Connecting Bell fibre directly to UDM SE with SFP+ and PPPoE

[DMot]

Has anyone connected directly to their router with an SFP and PPPoE or another method?  I'm looking for the right 10Gig SFP, but I'm not sure what one to get

I have a Ubiquitiy UDM SE gateway/router.  Currently I have a 10 Gig SFP+ to RG45 with a patch between it and the HH4K's 10G RJ45 port.  I'd like to eliminate the HH4K and go direct if possible.

thanks.

[rainfactor]

THE only way to disable the double NAT is to purchase a standalone XGS-PON adapter, program it and connect your fibre into it.Of course will go into your Unifi device. This will give you the true passthrough mode with no double nat and no any other workarounds This is the dumbed down version of the process, For more details search for pon wiki online and you will be able to find all the details. There is also a Discord channel for this topic.Please note that in the case of a failure or Internet issue, Bell support might need to have you connected to their modem in order to tshoot.Cheers

[iDVB]

That sounds very doable and positive to me. Are there any barriers / downsides, like lower bandwidth rates or that Bell needs to "bless" the PON and typically don't do this for residential or something like that?

[dks]

Other than you are on your own, it can work. Bell does not support non-Bell equipment. And keep the modem. If you leave Bell, you have to return the modem or pay a bill. 

[rainfactor]

The downsides (in my opinion) are : the adapter is not cheap. Anywhere between 200 and 300 CAD, depending on where you will buy it. The other one would be your technical ability to follow some steps when programming it.(you need to have some networking knowledge). As far as for the rest i'm not sure I can fully expand this here. Please look for the keywords I posted and you will probably find all the answers you need in order to decide if you want to go down this road or not 

[iDVB]

Thanks @rainfactor . 
My primary concern was that Bell officially would not give you access/ability to use this PON for residential. Like a needed code or something. Or that the speed would go down using it.  But if neither is true, $200-300 sounds pretty sweet and I'm fairly technical person, so I'll likely give it a go if the possibly is there.

[Cami]

Thank you for taking the time out together this article. However you can simply connect a Ethernet cable between the cloud gateway and the bell Giga modems 10Gb port and configure it to PPoE. You will need the access user id and password. And as soon as that is done you will see the wan interface with the public IP. It works. You don’t need to go down the route of DMZ. Cheers

[LikesToys]

I think that this post goes on and on because Bell really doesnt want people to understand the limitations of working without Bridging, the reduced throughput of PPPoe and the overhead of DMZ.  Basically getting 3Gig using Bells system will never happen.  

[dks]

More that Bell has a standard configuration, does not support bridge mode in consumer internet and does not support any equipment beyond what they supply. Bell has always been that way. In the POTS copper system you could not connect any customer owned equipment to the Bell lines. Period. No exceptions. Mind you that was 40 years ago, but it was a simple fact of life. 

[Yodaminium]

I have been wanting to grab a Bell Fiber service since it came out-but that no bridging of the modem for residential users? Naw- that won't work for me and it is a definite pass for me thanks.

Teksavvy WILL bridge their modem and thats who I am currently with for internet.

I just need there service to me at least 2.5Gbps and this liberal controlled CRTC has put the lid on that can.

I am just waiting for a SANE CRTC to be put into place so we can get faster than 1.5Gbps from any reseller - CRTC .s under the liberals--it's a TOP 3 gets all the love and resellers are getting hosed by the CRTC currently.

AND it IS corporate greed of course it is. 

I also just found out the Rogers pure fiber is a dumb switch if you want.

Rogers will also bridge your Fiber modem if you want to use your own equipment-I heard through the grapevine so call them to get the real truth as I have not confirmed that yet.

BUT, I HATE Rogers with a passion and going back to their service will feel like giving evil deeds to the devil (to me).

BUT, if I don't have at least 2.5Gbps fiber by next year then Rogers it is cause NOT bridging the modem means Bell loses MOST techs as customers-unless they grab a hacked transceiver then you can bypass the bell mode with zero issues.

I heard that to. I'd rather not but I have been looking at that to.

