Gigaclear broadband

[randlemarcus]

jamoor said:

If this is something that happens frequently get a better quality router?

Upthread, he's said that's not a possibility. One possibility might be to use the router as a modem only, and put something else in to manage the WiFi, like a Unifi cloud controller. Still have the physical security and the power down issues though. Maybe train the hall guardians in remote support, i.e. turning it off and on again.

[outnumbered]

You could stick a Raspberry PI behind it, and connect in remotely to the RPI and manage the router from there. That would give you a way of solving most issues.

[pr100]

All a-dither as Gigaclear 900Mbps is due to be installed on Wednesday and I don't know enough about their kit. Their FAQ at https://www.gigaclear.com/help/gigaclear-powered-b... talks about choosing router or bridge mode but doesn't tell me why I might choose to opt for bridge mode.

I'm planning to daisychain three mesh nodes together with Cat6 (sadly this uses both of the LAN ports on each node so I have to dongle an ethernet hub off each node). Is bridge mode essential for this?

The drawback with bridge node, according to the FAQ, is that it disables features such as Device List, Speed Check, Parental Controls, Device Prioritisation, and Port Forwarding. TIA.

[jamoor]

pr100 said:

All a-dither as Gigaclear 900Mbps is due to be installed on Wednesday and I don't know enough about their kit. Their FAQ at https://www.gigaclear.com/help/gigaclear-powered-b... talks about choosing router or bridge mode but doesn't tell me why I might choose to opt for bridge mode.

I'm planning to daisychain three mesh nodes together with Cat6 (sadly this uses both of the LAN ports on each node so I have to dongle an ethernet hub off each node). Is bridge mode essential for this?

The drawback with bridge node, according to the FAQ, is that it disables features such as Device List, Speed Check, Parental Controls, Device Prioritisation, and Port Forwarding. TIA.

Can’t you just get an edge router and use that instead?

I wouldn’t bother with consumer networking gear as in my experience it’s expensive and poor performance and reliability

Edited by jamoor on Saturday 14th December 14:35

[Jobbo]

Thanks for bumping this thread. I had forgotten I’d been meaning to log in to my Gigaclear router and turn off the wifi again. It must have auto-updated and reset the settings. I don’t use it in bridge mode, just use Google Wifi and turn off the router wifi.

[pr100]

First I need to understand what bridge mode means.

[jamoor]

pr100 said:

First I need to understand what bridge mode means.

your router acts like a modem and your new router does the routing.

[pr100]

Thanks. I think 'bridge' is the default setup with new Gigaclear Velop mesh installations since the user can configure the first/master node - which is ethernet hardwired to the fibre termination wall plate - in the same way as they would set up a conventional router. Subsequent nodes can also be hardwired if daisychained or connected wirelessly to the master node.

[JustALooseScrew]

pr100 said:

First I need to understand what bridge mode means.

Routers (and their inbuilt Firewalls and Port Forwarding tables, Time Constraints and perhaps Parental Controls) make decisions on where and whether to deliver the data packets.

A 'router' that is in bridge mode does none of this. It essentially listens on the local side (LAN) and allows anything destined for the outside world (WAN) to pass over the bridge. Like wise any thing from the WAN destined for the LAN is allowed in.

In the old days this was called a modem and hence the need for firewall software on a PC to manage the traffic.

Think of Bridge mode being like a open road between countries, no checks everyone can come and go as they please. Think of a Routing mode as being a border where checks can be made if they are implemented.

[OX10]

Has anyone setup the GigaClear DRG739v2 router in bridge mode for the new Google Nest Wifi mesh network ? If so, does it work well ? Are there any simple instructions on what changes to make to the DRG739v2 router ?

[OX10]

OX10 said:

Has anyone setup the GigaClear DRG739v2 router in bridge mode for the new Google Nest Wifi mesh network ? If so, does it work well ? Are there any simple instructions on what changes to make to the DRG739v2 router ?

Sorted! GigaClear have to set Bridge mode themselves. I called them & arranged a cut over for 10am next day. I bought the new Google Nest WiFi router & 2 points. I installed the Google Home app on my phone & followed instructions. Simply connect the Linksys router into the port with a world symbol on the Google router. The app is v easy to use. Within 15 mins, I had full WiFi in all rooms in a 4 bedroom house. Dead easy. I then plugged my Vonage ethernet plug into the spare port in the Google router & it just worked!

I ran speed tests around the house, which previously had dead/slow spots when using Home Plugs with built in WiFi extenders. But now, I was getting 90+mbps upload & download speeds anywhere in the house. (I have the GigaClear 100 mbps service). So, really pleased.

The new Google Nest points double as smart speakers too, which was a key reason for choosing them. I assume that the Linksys Smart WiFi option being sold by GigaClear creates a similar mesh network, but they don't have built in smart speakers. +1 for mesh networks & no more home plugs too.

[pr100]

In my house - 50% of which is extensions built onto very solid formerly external walls - the Linksys Velop mesh nodes supplied by Gigaclear give a variable wi-fi performance, even with 4 nodes at strategic locations. In the first floor bedroom where the fibre enters the property, the first/master node is ethernet-wired to the fibre termination plate and in this room delivers a 500Mbps wi-fi signal (on my 900Mbps contract). If I connect a device to it with Cat6, I get the full nameplate speed. But even with the help of three more nodes, the wi-fi speed is halved in the room below and drops to 20-50Mbps in the extended kitchen and conservatory. My tests showed that each added node improved the wi-fi signal but not dramatically. So for wi-fi setups I would recommend starting on a speedier package than you think you need so that the connection remains usable in poor reception areas.

