@adam You might be interested to know that I completely replaced the Bell Gigahub modem without any issues this morning. The process is perfectly accessible, other than needing someone to read the ONT ID off the back of your bell modem. You need a router or switch with an SFP+ port. You also need a fan or other active cooling for the fiber module; they run at about 90 degrees. Then I purchased my x-onu-sfpp from fibermall. Once you have these things, you can use these instructions: pon.wiki/guides/masquerade-as-the-bce-inc-giga-hub-with-the-was-110/#purchase-a-was-110-or-x-onu-sfpp
@fastfinge@adam the other option is to get Fibre from one of Bell's subsidiary brands, e.g. Distributel or EBOX. If you do that, they give you a standalone Nokia ONT with no router functionality (along with a separate router & wifi ap) - and you can use the ONT with your own router.
The standalone ONT is more or less equivalent in functionality to the SFP+ module, and has a 10gbase-t ethernet port (also works at 1, 2.5, and 5gbit)
@fastfinge@adam Always kind of weird to think about… if things had gone differently in the late 90s / early 2000s, the Fibre ONT you get in Canada would say "Nortel" on it rather than "Nokia".
@fastfinge Cool stuff. Glad you're off that garbage modem. You should notice a huge increase in connection stability. I have two WAS-110 SFP+ modules, so when i upgrade the 8311 firmware, I just pull the fiber, plug it into the second one, connection comes right back up, then I do the firmware upgrade, and then swap the fiber back when its done.
@adam I’m running whatever FIBERMALL put on it. It claims to be 8311 community firmware. And its web updater says it’s up to date with the latest release from 2024.
@adam I was already using Ppoe pass through, so it’ll be interesting to see how much of a difference this makes. My god these are hot little bastards.
@fastfinge Oh yeah, they really do get warm. The chassis is the heatsink, essentially. Some have come up with air cooling solutions, but mine have run without fail for years without active cooling. As for benefits over PPPoE passthrough, you'll probably notice a bit of a reduction in latency, perhaps 1 MS better. Minor, but a perk. Certainly the fact that you're in control of everything up to the fiber connector, you can choose when firmware updaes happen, and not Bell. No more modem reboots over night, and even randomly during the day. Oh yeah, and no more incidents of pushing bad configs to a million modems causing them to be down for 8 plus hours, LOL. I was enjoying the net all through that incident. Also, may be a good reason to revisit some VLAN snooping to see if IPv6 can be found anywhere.
@adam I got myself a heatsync I'm gonna stick on there with a thermal pad, and a little five volt fan, as I happened to have a USB plug nearbye to run it. I'm kinda worried about the heat from the PFS port causing the switch to throddle itself.
@adam@fastfinge Sorry to barge in like this, but I've been considering bypassing my AT&T gateway for a while. It would require a different module than the WAS110 since I'm only on gpon, but I'm a little scared to unplug the fiber cable. How do you do it properly? It feels extremely fragile.
@mrkrabs@fastfinge No worries. Glad to do my best attempt at describing the process. To be specific, I am describing attaching and detaching an SC-APC connector on the end of an ISP-provided singlemode 125NM fiber line. So you will note that the connector is square, and if you feel along the sides of the square that naturally face your fingers as you grip the connector, you will feel narrow slits, that should feel like they're for finger usage to loosen or unlock the connector. And this is what happens. You squeeze these tabs inward, and the lock is released. You then pull very gently, very slowly, and very straight with your entire hand, and the connector should slide off the SFP+ module, or out of the modem. The modem will likely be a bit trickier in handling, and may require some effort to unplug the connector. Do your best in gaging if you think you're overdoing something, but at the same time, the modem connector may be stubborn. Most of all, always pull or push connectors straight. Also, never, under any circumstances that you can control, touch or point the end of the fiber connector at your face or any one elses. Touch should be absolutely limited to necessities, or purposefully destroying a connector. To plug the connector back in, ensure it is aligned with the square receptical, and push gently. If aligned, it will slide a short distance, then lock into place with a bump and a slight click. Hope this helps some.
@adam@mrkrabs No worries! If I wanted it to be private, I’d have sent a dm. What Adam says aligns with my experience. The plug on the modem was extremely stubborn; I had to tug on it harder than I like pulling on any connector, and I had nearly resigned myself to giving up before it finally came out. Even then I was scared I had broken it. As for touching the connector, I was cowardly and had the rubber cover in my hand and ready to go. I put the cover on until I was ready to plug it into the new module.
