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Openreach ONT replacement

In the UK most UK wholesale providers appear to be providing a single service over an ONT with Router/Switch functionality provided by an ISP Provided Router.

A multiport ONT is only useful if these network providers intend to provide multiple services over it. For the consumer market its unlikely most users will exhaust their Gig products and using the same network/ONT for more than one service would provide little resilience and no balancing.

A multiport ONT may be useful in MDUs but it appears that the main UK providers are keeping it simple with a single port ONT for each customer.

GPON is a broadcast system and therefore the collective ONTs have to synchronise with the OLT. For security rogue ONTs need to be prevented so hence the registration process which is much simpler to support if controlled internally (serial number/technology/version/config). Even if they had a registration process it would be a nightmare to support devices of unknown origin.

Going forward there will be different generations of equipment in use and possibly multiple versions of GPON using the same fibre network. As a customer you are unlikely to know what is at the other end and it may change.

The only time a multiport ONT may be useful is if the network provider decides to utilise an ONT device as a combined ONT and Router but in that case that would be providing multiple LAN ports not WAN ports (Hyperoptic?).

For manufacture the ONT may be configurable. However for size, cost and their support, single port ONTs are more common.
 
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Is it possible to replace a 1 port ONT with a 4 port one yourself?
Definitely possible (if you can source a 4 port version from somewhere) but it would require spoofing the MAC address (& maybe serial number) of the original ONT onto the new one. User CarlT did this successfully according to a post he made on TBB though its not for the faint hearted.

If you have a legitimate reason (eg require more than 1 service simultaneously) then get in touch with your CP. If you're lucky, Openreach *MAY* swap your single port ONT for an older 4 port Huawei model from their knackers yard. It would be less hassle (and neater for you) than running new fibre cable(s) and installing new ONT(s). But its really down to pot luck whether Openreach still have the older 4 port ONTs available in your area.

The third option is to source one yourself but politely ask/bribe the Openreach Engineer to register & activate it for you on the day they come to install the new fibre and ONT. It would be a nice surprise for them as they wouldn't need to spend as much time at your property. Of course there's no guarantee they would do this as it depends if the Openreach bod is a jobsworth or not :)
 
Definitely possible (if you can source a 4 port version from somewhere) but it would require spoofing the MAC address (& maybe serial number) of the original ONT onto the new one. User CarlT did this successfully according to a post he made on TBB though its not for the faint hearted.

IIRC that was a like-for-like exchange (4 port for 4 port, just a newer model with higher bandwidth switch fabric internally)

If you replace a 1 port ONT with a 4 port ONT yourself, even if you can make it work by spoofing the serial number, OR's systems won't know that it's a 4 port - and therefore you won't be able to order a second service on one of the spare ports.

Therefore, it's a waste of time even to attempt this.

If you need a second FTTP service, then just order one. You may get an early-adopter Nokia 4 port installed by OR, but more likely you'll get a second ONT with its own fibre cable back to the CBT.
 
I kept my original reply brief and bit my lip 😎

It is possible to swap and spoof if (a) you have access to appropriate hardware with local config. access* (b) you know what you’re doing. It’s been done with Huawei and Nokia/Alcatel pluggables. FS are now flogging their GPON pluggable with instructions on how to set serial number and manufacturer ID.

*!•• that varies from simple SSH to quite involved.
 
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