Orcon 3rd Party Router Confirmation

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon 3rd Party Router Confirmation

Mehrts

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#270102 23-Apr-2020 12:51

Afternoon All,

Just after some confirmation here really.

I'm currently with Slingshot on 100/20 Fibre connection. I have a PFsense & UniFi USG inline setup, has been working fine for months.
I've been looking at moving over to Orcon to take advantage of the non-CGNAT setup & "new customer" deals (BS in my opinion.. but anyway..)
I've had great service from Slingshot, but unfortunately their offers for existing customers can't quite come close to the "new customer" ones offered by other ISPs.

I've chatted with Orcon's support team with a couple of queries, and one of them was that I couldn't see an option to use my own router during the signup process. The support person said that I'd have to use their supplied unit instead, and I questioned this as I've used my own gear with other ISPs in the past. There's even a page on Orcon's website stating the settings to use for a third-party one.

I've looked into this, and even from previous Geekzone posts, I've come to the conclusion that you can use your own router with the correct settings applied.

Basically I just want to avoid the muck around & extra payment for the delivery for an item that I'll never use if I don't need it.

Thoughts?

cyril7

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#2468588 23-Apr-2020 12:56

Hi, you can use your own router, but I seem to recall they recently made it so that you had to use their router to use their voice service. Pretty sure you should be able to rig it so that their router sat in your LAN as an ATA if you want to use their voice service, that said, if you want voice I recommend you go with someone like 2Talk or Hero and take the ISP out of the picture on that front.

Other than that, assuming you dont want support from the ISP to fix your 3rd party router then there is absolutly no reason you cannot use your own router.

Cyril

Mehrts

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#2468594 23-Apr-2020 13:03

Damn, I always miss critical info in the original posts!

I'm not needing the phone services at all. Just pure, naked internet.

I'm aware & happy to not rely on ISP support for equipment issues. (Usually) I can sort them out for myself. Unless it's a purely WAN issue.

Mehrts

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#2468616 23-Apr-2020 13:32

Ok, I've been in touch with Orcon support again, and it was my fault for not stating that I don't require Voip/Phone services. They just assumed that I would (which is fair). This is why they stated that I could only use their one initially.

They said to give them a call to go through the signup process, as the website form doesn't give the option to state that you don't need their modem/router sent.

I'd say this is case closed.

hangon

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Ultimate Geek

#2469041 24-Apr-2020 10:00

Existing orcon giga fibre customer, been looking at ubiquiti for a while.

It's between either just wire in a Ac lite, or get a full set like a usg, 8/60, nanohd, possibly a cloud key.

What would be an ideal set up for a relatively simple 3rd party router solution these days? Thanks

CYaBro

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#2469042 24-Apr-2020 10:07

hangon: Existing orcon giga fibre customer, been looking at ubiquiti for a while.

It's between either just wire in a Ac lite, or get a full set like a usg, 8/60, nanohd, possibly a cloud key.

What would be an ideal set up for a relatively simple 3rd party router solution these days? Thanks

Have you seen michaelmurfy's review and competition for the Unifi Dream Machine?

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=23233

That would be my recommendation as a USG won't keep up with a gig fibre connection if you want some of the extra intrusion prevention features turned on.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Mehrts

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#2469053 24-Apr-2020 10:23

I'm not in a position to comment on the Ubiquiti routers, as I only have experience with the USG 3 (baby one).

It's an "ok" bit of kit, gets the job done & completes the "Unified" aspect of the Unifi ecosystem. It's ridiculously easy to set up & use, just like the rest of the gear.

But: As others have said/will say, it will severely limit throughput when IPS/IDS is enabled, which defeats the purpose of having gigabit internet.

This is the reason why I have both PFsense and the USG: PFsense handles all the routing, firewall, IPS, & ad-blocking duties, while the downstream USG provides the DHCP server, DPI, & an easy place to change settings with regard to the LAN side of things.

With regard to how far you want to delve into the Unifi ecosystem, that's entirely up to you & how much you'd like to spend. I only discovered Unifi a year ago, and what really interested me was the In-Wall access points, because that's exactly the product I needed for putting behind the TV (Built in wi-fi access point plus Ethernet ports for hard wired devices).

I started with an AC-Lite, AC-IW & 8-60w switch. No issues at all, but then I got the "bug", and I couldn't help myself but to get the USG. Then I bought some AC-Pros for sale on Trademe... you get the picture haha.

Currently I'm running an AC-Pro, HD-IW, 16-150w switch. I've just purchased some gear to run fibre out to the garage, where I'll re-purpose the 8-60w switch and AC-IW access point.

I also have the controller running on a VM inside Proxmox, previously on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ with zero issues. I personally wouldn't buy a cloudkey, but that's because I already have hardware lying around that I can use to run the controller on. If you want an easy set-and-forget system, I'd recommend the Gen2 as the Gen1 did have some issues with heat & SD card corruption.

hangon

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Ultimate Geek

#2469131 24-Apr-2020 11:44

Thanks guys... As suspected it's a trap. This is like photography all over again.

Ya realised some limitations on usg, looked at edge router lite as an alternative, essentially the same hardware. Not sure if I want to spluge on a dream machine yet.

The ONT is in the garage, orcon router is placed in the upstairs"office", both are horrible for ap placement. Currently I rely on power line adapter to place another ap (different ssid) down stairs on the other end of house, the solution works fine most of the time except handover issues on some devices.

I'm waiting on some parts and tools to arrive and will probably do it in stages. Place the orcon router next to ont, run a wire to place an ap in the centre of the house - no perfect location, it would have to be wall mounted, and keep a wired connection in the office. I considered a iw unit in the office, as the sitemap shows low 5g signal strength in there, maybe an ac cube if I don't have a poe switch by then.

Wish it could be simpler...