Replace the Eir F2000 Router
I recently got Eir’s Fibre To The House (FTTH), I get speeds of 300Mbps down and 50Mbps up which is a big improvement over the 2Mbps down and 0.5Mbps up I previously had. It is a great service and I am very happy with it!
BUT the Eir F2000 (Just a rebranded Huawei HG659b) which is supplied with the installation is a terrible piece of equipment! It constantly drops connection and has to be restarted due to unknown software issues a lot. I eventually gave up on it completely after 2 or 3 months (and a replacement unit) and sought to replace it with anything else.
I have my own networking setup in the house and I was just using the F2000 as a bridge to connect to the Eir network (You can see a post about my full home networking setup here: https://conor.engineer/2018/02/17/home-network/).
My router is a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X which is an excellent gigabit router for about €50 (Note it’s just a router no Wifi/Modem/etc). I love Ubiquiti gear, it’s very reliable and well supported (all the networking gear except for switches in my house is from Ubiquiti). Their stuff is a bit more difficult to setup than standard consumer equipment but it is far better equipment overall.
This router is able to directly connect to the ONT (Optical Network Terminal) box that is supplied when FTTH is installed through the eth0 (WAN) port.
The F2000 can be replaced with any router that supports VLAN tags and getting its IP over DHCP but I will show you how to do it using the EdgeRouter X. Eir say that in order to connect to their network your equipment requires VDSL2+ but from my research this appears to be untrue however I have only done this with the ER-X and this is the only router that I can guarantee this works with.
To recap if you get a router you need to be able to:
- Set the router’s WAN port to connect using DHCP.
- Set the WAN port’s VLAN tag to 10.
Here are the instructions for the ER-X
In the ER-X admin panel click “Add Interface” then “Add VLAN”.
Then enter the following settings:
- VLAN ID: 10 (This is very important if this value is not 10 it will not work)
- Interface: eth0 (This is the routers WAN port)
- Description: Eir FTTH (Any name is fine)
- MTU: 1500 (1500 is recommended for the Eir Network)
- Address: Use DHCP (Eir will assign your public IP address using DHCP)
Then save the interface (If you had any other WAN interfaces e.g. PPPOE click “Actions” beside it and then “Disable”).
Connect the ER-X to the ONT and that should be it, the ER-X may need to be restarted.
When I did this first the ER-X mistakenly recognised the ONT as a 100Mbps device instead of a 1Gbps device which limited my speed to 100Mbps but after a few restarts it recognised the ONT correctly and it has recognised it correctly ever since.
Since I removed the F2000 I have not had any downtime due to the Eir Network.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask,
Conor.
NOTE: I am more than happy to answer questions on this topic, however my responses may be slow, I get lots of emails about this topic every week. If you have a question about this topic please comment here instead of emailing me so that I can help as many people as possible at once. I have received a lot of requests asking if I could install a similar system for them in their home, I unfortunately do not have time to fulfill these requests.
Thanks to Finbarr Brady for the original post that inspired this one: https://finbarr.dev/2017-07-13-replace-eir-f2000/
He has a guide about how to replace the F2000 with an OpenWRT router, without his guide I wouldn’t have known the correct VLAN ID.
40 thoughts on “Replace the Eir F2000 Router”
Hello Conor
Good Post. Just wondering if you know if the F2000 can be replaced by the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite where there is no ONT unit. There is Fiber to cabinets but then copper to the node and to the premises. The setup currently has a EdgeRouter Lite but it takes it’s connection from the F2000 and the F2000 keeps needing to be rebooted.
Hi Paul,
Thanks I’m glad you liked it.
The EdgeRouter Lite and ER-X (that I used) are very similar so it should be possible. The setup should be the same for you I would think since your fiber just goes as far as your cabinet not the premises but the settings should be the same or very similar. You could always take out the F2000 and try it without it and it doesn’t work you can always put it back just make sure to take a backup of the configuration on the ER Lite that you can restore in case something goes wrong.
I hope this helps and sorry for the late reply,
Conor.
