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G.Fast modem

ChippyAft

Casual Member
After 7 years of Plus.net, my local green cabinet has had a G.Fast pod installed. If I move to G.Fast on TalkTalk I can double my download and upload speeds for about the same price that I pay today.

As a longtime fibre customer, I have an OpenReach ECI fibre modem (rather than a Plusnet Hub router) which connects to a Unifi security gateway. I’d prefer a similar configuration if I switched provider (keen to avoid double NAT).

So I have a few questions:

Will my existing OpenReach modem work with G.Fast?
If not, does the TalkTalk G.Fast router have a bridge mode?
If not, is there a third party G.Fast modem that I could use?

Many thanks for any thoughts..
 
-- Will my existing OpenReach modem work with G.Fast?

No, your existing modem is for VDSL2, not G.fast.

-- If not, does the TalkTalk G.Fast router have a bridge mode?

I'd assume so, since their setup involves both a new G.fast modem from Openreach + their Wi-Fi Hub router (Sagemcom F@st 5364).

-- If not, is there a third party G.Fast modem that I could use?

I have seen one or two third-party routers with G.fast integrated (e.g. one from Asus), but there are so few customers on G.fast that it's hard to know which of these will work between different ISPs (if at all). As for dedicated G.fast modems, they do exist but I'm not sure if you can buy them to work on the UK network via Openreach. You have to be careful here as network standards can differ slightly between countries.
 
their setup involves ... a new G.fast modem from Openreach
That answers my question - many thanks, Mark. I only need a modem to connect to my Unifi setup - was worried that the move towards "self install" meant a combination modem/router. Thanks for confirming that's not the case.

there are so few customers on G.fast
Should I be concerned about this (it this because of known issues)? Or is it simply down to the change of focus to FTTP?
 
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Should I be concerned about this (it this because of known issues)? Or is it simply down to the change of focus to FTTP?
I think it's a combination reasons. It took a very long time for Openreach to start rolling out G.Fast, and in the meantime the focus has shifted to FTTP rather than FTTC. It only offers benefits very close to the cabinet, so there's a limited pool of potential customers anyway - many/most of them won't be prepared to pay extra when VDSL2 is "good enough" for them, and many/most of the people who would be prepared to pay extra don't have access to G.Fast. And finally, you don't have to stray too far from the cabinet for upload speeds to be worse than VDSL2 even if the download speed is better.

What really killed it is that the G.Fast kit is co-located with the cabinets, whereas what should have happened is locating the kit at distribution-points. In most rural areas the poles carry power as well as phone, so powering the kit wouldn't have been an issue. And someone getting 15 Mb/s download and 0.5 Mb/s upload on VDSL2 (that's me before I switched to 4G LTE!) would be much more likely to switch to G.Fast than someone getting 60+ Mb/s.....

Essentially, it became a tick-box exercise rather than a way of bringing better broadband to larger numbers of people.
 
Nice analysis there, Gary - thank you.

I guess I'm one of the few in the sweet spot for G.Fast - I'm only 100 metres from the cabinet so get 65/18+ at the moment. Talktalk will double that for the same price (and with growing kids on every video platform known to man, Cacti tells me that capacity limits are on the horizon). And G.Fast avoids Virgin digging up my drive...

4G LTE has been a lifesaver for my rural parents: they went from 2Mbps to 40Mbps with a router and a 3 SIM card. Life changing.
 
I am on Gfast; BT Fibre 100 with BT Halo 1 and use an Asus DSL AC88U modem router with no problems. Download 150 Mbps Upload 28.1 Mbps. Cannot comment on Talktalk.
 
Apologies for asking almost the same question again, but I've now decided to go with G.Fast on EE instead. Will EE also supply a separate modem and router (and not a router with integrated G.Fast modem)?
 
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I believe that EE would use a combined modem/router unit which is a re-badged version of the latest BT Smart Hub.

I think your best bet to achieve what you're after would be to purchase a second hand Openreach G.fast modem off of somewhere like eBay and simply swap out your current Openreach VDSL modem. The rest of your network will continue to be fine and I think all you'd need to do is change the username and password in Unifi WAN settings.

The Openreach modems are pretty much plug and play and tend to be very reliable.
 
Apologies for asking almost the same question again, but I've now decided to go with G.Fast on EE instead. Will EE also supply a separate modem and router (and not a router with integrated G.Fast modem)?
The EE router doesn't support G.FAST. they give you a separate ECI/Huawei Modem so you would be able to use it with your current setup.
 
The EE router doesn't support G.FAST. they give you a separate ECI/Huawei Modem so you would be able to use it with your current setup.
Side note: The EE White hub (The one they give you with smart WiFi) does have G.FAST wherease the standard black one they give you doesn't.
 
I believe there is no Self Install option for G.Fast so an OR engineer would need to be assigned to do the install. He should provide you with a OR G.Fast compatible modem.

Be aware right now OR appointments for G.Fast are being pushed a couple of months due to covid so you may need to wait a while.
 
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I guess I'm one of the few in the sweet spot for G.Fast - I'm only 100 metres from the cabinet so get 65/18+ at the moment.
By 65/18, do you mean sync speed or data transfer speed (e.g. speedtest)? Given that you have an OR modem, which doesn't show you sync speeds without hacking the firmware, then maybe it's just speedtest.

The reason for asking is, a sync speed of 65/18 would imply that the cable length is substantially more than 100m - probably more like 400m - or that the cabling isn't in good condition. Either way, G.fast might be flaky.

You should look in the BT wholesale checker and see what it says for "observed" sync speeds on your line. At the same time, check what it gives you as the expected range of download and upload speeds for G.fast. Be conservative, and assume you'll get the lower end, or you may be disappointed.
 
Go for someone who has a minimum speed guarantee too. I was bitterly disappointed by G.Fast although I have a fairly long line. It was lower speed than VDSL2. Even though the OR engineer said it was syncing at a decent speed, I ended up with 75mbit. I was getting 80 on VDSL. I had it removed under EEs speed guarantee (which stated I should get over 100). Even though I was credit checked and had to be credit checked again for my next ISP. Might not matter to some, but I was taking out a car loan about the same time as well.
 
I'm only 100 metres from the cabinet so get 65/18+ at the moment.

That's not 100 metres from the cabinet. I get 80/20 but my G.fast are likely to be around 160/22 because my street cabinet is approx 260m away for G.fast.

For 65/18 u more likely end up with 110/12 with G.fast.
 
I'm still rocking my 50/8.... Would love 80/20.......... ;)
 
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That's pretty good. You will get easy 160/30 with G.fast or even better 330/50. I would go to BT for G.fast as they do have good very good G.fast wireless router. TalkTalk and EE - you need openreach g.fast modem but don't forget TalkTalk only have 160/30. EE do have both but sometimes they sent out wireless router (with G.fast support) some are not.
 
Thanks all. Some really useful insight here.

I guess the bigger question is now this:

Be aware right now OR appointments for G.Fast are being pushed a couple of months due to covid so you may need to wait a while.

Does anyone know what would happen if I placed a GFast order with EE today? PlusNet are about to move me from £27 to £42 per month as I move out of contract - but I don't want to sign up for another 18 months to avoid the increase...
 
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