Running a Bell Giga Hub with your own Hardware behind it (Fix Incoming)

[MrCaspan]

I just wanted to pot this here for anyone else having issues running their own equipment behind the V1 or V2 Giga Hub and are having issues with DHCP not working properly and the internet going down every 10 min for ~5-10 seconds.

I have an entire write up on my blog with a LOT of details and how to properly run your own equipment behind the Giga Modem. Sorry I am posting to my Own blog link so that I can ensure the data is accurate and I can edit mistakes.

https://caspan.com/2026/08/bell-giga-hub-dhcp-renew-bug-confirmed-firmware-bug-fix-incoming/

TL;DR for best way to run your own equipment. Put the Hub in advanced DMZ mode setting the MAC address for your routers interface connected to the 10Gb port. Reboot the HUB, Reboot the router, DO NOT use PPPoE Passthrough or double NATing or BRIDGE MODE your connection will be limited unless you have really really good hardware that is designed to handle PPPoE encapsulation

Also just to add to this, PLEASE DON'T ADD THE OBLIGATORY  "Bell does not support your own equipment" comment to this thread. It's like everyone's go to statement on this forum. Believe me I get it and yes it is a 100% correct statement that Bell will not spend their time or money to help troubleshoot YOUR equipment. BELL WILL make sure their equipment is running as promised, that is their job and their responsibility and it should be. BUT that statement DOES NOT MEAN Bell's hardware cannot not support running your own equipment. There is a big difference between those two statements, and I think a lot of people on here blur these lines or don't understand the difference. The Giga Hub is 100% capable of doing this and is DESIGNED to do this hence the Advanced DMZ mode exists.  Sorry for the rant but it had to be said. If you cannot support someone else hardware config just says you are unfamiliar with their hardware or config and you cannot help DONT fall back to this Bell catch all statement

I really hope this helps others having the same issues! Please feel free to discuss this here.

THANK YOU LEVEL 3 TECH SUPPORT and people that know what the heck they are doing that work for Bell when hard issues like this occur, You don't get the praise you deserve for listening and fixing the issues!

[MrCaspan]

I wanted to add to this for others that there are a few ways to have your own hardware run behind the Giga Hub and each one has its Pros/Cons

1. PPPoE passthrough (hub stays inline, your router dials PPPoE)
This is where Bell will pass through the PPPoE to your hardware. You really don't have to do anything to turn this on is a default option by the Hub. You just have to enter your B1 username and password on your hardware. Essentially what will happen is the modem will get a PPPoE session and so will your hardware using the same PPPoE U/P

Pro: Public IP on your own router, no double NAT, nothing to configure on the hub.
Con: Consumer routers do PPPoE in software, so multi-gig plans get bottlenecked to a few hundred Mbps.

2. Advanced DMZ (Preferred Method)
In this mode the Hub handles the PPPoE but then hands of any Public IP it gets to the device with the MAC address you specify. I think it does a bit of MAC cloning to trick Bells servers but I could be wrong on this. The hub then becomes a DHCP server for your first device so that it can be configured easily without the need for a B1 U/P

Pro: The hub handles PPPoE encapsulation in hardware, so you get close to full line rate.
Con: Known DHCP renewal bug drops the WAN every 10 minutes, and nothing on your side can overlap 192.168.2.0/24. (Firmware fix coming for this)

3. Hidden bridge mode (Enabled by Bell)
This is ALMOST the same as the PPPoE pass through but this only establishes a single PPPoE session using your Bell B1 U/P I have no idea what the real difference is and why you would want one over the other but I think with Bridge mode the router portion of the hub really turns all its extra features off and becomes truly dumb PPPoE pass through AKA an ONT/Media Converter only

Pro: True pseudo-bridge, hub fully out of the routing path.
Con: Only offered to business clients, not residential accounts. You need enterprise hardware to handle the PPPoE encapsulation to get any kind of decent speed.

4. Run your own ONT with an SFP+ ONT stick (WAS-110 / X-ONU-SFPP)
In this option you terminate your fibre at your own hardware and need to close the MAC address of the Bell ONT and leave Bell out of the equation 100%

Pro: Hub removed entirely, fiber terminates on your own gateway, no Bell firmware bugs.
Con: ~$225 CAD, requires a gateway with SFP+ and a SFP+ ONT stick that allows its firmwareto be reprogrammed

5. Hub keeps routing, your gear sits behind it
Pro: works out of the box, zero setup.
Con: double NAT, breaks port forwarding and VPN inbound.

Advanced DMZ for consumers with their own network is the best way to go here unless you have enterprise priced networking gear lying around. You really want the Bell hub in between to do the PPPoE stuff its dedicated hardware and that's was the job its hardware is designed for!

[Vanadiel]

I think I made this comment before in another tread, but why use DHCP on the WAN of the second router?

I would use static IP, which would avoid the DHCP bug for now. You would need to make sure you select the correct static IP and upon hub reboot it might change as they are dynamically assigned.

I think that would be a workaround for now, and you should use the DHCP server from your own router for your LAN.

As for PPPOE hardware versus software, I use a cheap Mikrotik router that has hardware offloading for PPPOE and has no issues with PPPOE throughput. I do use the GPON directly so I have no home hub in the equation.

[MrCaspan]

Because for some reason Unify only allows you to go down to a subnet mask of /8 and the IP I get uses a /2 that's the main reason why plus DHCP SHOULD work but yes as a temporary work around this could work.. but every time Bell changes your IP your entire network will go down. and I know it's not that often but it does happen