As far as I am concerned there are two reasons and two reasons only why Bell would not want to bridge the modem...they want to give everyone a hard time if they want to run a server (game servers too!!!!) and/or they are spying as much as they legally can on what you are doing on the internet. For whatever purpose.

[dks]

If you are happy with your current provider, that's great. Stay with them. We all have choices as consumers. There are technical reasons why Bell offers a passthrough mode for the Giga Hub as opposed to a bridge mode, but those with more knowledge that I can say more. There is nothing to prevent a customer from running a gaming server, but you do need some technical knowhow. As for Bell "spying", I guess Bell knows everything about me. I've had Bell internet since the first dialup accounts in 1994! And I still have a dialup modem! 

[rainfactor]

I'm not sure if CRTC being "liberal" has anything to do with Bell's decision to sell their modems like they are.I personally believe it is a pure cost decision, they are probably relatively cheap for the volume they're buying.

At the end of the day Bell or any other Telco has no obligation to provide for residential internet a modem however I want or you want. Is it upsetting that the modem is garbage for our needs and they use PPPoE in 2025? Sure it is, but most people that care specifically about this aspect. have moved on and bypassed it using the available means that are documented pretty much all over the Internet.

As far as spying I wouldn't know what do you mean, if you mean SPI this is an industry standard that exists on any Telco's network and it is not necessarily spying.With all do respect if you need to hide your traffic to the point that nothing is being seen on the outside then you are on the wrong forum.

Bell losing "tech-customers" is insignificant if you look at the subscribers' pool. For the 99% of Bell(or any other provider really) customers the hub as bad as it is (in our opinion) will do more than fine. The majority of people will have no clue what NAT,bridge etc is and will never try to host their own server(any server). Do you really believe that the execs at Bell will look at the end of the quarter and say "OMG we lost 10 tech customers Let's bridge our modems" ? I really doubt it. It is all about the volume and the bottom line. I personally have horror stories from Bell, Rogers, Telus, Virgin etc therefore I became "provider agnostic" As long as the price is right, I have sufficient knowledge to manage my modem and If I don't I will search for a solution. In the Bell's case the solution exists, you just need to apply it.

Cheers

[Freonstar]

Hey @Toyo, can you tell me the PPPoE login format to input, is it just b1xxxx like it shows on the GH, or I need to append @Bell.ca like b1xxxxx@bell.net. I've searched all Internet but was not able to find that info. Also, If I connect my 3rd party router (Mikrotik) to Bell via XGSPON module, which settings do I need to do in my Mikrotik? Cannot find this info on the Internet. Thanks for your response. 

[Vanadiel]

It's the B1 username and the associated password. You need to enter that under the PPPOE interface of your router.

For a Mikrotik router it's the same, but if you use the GPON directly there are additional settings that need to be done.

You are not going to find any step by step for the Mikrotik and like not for the Ubiquiti either.

A Mikrotik would look like this for the PPPOE section, and you would also need to setup the SFP+ section for the GPON module. And then of course your regular interfaces and the bridge.

Mikrotik has a good online help section for their routers, but it does require a fair amount of networking knowledge to grasp their setup.

[Freonstar]

Thanks @Vanadiel for your reply.

Again, no need for @Bell.ca after the B1 login? 

As for the Mikrotik, I use XGSPON module to plug into the 10G switch, it is now operational with 0.5 status in the XGSPON status, which means it connects to Bell ONT. Now my Mikrotik connects to the switch. As for the login and password to put into the PPPoE section, I understand that. I was asking about Bell specific info to set in the Mikrotik, not how to set it, but what to set. Chat GPT says to put VLAN35, which is specific to Bell connection. I read here also about routes to be input. So I wanted to ask for that specific info that I need to input into my Mikrotik.. I don't find that info on other forums including Discord and Pon Wiki. 

[Vanadiel]

The specific settings are in the picture I posted, but the GPON should be going into the SFP+ port of the Mikrotik.

Using a 10G switch before that is not going to work as the switch cannot establish a PPPOE connection, unless it's a managed switch with PPPOE support. In which case you will end up with double NAT.

Now they do sell convertors to convert the fibre to ethernet, so you can then use the ethernet out as a WAN connection for a router, but a switch instead of a convertor will not work.