topic Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point in Broadband & Landline

1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

planetf1b — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 18:21:52 GMT

I'm considering getting the 900/110 service on EE broadband.

I already have a router (N100 miniPC running opnsense) that I will continue using as router since I run a number of things on there including packet inspection etc.

Can the BT provided router be used purely as an access point bridged to an existing network (over ethernet)?

I currently use my existing ISP provided eero (they're horrid for routing, but decent for wifi), but need to return if I switch.

Obviously I will otherwise buy a standalone wap system -such as https://ui.com/wifi but extra £ 😞

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

JimM11 — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 18:28:02 GMT

@planetf1b If landline for DV is required the EE router is required, double nat only option for routing, if not then correct directly as a third party router to the new ONT which is the modem and assuming you do not have fibre as yet. HTH

EE router has no AP or bridge mode function, all or nothing thats you 2 choices with it.

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

XRaySpeX — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 19:21:05 GMT

The EE-provided router, SH+, does not have bridging mode as such but you can disable WiFi on it & connect all your WiFi devices to your existing router.

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

planetf1a — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 21:33:29 GMT

No dv needed so I’d connect my own directly (essential) Would need to use something else for WiFi. At least I know when considering options

thanks

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

JimM11 — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 06:14:42 GMT

@planetf1a Link for the router to connect. And if you get to keep the eero then you may be able to use if they have AP mode.

How Do I Use My Own Router for Home Broadband? | Help | EE

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

planetf1b — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 06:27:46 GMT

I've now had the EE service for a week. I thought it worth clarifying this in case anyone else wishes to do the same

In my case I have opnsense as my router for a range of reasons, and do do things a more basic ISP provided router cannot.

The EE router can be used as an AP. I was able to :
- connect directly to EE router (via a LAN port)
- Disable DHCP and Ipv6 (to avoid any additional RAs)
- set an appropriate SSID etc
- turn off the LED
- connect any of my current home ethernet ports to one of the LAN ports

With this configuration, the EE 'router' is now dumb. It is only working as an access point bridging WAN and LAN.

I currently have an Eero router from previous ISP, which is used only as a wifi AP, but it needs to be returned. I will likely buy Ubiquity wifi kit, so this EE router usage is just an experiment for short term.

Interestingly I noticed that from my iPhone 13 pro max at least it performed significantly faster (~700 Mbps) than my eero (550 Mbps) despite both using wifi 5 and 2x2 mimo... Neither really an issue for a phone. fastest speeds just needed on laptops which are mostly ethernet connected.

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

Mustrum — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 07:21:23 GMT

@planetf1b my question would be why?

If your router can be configured to use PPOE, then simply connect to the ONT.

Setting are simple and EE provided a handy Help page. https://ee.co.uk/help/broadband/getting-started/using-and-configuring-a-third-party-router

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

JimM11 — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 07:47:57 GMT

@planetf1b Please do keep the forum up to date, with any oddities that you come across, but you may not if going to setup a true AP before then.

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

planetf1b — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 22:13:24 GMT

Just noticed the old thread.

I did switch to EE broadband. I have one area of the house which needs to get through an external wall to security cameras/car. I tried out the EE hub (the older one, not the shiny new wifi7 one). Works just fine as a network bridge, ie ethernet connected to my LAN port. configured my ssid/security, disabled dhcp & ipv6 RA. So it just bridges from ethernet to wifi without interfering (have a separate router with dhcp, which also advertises a ipv6 prefix).

So it can be used in the way I was hoping. Interestingly it performs better than an eero 6e, at least on 5 Ghz. consistently,

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

Mr_Incredible — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 00:12:36 GMT

@planetf1b

Out of interest, do you use VLANs off your N100 ports to better segment your setup?

Is it the EE Smart Hub Plus that you have as an AP point into your LAN? If so, are you using the 'Guest Wifi' as well as the main 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz channels? If so, just curious how you deal with keeping that isolated if that is auto assigned an IP by the EE Router (10.100.100.0/24)? As far as I could see on the Plus I have (and a Pro version as well), there is no facility to dictate what that subnet is on the Guest Wifi.

Thanks.

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

XRaySpeX — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 01:34:16 GMT

@Mr_Incredible : Other than the SSID & pwd of the SH+ Guest Network there are no DHCP settings anywhere in the router for it. I connected to the Guest network of my SH+, with default DHCP, & found it had a Gateway IP of 10.100.100.1 & had assigned my PC to 10.100.100.196. However there was no trace of this connection within Advanced Settings > My Network.

EDIT: The last statement is not quite true! Before I connect my PC to the Guest Network there are no WiFi connections in My Network. After I connect to Guest Network by WiFi an entry appears in the WiFi connections in My Network, but it's not 10.100.100.196. It is in fact 192.168.1.9 which is the reserved (Static if you like) IP I give to my PC over WiFi. What do you make of that? Does it mean its IP over the Guest Network, 10.100.100.196, is synonymous with its main network IP, 192.168.1.9?

Further observations:

I can ping 10.100.100.196 from my PC.
When I ping 192.168.1.9 I get:

Pinging 192.168.1.9 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.10: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.10: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.10: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.10: Destination host unreachable.

where 192.168.1.10 is the reserved IP I give to my PC over Ethernet.

I shall do further tests to what isolation there is.

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

Mr_Incredible — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 10:54:45 GMT

@XRaySpeX Crikey!

When I connect my S22 Ultra to the guest wifi it gets a 10.100.100.0/24 address. However, I assume because it uses a randomised MAC address, I don't think it can be associated with any previous IP to the 192.168.1.0/23 subnet.

FWIW, I cannot ping from my PC to the S22 nor vice versa when connected to the guest wifi.

If I set my phone's wifi connections to both the guest wifi and main wifi to have my phone's MAC address instead of random and then connecting to the main wifi first, the guest wifi does assign the same local link address to both connections but the 10.100.100.0/24 wifi connection is definitely still isolated from the main as I cannot ping between my PC and the phone when on Guest Wifi.

Perhaps there are some firewall rules you have lurking in the background somewhere that allows you to ping between subnets?

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

Mr_Incredible — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:50:21 GMT

As a follow up to this, I put another 3rd party router into the mix to connect to the ONT and plumbed the SH2 back in as an AP just by connecting a LAN port to the 'new' router. The WAN port remained unconnected.

Although the 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and 'compatible' WiFi networks all work and connect to the internet via the new router as expected by the LAN port (and by using a DNS and DHCP server on Adguard running in a container on Proxmox elsewhere on the network!) the Guest WiFi appears to be bridged directly to the WAN port and I assume the Guest WiFi takes that as its default because when connected to Guest there was no internet at all. I even manually changed the WiFi settings on the phone and manually set an IP, Gateway DNS, the WiFi would not connect me.

So the SH2 cannot provide a Guest WiFi if plumbed in as a 'dumb' AP point because nothing can be done about the WAN port/Gateway and DHCP working on that interface, i.e. 10.100.100.0/24.

I need to get out more......

Re: 1 Gbps EE broadband : use router only as access point

JimM11 — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:59:34 GMT

@Mr_Incredible But if they let you out more, then this information that you find would not be forthcoming! You will never be truly sure as there are no AP/BRIDGE modes etc so at the mercy of how the FW controls..