Hi all!

Thanks for the many amazing replies, and sorry for taking so long to respond. I had a chat with Bigpipe in between as well, which had been amazingly helpful. 

The confidence in the HG659 is reassuring, and I think I'll go with that option to start :) Just thought I'd summarize everyone's thoughts here to make sure that I've gotten all of your thoughts right, clarify some areas, and ensure that I'm on the right track:

 

1. @RunningMan - you suggested I double NAT my connection. Is that the same as what @Chevrolux has suggested/daisy-chaining? So essentially ONT (LAN1) to HG659(WAN), HG659(LAN1) to Mikrotek(WAN)? Or.. are there any differences/different configs?
   
   
2. And thanks @prat33k and @michelangelonz for the suggestion to put the Mikrotik's router's IP address in the HG659's DMZ!
   
   
3. Bigpipe has also confirmed that, even if I do pay for a second line and get a second service on port 2 of my ONT (thanks @OzoneNZ for that suggestion), the second port would only go up to a max of 100/10, so that still would be limiting the Mikrotek
   
   
4. @Yabanize we do have anywhere between 8 - 20ish devices on the network at any one point of time, and 31 devices registered on the router (although at least 5 of those are from my many mobile phone models that I use for random testing, and are seldom online). What should I be aware of if I do start hitting that 32 device limit?
   
   
5. @michaelmurfy and @nztim uhm.. I'm definitely out of my depth with an "ONT simulator" at this stage. But... in case I don't bump into you later on the forums when I get to that stage.. how.. where... should I look to learn how to do something like that?
   
   
6. @Zeon heh yes I've heard about the love-hate relationship with Mikrotiks, both with their UI and with their scripting. But I'm learning that because it's what is used in the kit that I'm potentially supposed to learn to use in the future.  But uhm, Bigpipe doesn't do IPv6 - They've apparently rolled it back from the beta testing in 2017-2018 :/ https://ipv6.org.nz/index.html%3Fp=2057.html
   
   
7. @MadEngineer lol i think my balls completely shrank hearing that suggestion 😂 What will I miss out with Mikrotik not being the primary? Or rather, what are the things that I should expect not to have if I start off with the double nat scenario?

Btw @Chevrolux you mentioned that I should focus on VLANs, firewall rules, routing networks, local VPNs. What are all of your opinions on the must-knows, should-knows, good-to-knows, if-you-have-time-go-fiddle-for-fun, and damn-that's-obscure-but-pretty-cool-to-knows of networking? And what are some basic resources that I can/should definitely begin with? 

PS: @OzoneNZ I completely agree with the solid performance, but when you have flatmates who reset the router continuously despite being told that the lack of connectivity is due to Chorus' network outage, then being asked "why can't you just call Chorus and make it work", and then taking your cables and claiming it as their own...😅 

Sidon:[snip]

 

@RunningMan - you suggested I double NAT my connection. Is that the same as what @Chevrolux has suggested/daisy-chaining? So essentially ONT (LAN1) to HG659(WAN), HG659(LAN1) to Mikrotek(WAN)? Or.. are there any differences/different configs?

 

Bigpipe has also confirmed that, even if I do pay for a second line and get a second service on port 2 of my ONT (thanks @OzoneNZ for that suggestion), the second port would only go up to a max of 100/10, so that still would be limiting the Mikrotek

 

Yes.

There are some different constrains for secondary services that will depend what LFC area you are in, but I haven't heard of 100/10 being a limit previously.

RunningMan:

 

There are some different constrains for secondary services that will depend what LFC area you are in, but I haven't heard of 100/10 being a limit previously.

 

Oh? That's interesting. I (for some strange reason I can't comprehend) thought that that was a standard implementation for Chorus. Would be very interesting to find out if there are other ISPs that don't have that limitation.. 

@prat33k neither of those are the 100/10 the OP was told though.

Previously Chorus would allow either 200/20 or 100/50 as a secondary offer. There is also the possibility of requesting a second primary offer with no limit.

prat33k: They're saying it right. Iirc, chorus would only offer a max of 100/50 on the secondary port and that even for business plans. For residential, it's only limied to 100/20.

Source - work in an ISP

I'm skeptical....Chorus ime as wholesalers have little interest in the relationship between provider and customer (UFB promoting notwithstanding)

Also an ONT second port could belong to another account holder. Not uncommon in rural areas at least where I live.

Sidon:

 

Hi all!

 

@MadEngineer lol i think my balls completely shrank hearing that suggestion 😂 What will I miss out with Mikrotik not being the primary? Or rather, what are the things that I should expect not to have if I start off with the double nat scenario?