London ISP Community Fibre Prep New WiFi 6 Broadband Router

London-focused UK ISP and network operator CommunityFibre, which is deploying a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across the city, has revealed that they’re in the process of making a bespoke new Linksys router available across most of their packages to replace the old MX4200 tri-band device.

Just to recap. CommunityFibre’s full fibre network currently covers 1 million homes (July 2023) – both in and around parts of London – and that’s up from 720,000 in December 2022, plus on top of that they also cover 212,000 businesses (i.e. their network footprint has expanded by 75% in a year).

Residential customers typically pay from £20 per month on 24-month term (optional term of 12-months) for a symmetric speed of 150Mbps with an included router (£22 thereafter), which rises to £49 for their top 3Gbps tier (£51 thereafter). On top of that they also have a special tariff that gives you 35Mbps speeds for just £12.50 per month on a 12-month term, which is technically a social tariff, except anybody can take it.

Customers taking their 1Gbps and slower packages have, until now, tended to be sent one of Linksys’ fairly capable tri-band Velop MX4200 mesh routers (those on their 3Gbps tier get a special Technicolor device instead). But the latest development reveals that the ISP is introducing a new Linksys router model to new customers on their 1Gbps and slower plans.

The new router will also harness Linksys’ WiFi 6 Intelligent Mesh™ technology, much like before, although it’s a dual-band, rather than tri-band, wireless device. Despite this, CF suggests that regular customers are unlikely to notice a performance difference (due to other WiFi improvements). The device itself appears to be a bespoke model (SPNMX56CF) – made specifically for Community Fibre.

Linksys SPNMX56CF Specifications

Product Features

• IEEE 802.11ax
• Dual-band AX5400
• 2×4 Spatial streams
• Linksys Velop Intelligent Mesh®
• MU-MIMO technology
• WiFi security
• Guest WiFi
• Parental Controls
• Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) support
• Band steering
• Beamforming support
• Next generation orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) technology
• Wi-Fi Protected Setup™ (WPS) support
• Bluetooth®1 Low Energy 

Hardware

• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• Five internal antennas
• Dimensions: 3.385 in x 3.385 in x 7.3 in
• Weight: 0.50 kg (1.1 lb)
• Switch, ports, and buttons:
  • Power switch (sliding switch)
  • Power port (12V, 2A)
  • One 2.5 Gbps internet (WAN) port
  • Three 1 Gbps ethernet (LAN) ports
  • WPS button
  • Reset button

The device also supports the latest WPA3 encryption, as well as the usual SPI firewall and VPN passthrough configurations (IPSec, L2TP, and PPTP protocols). Overall, it’s probably closest in spec to Linksys’ regular Atlas Pro 6 Dual-Band AX5400 Mesh WiFi 6 router, which claims to offer peak WiFi speeds of up to 600Mbps on 2.4GHz and 4800Mbps on 5GHz.

CommunityFibre’s website has also just changed how they promote speeds on their top 1Gbps tier, which might provide some indication with respect to the new router’s real-world WiFi performance. Previously the ISP described this package as offering “1 Gbps avg. 920Mbps (wired) 400-650Mbps (WiFi)“, but the same page has now changed the WiFi result to 450-700Mbps. A small improvement, although advertised WiFi speeds should always be taken with a pinch of salt, due to the high variability of wireless technology and its environments.

The ISP has also changed the expected WiFi speed on their 3Gbps product from 400-800Mbps to 500-800Mbps, which is despite the router remaining unchanged on that plan. The testing methodology for these results is unclear.

Existing customers wishing to upgrade to the new router can do so by making a one-off payment or paying a monthly fee, but you’ll need to contact a CommunityFibre representative to find out more. But if you have the previous MX4200 kit, which is tri-band, then you’re not really missing all that much.