Whatcha taking about I have 1gbps down and up for £25 a month where can you get that outside of London? Massively unfair

Wider point: it's really difficult to debug people's internet connection problems, because the terminology, network topography, and different products in use are massive variables.

Specific points:

- If the Nokia in question is what Face said it is, a Nokia Beacon 2, then it is just a router base station, with mesh capabilities.
- To connect to the internet, therefore, it needs an ONT (Optical Network Terminal, basically a modem for FTTP connections)
- I'm assuming (but cannot be sure) that whatever is on Face's wall is the said ONT, and the cable comes inside from that, and (normally) plugs straight into the Nokia Beacon 2
- The Beacon 2 then routes the connection to connected devices via ethernet and wifi
- The problem begins when Face plugs in a different routing base station: his Eero
- Forgetting about internet connection encapsulations for a moment, this immediately creates a problem: his internet connection is being routed (which means his network addresses are being translated (NAT)) twice: once by the Nokia, then once again by his Eero: double NAT!!!! oh noes
- Normally, you could put one or the other into bridge mode: this removes the routing for one base station, and then it should work
- BUT with Mesh systems this can create issues: it could be that the Eero needs to be in routing mode to be able to mesh properly with its other access points around the house?
- So the most sensible approach is to simply remove one of the routers entirely -and since Face wants mesh and has invested in Eero, removing the Nokia makes the most sense
- So then you'd plug the Eero base station straight into the cable coming out of the ONT / wall

But
- I do not know how his connection is encapsulated: the support pages for Unity Internet's Velocity service (FTTP) claim it is PPPoE encapsulated, which means you need to authenticate your first router to the service (user name and password), which you can do in the Eero easily enough (select PPPoE and enter details); but when he got in touch with support, they seemed to claim it is simple DHCP, so that would mean no auth and you simply plug the Eero in and select DHCP as the connection type and voila. This is a major confusion for me, it can only be one or the other
- I am also assuming that the box on wall is indeed an ONT / modem - if it isn't, I do not know what he was plugging the Nokia into, or whether he has incorrectly identified his Nokia box, and it is indeed a modem / router combo, or something else!

Hence my wider point. At this point I'd have to talk him though things as I usually do my friends and family with this sort of shite

Funkstain wrote:

But - I do not know how his connection is encapsulated: the support pages for Unity Internet's Velocity service (FTTP) claim it is PPPoE encapsulated, which means you need to authenticate your first router to the service (user name and password), which you can do in the Eero easily enough (select PPPoE and enter details); but when he got in touch with support, they seemed to claim it is simple DHCP, so that would mean no auth and you simply plug the Eero in and select DHCP as the connection type and voila. This is a major confusion for me, it can only be one or the other

See, I figured the easiest way to figure out whether Face’s signal coming in is PPPoE or DHCP authenticated would be just to factory reset the Eero, then plug it in and test. If it works, then it’s using a DHCP setup. If it doesn’t work, switch the Eero setting to PPPoE and pop the login details in. Then see if that works. If it still doesn’t work, give up, swear at things, and go get a beer to calm down.

poprock wrote:

drumbeg wrote:

Why are people suggesting to plug the Eero directly into wall, when it isn't a modem? What am I missing?

Because when you have Fibre to the Property (FttP) the box on your wall, inside your home, is the modem. All you need to do is plug your router of choice in.

I think this is exactly what I was not understanding, with me being a FTTC chump!

Super informative stuff from you too Funk. Nice one.

Funkstain wrote:

Whatcha taking about I have 1gbps down and up for £25 a month where can you get that outside of London? Massively unfair

Who's that with?

An update. My Stern letter to Uniti ended with these basic questions:

Am I able to use a router other than the Nokia Beacon provided? 
If so, does Uniti have a list of "approved" routers?
Is it definitely the case that I can't put the Nokia in bridge mode with the Eero?
Is it definitely the case that I can't use options on the Eero to use it ONLY to connect?


meanwhile, here's some pics for the lols.


The Opticon box on the right side of the house, outside. I presume this is the fibre coming to the house.
(Note the cross on the wall, on the inside, that is where the wall plug and routers are.)


Lest you think they just go straight line to the wall. This is inside the garage on the left side of the house.
Don't know what the little telstra box does. Note the LAN cable going from Port 1 to 2.


On the door of the cable collection in the garage. Data in on Port 1, Study on Port 2, where all my stuff is. Port 3. I would guess is at the back of the house, but I can't be arsed getting into where that is as house came with a monster TV cabinet that is a mofo to move.


Finally, the in the house set up. posted before, but that shows the wall.

Funk, you are accurate re the Beacon 2.

Drum, Eero is definitely also a router. In fact, I'm almost certain that if I was with another ISP (iinet), who I've dealt with before, I could connect it directly.

Also I’m still confused by what happens when you plug the eero direct to the Ethernet connection in the study. I get that Internet / WiFi drops but I don’t understand why you cannot directly connect to eero and diagnose problem. You can with every router I’ve used before, either via direct WiFi connection or Ethernet / LAn connection. I guess the latter is out if it needs a mobile app but still

Think I’ve cracked it Face.
You need to connect the Nokia to this…

Funkstain wrote:

Also I’m still confused by what happens when you plug the eero direct to the Ethernet connection in the study. I get that Internet / WiFi drops but I don’t understand why you cannot directly connect to eero and diagnose problem. You can with every router I’ve used before, either via direct WiFi connection or Ethernet / LAn connection. I guess the latter is out if it needs a mobile app but still

This is a test I'll do when no one is home and I have time. to get net back and reset everything is a 20 minute process because of how slow the Beacon is for set up. Also, because the Eero has just been working and I don't want to mess it up.

Do you live in a block of flats/row of houses that has an internet provider pre-installed?

The box on the wall in your living room is definitely not like any NTU I've ever seen.

This looks like a shared internet scheme perhaps.

When only using the Nokia (wired or wireless), what are the exact connection settings when you go into the setup screen for it? Screenshot of them would be handy. From a webpage, and not just an app if possible.

Also, what are the lights labelled on it, and which ones are on? What colour are they? Are they solid or flashing?

Yes this is the worst thing about troubleshooting networks. It’s complicated and takes time and therefor the whole family is like what the fuck it kind of worked just leave it you fool and everything is the worst

Anyway that’s probably a red herring, the port 1 to port 2 thing suggests installer just went what the actual shit is this oh this’ll work

ChopperByrne wrote:

Do you live in a block of flats/row of houses that has an internet provider pre-installed?

Yes. Estate had telstra boxes where the opticon box is now. Estate installed it's own fibre throughout, then opticon took over and is setting up fibre to home for whoever wants it and allows folks to pick provider.

https://hillshomehub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Hills-Hub-manual.pdf

https://hillshomehub.com.au/

ChopperByrne wrote:

https://hillshomehub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Hills-Hub-manual.pdf https://hillshomehub.com.au/