after I posted on Trustpilot

I had already realised I was on a shared IP address as the DNS client in the router didn't know the IP Adress, they did issue a dynamic IP address, which was slightly lass 'laggy'

The quality monitor showed dropped packets and a great increase in the ping time.

Speed issues continued. Worse between 19:00 - 21:00

Using a different DNS server made things slightly better, I was surprised they seem to use Google DNS.

I Couldn't see things improving so made the decision to migrate to another ISP on the Fibre Heros network. A 500MBs packge for more than the Befibre. Things improved immediately browsing snappy and consitant speed tests of around 475MBs It's been stable for three weeks.

Befibre don't have a minimum speed guarantee. Their 14day 'cooling off' is from you accepting the contract, not from the start of service.

I went with them because they offered 900Mbs for a great price, reasoning that all the ISP's on the Fibre Heros network would be the same - they are not ! If it's Fibre Heros providing the Fibre have a look at the other ISP's on their webpages.

Thanks. What router did you have from Be-Fibre? Were those low speeds over wifi, wired connection (ethernet) or both? Were you able to leave under the 30 day satisfaction guarantee (avoiding leaving penatlies)?

Did you try to email technical support ([email protected]) - if so how did that go? When I emailed [email protected] with pre-order technical questions I got no answer, but a technical support person (Matt) contacted me quite quickly when I emailed [email protected]

Unfortunately the only other FTTP option I have is Virgin Media, it's not via Fibre Heroes.

Interesting reading the above.

I’ve had the 900mb service for about a week.

We already have a Netgear Orbi mesh system, so have not installed the supplied router. Spoofed the MAC and it just worked.

Happy with the ultimate speed, even though it’s not hitting the heady heights of 900, I accept there will be Wi-Fi and other issues which prevent the full speed.

However, I am also getting awful lag when first clicking a link or entering a url. Like it’s struggling to resolve the connection in the first instance.

The details around DNS makes me think this is the way to solve it. Could anyone provide a more detailed way to address this so I can be as impressed as I should be?

Any help would be much appreciated.

I'm wondering the same - what DNS would be best if not Google?

I have to say I'm concerned about the lag in opening URLs if that is a general issue - though I don't recall anyone else mentioning that.

I wonder if you have a CGNAT IP address and somehow the fact that goes through Be-Fibre's servers slows it down. (Note - I have no expert knowledge here so I could be completely wrong). I also wonder if there are some settings on your router that are impacting this.

Perhaps have a look at some of the suggestions here

So I’ve changed the dns to the cloud flare settings and it appears to have improved the situation.

Seems to have introduced a weird artefact on some web pages, like bbc sport for example, where it almost seems to be waiting for an advert or something, and leaves a blanks space between the menu bar at the top of the page and the content below. About a third of the screen, left blank.

If you have been provided a shared IP address request a Dynamic IP, that certainly made it a little better for me.

You can change the DNS on your PC via the network and internet settings, or in the settings of your Router, the Befibre Router is hobbled by their firmware.

I used Cloudfare.

I honestly don't know if CGNAT has caused issues. Early on I was getting a lot of DNS lookup failures when trying to browse the web. This is a lot better now though not completely perfect. I don't know if the router to CGNAT hardware link plays a part in this but in my mind sticking something like this in the way has got to slow things down a bit perhaps.

I don't get any of this when using my work laptop connected to a VPN whereby the DNS lookups would be away from that process.

But yes everything works as expected as far as I can tell.

It just makes me wonder that they advertise having a static IP address (at £4 a month) will somehow improve your experience for gaming, downloading, streaming and so on. Really it shouldn't, the main benefit should be that it enables you to access your own hardware from the public Internet because it's not behind NAT and the IP address is known to you. It seems to suggest that they know their CGNAT system isn't the greatest and that getting away from it will make it all better.

Edited by Graz279 (Mon 30-Oct-23 15:27:18)