What mesh system for fttp 500Mbs

[whdck]

I have 500Mb/s sky fiber and i have this ont modem that looks something like on the photo

My question is simple, what kind of additional hardware do i need to replace standard Sky router with mesh system. With this modem can i connect it directly to the mesh via ethernet cable? I know SKY has some unsual requirements for hardware to support DHCP option 60/61 but i'm not sure if this is the case only when you don't have this box from openreach.

Ps. When you are building/buying new house, make sure that you have Lan/Ethernet ports throught the house so you can put your router in the place where you are going to use wifi the most 😄

[mae-3]

@whdck 

Yes, the wireless mesh can connect to the ONT by ethernet and it will need DHCP Option 61 and DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation (PD) for authenticating with Sky. Most pick Asus top-end wireless routers these have AiMesh and are 802.11ax wireless and support Sky authentication DHCP Option 61 and DHCPv6 PD.

[whdck]

@mae-3any cheaper options are possible? i checked asus zenwifi ax and 200£ for one device seems like a lot.

[mae-3]

@whdck 

The cheaper options involve keeping the Sky router in the circuit because they don't support DHCP Option 61, unfortunately. Basically, the cheaper options involve running the wireless mesh in access point mode which isn't ideal.

[whdck]

@mae-3thank you for you help, i did some digging, will it work with ax53u/ax58u + rp-ax56/rp-ax58? That setup router + one ranger extender connected with aimesh is slightly cheaper than single zenwifi ax mesh device.

[mae-3 · Accepted solution]

@whdck 

Yes, the AX53U/AX58U will work with Sky and the extender will work with AiMesh.

The only downside is these routers are dual-band 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz so the backhaul shares the 5Ghz band with wireless clients.

The better solution is to use a tri-band wireless mesh where one of the 5Ghz bands of which there are two is used for the backhaul mesh wireless system hence it offers better wireless speeds over the wireless mesh but as you know it is more expensive.

[Malkyx]

What's about Google WiFi pro 6e - could I connect direct to the ONT with them?

[mae-3]

@Malkyx 

The Google WiFi Pro 6e does support DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation but this only works on 80% of Sky broadband exchanges. For the best results and guaranteed to work routers must support DHCP Option 61 which Google's equipment doesn't support.

[Malkyx]

Thanks. I ended up just turning off the widow in the sky router and plugging the Google wood pro into a pan port of the sky hub. All working fine and dandy.

[Malkyx]

(WIFI pro- not wood pro 🙂 )

[Malkyx]

And in fact. I'm in Northern Ireland so initially plugged the Google into a lab port in the sky hub. Let it setup. Then have unplugged the sky router, updated the Google WiFi's pro to ipv6 and plugged straight into th ONT. Bingo. I have wifif direct to the Google widow and. No  need Now for sky router. Brilliant 

[Chrisee]

@Malkyx glad its working for you but as @mae-3 pointed out its not a certainty and some people have reported it failing after connecting.