The wi-fi performance does improve dramatically if you daisy chain your nodes together with ethernet cable since each node then mirrors the performance of the master node - and you then have the option of plugging devices into the nodes via Cat6 to get the full contracted speed - which is never contended btw. But since the nodes only have two ethernet ports, both of which are used if they are daisy-chained together, you would have to introduce an ethernet switch/splitter to each node you wanted to use this way.

[pr100]

pr100 said:

In the first floor bedroom where the fibre enters the property, the first/master node is ethernet-wired to the fibre termination plate and in this room delivers a 500Mbps wi-fi signal (on my 900Mbps contract). If I connect a device to it with Cat6, I get the full nameplate speed. But even with the help of three more nodes, the wi-fi speed is halved in the room below and drops to 20-50Mbps in the extended kitchen and conservatory.

Having now had some time to experiment, my wi-fi speeds are much improved by the simple act of rotating the nodes on their axis to find the optimum orientation. By doing nothing else I was able to increase the above speeds by a further 100Mbps per node - so even the conservatory now gets 150Mbps. I still plan to daisy chain them together but for other reasons.

[soupytwist]

Gigaclear came down our road in October last year, digging up the pavement to put in the POTs outside each house. I’ve finally got fed up with our flaky Plusnet connection (goes down so often at 10pm you can practically set your watch by it) and crackly landline so I’ve signed up for the Ultrafast 300 package using a pretty handy discount code that came on a leaflet Gigaclear put through our door.
They’re now providing a Linksys router - https://www.gigaclear.com/technical and the package I’ve opted for comes with a second device for mesh wifi. Any comments on whether this is going to be better than the previous arrangements?

I could keep my existing Draytek 2760n and use that as an access point if necessary.

Thanks

[poo at Paul's]

soupytwist said:

Gigaclear came down our road in October last year, digging up the pavement to put in the POTs outside each house. I’ve finally got fed up with our flaky Plusnet connection (goes down so often at 10pm you can practically set your watch by it) and crackly landline so I’ve signed up for the Ultrafast 300 package using a pretty handy discount code that came on a leaflet Gigaclear put through our door.
They’re now providing a Linksys router - https://www.gigaclear.com/technical and the package I’ve opted for comes with a second device for mesh wifi. Any comments on whether this is going to be better than the previous arrangements?

I could keep my existing Draytek 2760n and use that as an access point if necessary.

Thanks

tHe linksys velops system is a bit flaky tbh. Some nodes drop out at least once per day and seems rather unreliable. The maseter node seems ok, the mesh bit seems a bit crap tbh

[soupytwist]

Just to round this off, I had the installation done last Wednesday. All went well, and I now have a solid connection that delivers a consistent 115Mbps wireless throughout the house. All I want to know is whether I can activate ethernet ports 2,3 & 4 on the wall mounted box to connect devices to directly or if I have to use the one spare ethernet port on the Linksys modem thingy. Obviously would rather the former.

Edited by soupytwist on Saturday 1st August 16:32

[Jobbo]

It would seem odd if you couldn’t use the other Ethernet ports, but I have no experience of the new Linksys router.

I have the older Genexis router and all the Ethernet ports work fine; I have a Google Wifi network plugged into one and a PS4 wired to the second.

[soupytwist]

Just because someone DM'd me to ask, thought I'd better put the answer from Gigaclear on the thread -

Gigaclear told me that the other ethernet connections on the wall box (router) don't work and only one of them is active to connect the Velop node to the router. I think you're right that it would need to go from router to velop node back to the switch and then to equipment. I use the spare port on the Velop node to connect to a powerline adaptor and that goes to my TV set top box, which needs a wired connection. Everything else is on the wi-fi and works well.

To be honest I haven't actually tested whether the other ethernet ports work or not by plugging something in. Maybe I should.

[GRTMan]

It would be useful if you could test that for me. I'm about to change my Genysis to Linksys

[Accelebrate]

Excuse the bump - but I thought I'd add my Gigaclear experience to date.

I think they first announced that they would be coming to our village back in mid-2021. In Jan 2022 they gave a community presentation over Teams and at the time stated that our village should be live in around Jan 2023. I contacted them in Dec 2022 and was told the go-live was now Dec 2023. They were busy at the end of last year digging up the other side of the village to us and had POTS outside most properties but all work seemed to stall at the start of this year. I contacted them again last month and was told the ETA was now Q2 2024 due to a 'number of unforeseen reasons'.

Everything seemed to kick off again in May with a different set of contractors. They completely relocated one of the two large cabinets that had been installed in 2022 (I guess that was maybe one of the 'unforeseen reasons') and a few weeks ago they started digging trenches and installing POTs near our house.

I now have my own POT, the contractors were happy to alter the location to place it closer to my garage than my house - I relocated my Openreach master socket into my garage and have a few runs of ethernet from a small cabinet going back into the house powering and connecting UniFi access points. I plan to use these rather than the Gigaclear-provided Linksys mesh stuff.

I got a call yesterday inviting me to place an order. I've been given an install date at the end of July, this seems a bit ambitious as they haven't yet blown any fibre into the ducts around here, but we'll see. I ordered a 500/500Mb package for £20/month.

We're in an area that's eligible for a government-funded rural gigabit voucher. Weirdly, you can optionally pledge your voucher to Gigaclear at the point of order. They had funding in place to complete our village build regardless, and there is no reduction in service cost. They're welcome to mine - I tried to use it with Openreach a number of years ago but they wanted me to form a limited company or community interest group just to receive the voucher and then pay them. I started this process, Openreach then made everyone that I was communicating with redundant and there didn't seem to be anyone left supporting the voucher scheme. Amusingly, probably spurred on by Gigaclear's presence Openreach has recently announced they'll provide us with FTTP by 2028.