UK specific - Vodafone Home Broadband

[laravente]

Hi

Looking to move my home broadband connection from Virgin cable across to an FTTP service, probably from Vodafone as I can get an attractive deal on their 500/70Mbps service but have a few questions about their service that hopefully somebody can answer https://omegle.onl/ https://vshare.onl/.

1. Do they use CGNAT?

2. Do they use IPv6 or IPv4?

3. Can I connect my own firewall/router (pfSense in my case) direct to the ONT and swerve using their all-in-one wifi/router box?

4. I've read that you can request a free static IP to be assigned, is that (still) true?

5. They also include a dongle for a backup 4G connection, could that be used with a pfSense box for a failover connection or is it tied to their own modem/router

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

[HelpfulBadger]

heya,

Vodafone use CGNAT on their mobile network, but as far as I'm aware they don't use it on any of their fixed offerings (as with many other providers that do both mobile/fixed) - I honestly can't think of any fixed ISP I know of doing CGNAT.

All ISPs will issue an IPv4 address, as IPv6 still isn't universally supported. As for the IPv6 question, I seem to remember a post saying that IPv6 was up and down so it was definitely in the works for the external IP addressing. Having never been a Vodafone customer I can't say what the internal network is on the default router, but by the sounds of it you want to use your own!

There's been some success with people connecting their own equipment, you'll need to search for the posts as to find out what settings people recommend, and it's far from official support - The main takeaway from it is that if you want to use the VoIP service, this will not work unless you use the VF router.

The main issue I see you having with getting a static IP address isn't that Vodafone can't do it, it's that 99.9999% of the people you talk to wont know how to set it up for you. VFs business offerings have static IP addresses included as standard so I would assume it's an option for consumer as well.

I don't see why, providing you're using the dongle for backup purposes, you couldn't use it in a PFSense box, my understanding is that it has a very low data allowance and once that's reached the systems check for faults, and if there is a fault allow you to continue using it to provide internet.

I know that's a lot of ifs, buts and maybes, hopefully someone can come in who has experience with Vodafone broadband specifically to give you more specific answers!

[luc122c]

Hi @laravente. I'm with Vodafone home broadband on an Openreach FTTP line getting 100/20. To answer your questions:

1) I've not had any issues typically associated with CGNAT on either my VDSL plan or FTTP plan with Vodafone.

2) IPv4. No sign of IPv6 unfortunately. There's a few topics in the forums [X] discussing the lack of IPv6. Mark Jackson from ISPReview poked them last November [X] and in they said "it is now scheduled to be fully implemented next year"

3) Yes, you can bring your own router. I have Unifi gear plugged directly into the ONT. You just need to ring up or live chat and ask for your PPoE login credentials; they can email these to you or you can save a transcript of the chat. Some others have mentioned you need to tag your WAN traffic to VLAN 101; I think that's only required on the CityFibre lines as I haven't had to do that on Openreach. Worth checking who is providing the infrastructure in your area.

4) Yes, I requested a static IP many years ago and they just added it to my account, no extra cost, no extra configuration needed on my end, it was assigned automatically. I did have an issue when I switched from VDSL to FTTP where they assigned me a new static IP, frustratingly. They stated that this was because they were physically different networks with different pools assigned to them and that now I'm on FTTP, I should be able to keep this IP indefinitely.

5) Unfortunately, I don't have one of the 4G dongles so I can't lend any knowledge to that. I had considered getting a cheap VDSL connection for failover, but the fiber connection has been rock solid so I haven't perused it. Food for thought.

Hope this helps, feel free to reach out if you have any more questions.

[Jayach]

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@luc122c wrote:

Some others have mentioned you need to tag your WAN traffic to VLAN 101; I think that's only required on the CityFibre lines as I haven't had to do that on Openreach. Worth checking who is providing the infrastructure in your area.

VLAN 101 is for Openreach (if you need it, most don't), CityFibre is 911.

[SimonHayterUK]

Vodafone FTTP service uses CityFibre which has poor intermentation of IPv6 and therefore is not supported.

The box/modem they provide you is fibre to CAT5/6 1000mbits MAX and supports PPPoE so you can use your own router. I use Ubiquiti Unifi USG-3p along with a lot of other Unifi related hardware.

1. Vodafone and CityFibre support for IPv6 is very poor to non existant for most customers.

2. Vodafone will not provide you VoIP details so the telephone they provide can not be used if you choose to your own router.

3. The backup broadband 4G uses USB dongle that is unlikely to be supported in PFSense. It's not a common box and uses a USB C output to USB C input, and even if you were to use a USB C 3.1 to USB 3.1 Type A its extremely unlikely you will ever get the dongle to work with PFsense. You can however setup a WAN2 on PFSense and use a 4G router as a failover when WAN1 goes down. I purchased Huawei B900-230 which also has Alexa and speaker built in. You can even send TXT messages when logging to the Web GUI for the router. 

4. Static IP is free, and fairly easy to get.

Personally, as good as PFSense is as well as OPNSense, they have strict hardware requirements. OPNSense is better for newer hardware but the community is not as big as PFSense. I opted for a fully managed network setup and have experince using both Meraki and Ubiquiti which provide a better experience administrating everything from one dashboard, with remote monitoring, and so on.

[Jayach]

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@SimonHayterUK wrote:

Vodafone FTTP service uses CityFibre which has poor intermentation of IPv6 and therefore is not supported.

Complete nonsense. Vodafone use both CityFibre and Openreach for FTTP, but where both are available they will use CityFibre in preference to Openreach.

The lack of IPv6 is entirely down to Vodafone, I'm sure both Openreach and CityFibre are quite capable of using it.

[SimonHayterUK]

Sorry but that's simply not true. Vodafone has reached deals in certain cities and started using BT OpenReach in 2021, they do not have a nationwide contract. If City Fibre is  planned in an Area and BT FTTP, you have to wait for City Fibre.

When your going to be rude next time at least say non sense when you actually know what your talking about.

[Jayach]

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@SimonHayterUK wrote:

Vodafone FTTP service uses CityFibre which has poor intermentation of IPv6 and therefore is not supported.

@SimonHayterUK wrote:

Sorry but that's simply not true. Vodafone has reached deals in certain cities and started using BT OpenReach in 2021

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As you have proved, nonsense. And CityFibre have nothing to do with why Vodafone don't use IPv6, they don't use it on both FTTC and FTTP.

[Jayach]

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@SimonHayterUK wrote:

2. Vodafone will not provide you VoIP details so the telephone they provide can not be used if you choose to your own router.

There are plenty of people who have got those details, and are using their own (Grandstream) ATA's to connect to Vodafone's VoIP implementation. Is it easy, no, possible, yes.

Landline phone with own router on FTTP - Community home (vodafone.co.uk)

[SimonHayterUK]

I have heard, but you end up having to purchase ATA boxes, and trying to get through the right person at customer service who knows what you on about still remains hard.

There shouldn't be any need for a AYA box or Voip handset, mobile phones can connect to SIP just fine, so imho is it's not worthy it.