ISP BeFibre Ships Linksys Wi-Fi 6 Routers with UK Full Fibre Plans
Broadband ISP BeFibre, which alongside network partner Digital Infrastructure is building a full fibre (FTTP) network across towns in several counties (e.g. Essex, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire etc.), has signed a 3-year partnership with Linksys to supply customers with MX4200 Wi-Fi 6 routers.
Warrington-based BeFibre and Digital Infrastructure began their rollout last year with an aim to cover 1 million premises across 80 UK towns and cities by the end of 2027 (here), albeit starting with an initial goal of achieving 200,000 premises passed (Ready for Service) by the end of 2022 (14,000 had been completed by August). Multiple towns, such as Crewe, Brentwood, Worcester, Clacton on Sea, Hattersley and many more, are due to benefit (here and here).
Customers of the BeFibre service can expect to pay from £29 per month on a 24-month term for an unlimited 150Mbps (symmetric) package with free installation, which rises to just £51 for their top 1Gbps tier. The first 3 months of service are currently free on all of their packages. But the good news today is that subscribers will now also receive a WiFi 6 capable router – the Linksys MX4200.
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The MX4200 router is actually part of Linksys’ Velop Whole Home Mesh System, which is a tri-band device that is theoretically capable of delivering WiFi speeds up to 4.2Gbps (Gigabits per second). “We want to upgrade our customers’ worlds, transforming how they live, work and play,” commented BeFibre’s chief customer and operations officer, Louise Elliott. “After all, we need greater connectivity than ever before – whether we’re busy with video calls, working from home, binging on box-sets, or gaming.”
Linksys MX4200 Spec Sheet
WiFi Bands
- Tri-Band
WiFi Speed
- AX
WiFi Technology
- WiFi 6 (802.11ax)
Number of Ports
- 4+
Coverage
- 1,500 – 3,000 sq. ft.
Connected Devices
- 25 – 50
Works With
- Apple HomeKit
Number of Ethernet Ports
- 3 Gigabit LAN + 1 Gigabit WAN
Wi-Fi Range
- up to 3000 square feet
Memory
- Flash: 512MB; RAM: 512MB
Dimensions (LxWxH)
- 4.5″ x 4.5″ x 9.6″
Weight
- 2.08 lbs
Wi-Fi Speed
- AX4200 (600+1200+2400)
Storage File System Support
- FAT, FAT32, NTFS, HFS+
Security Features
- WPA2
- WPA2 / WPA3 Mixed Mode
- WPA3
Wi-Fi Technology
- AX4200 MU-MIMO Tri-Band Gigabit, 600+1200+2400 Mbps
Easy Setup
- Required for set-up: (1) Internet connection with Modem. (2) Mobile device with Android 6.0.1 or iOS 11.4 and higher, Bluetooth preferred.
- Simple and secured App based set-up
Key Features
- 1.4GHz Quad Core Processor
- 4×4 MU-MIMO
- Advanced Security
- Easy Setup with the Linksys App
- Gigabit Ethernet Ports
- Next-Gen OFDMA Technology
- Tri-Band Dynamic Backhaul
- USB 3.0 Port
Power Supply
- 12V / 3A
Antennas
- Internal
Wireless Encryption
- up to 128-bit
Other Ports
- USB 3.0
Processor
- 1.4GHz Quad-Core
Wi-Fi Bands
- 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 5GHz
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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That’s the same kit Community Fibre used for their 900Mbps tier. Brilliant bit of kit 🙂
It’s a shame these clowns have no idea how to build a network! Promised me service but then it turns out they didn’t even know if they had network anywhere near me! My friend has it and says it took ages to actually get an installation date from them
@Anon
The only clown is you.
Thanks @buggs. Not sure why me being unable to get service makes me a clown. I assume you work for them given that attitude?
@Anon
You being you makes you a clown.
haha and that’s not even me! – why would I care I have gold standard connectivity
Get a life mate – you really need to
@Buggs8 Deleted is a bit of a ****
No point denying it, you must be sick as a parrot with that ADSL line.
@buggs
I have no idea who you are, I’m a first time poster here – maybe you’re thinking of someone else? Or maybe you’re just a fool…
Very poor wifi coverage especially in old homes with brick walls inside. Anything with external antennas will be better and cheaper.
You’re correct. I sent it back to Amazon.
Currently with Be Fibre and have the Adtran 854-6, see my post “beyond basic router”, hopefully they don’t play about with the firmware and completely ruin another router.
They’d be silly to do anything other than slap a BeFibre sticker on the dashboard. It’s an awesome bit of kit.
So from what I have read in the short time since my previous post here, this is a whole home mesh wifi addon to a modem, the installation setup says to plug into your modem, so looks like we are stuck with the Adtran rubbish. There is no mention if this is the 2 or 3 pack whole home, just the MX4200 is mentioned, yet checking the Linksys site that is just a wifi 6 router, the packs are MX8400 and MX12600, so unless you get a pack you would have the Adtran sat next to the Linksys????? to gain what?
To buy a single add on child node is about £200, just don’t see the logic of promoting whole home wifi and giving you one unit lol
Counting down the days til I leave still
It’s a router to replace the adtran. The inital press release advised.
No more adtran. But no word of confirmation if this is a mesh pack or single unit. I expect a single unit.
But there is no sfp cage on the Linksys, currently the Adtran uses the sfp port, so would they change the connection from the wall or replace the current wall plate to a modem or convertor?
The adtran unit will remain though will only be there to convert fibre to copper (and some other ONT functions). All routing (for the home) and WiFi is done by the Linksys router which plugs into the Adtran ONT with a standard ethernet cable.
Can I connect a landline handset to the router to use voip
March 2023 install here, No Linksys router. Using Adtran thing and wifi performance is POOR.