Hello Conor
Can you help configure the Edge Router for Eir Static IP?
They have given me the Eir Static IP: 83.xx.xxx.xx/32.
Default Gateway for eir modems: 192.168.1.254
Subnet Mask for eir modems: 255.255.255.255
but not sure how these should be entered in the wizard setup. It keeps failing for me.
Hi Conor
Thanks for your instructions… I have been praying for such help ever since I got the F2000….hate that thing….. I bought the router you recommended and followed your instructions to the letter but no joy….the router is not connecting to the eir service…..eir won’t help as it’s a third party router and directed me to the computer services website that gives different settings including adding eircom@eircom as username and broadband1 as password in the router settings…..so did you have to do anything like that or have the settings changed since your post…. would really appreciate any advice or a step by step guide on setting up the ubiquity x ….on first login it starts at the basic wizard… should I run that first? Sorry for the dumb questions!
Hi Ian,
Sorry about the delayed reply. You need to run the basic wizard and setup the router first before you follow this guide (I forgot to specify that). For Eir Fibre you shouldnt need the login details it should know based on the VLAN tag that is set in the guide.
Let me know how you get on,
Conor.
Hi Conor, were you using the VOIP on the F2000 . If yes did you get it working on the new router
Hi Kevin,
I dont use VoIP as part of my network and I dont really know alot about it but there are VoIP settings on the ERX.
Thanks,
Conor.
Hi Conor,
I’m trying to follow your instructions to replace my F2000 with TP Link VR 900 (VDSL/ADSL wireless gigabit). However, I’m not sure where to update the settings on the TP Link router page. Would you be able to help me?
https://static.tp-link.com/res/down/doc/Archer_VR900(EU)_V1_UG.pdf
Thank you.
Hi Sandra,
I am not familiar with that router but after a cursory look at the manual in section 4.2 you can setup internet based on adsl with a vlan tag, I doubt Eir will be in the list but if you go through the list and look for one that has a VLAN ID instead of VPI/VCI and try that it might work.
Thanks,
Conor.
Hi Conor
I replaced the Eir router with Netgears Orbi mesh router and it works great. I’ve recently had trouble with my “copper” landline and wouldn’t mind giving Eirs voip service a run but not sure if my new router will support their Voip. They say no but my instinct is yes and was wondering if you’ve come across this.
Thanks
Paul
Hi Paul,
I dont use VoIP as part of my network and I dont really know a lot about it but there are VoIP settings on the ERX.
Thanks,
Conor.
Hi Conor, I’m seriously thinking of following suit with replacing the Eir Router but one question. I have a Gig connection to the home.. Eir came out and tested and it’s was showing 940 down and hitting 92 of the 100 upload limit.
Unfortunately at the Eir Router with a wired connection to test from the fastest I’m seeing is 170 down and 92 up (replaced cables etc and running new CAT5E and with a gigabit NIC in apple MacBook Pro and also tested on Gigabit Windows device. That’s my first challenge..the core question… any guidance on what should be expected at the router if the wall unit is giving great speed? Oh, I did replace the Eir router too and no change.
Hi Matthew, even with the F2000 I was getting the full speed that I was supposed to be getting my problem was that the connection kept randomly dropping completely and would not be restored until the unit was power cycled. I’m not sure what your issue could be. Eir’s speed limit steps are 100, 300 and 1000 so I would have said Eir configured it wrong but 200 is not one of their limits so I’m not sure. My connection is limited to 300/50 and I get 287/49 normally, however I do get 171/49 using the WiFi connection from my Unifi APs.
I recently moved here from USA.
Yesterday I got FTTH from Eir installed, with that F2000 unit.
They put in a new wall-box with 1 phone and 1 ethernet port.
Landline phone is connected to that wall/phone-port.
However, the internet is connected via a 2-wire telephone cable from wall/ethernet port into F2000/DSL-port.
I assume this setup uses the F2000 built-in modem.
I have an ASUS RT-AC68U that I would like to use instead, but that has no modem.
What would be a decent VDSL or VDSL2 modem to ‘bridge’ that gap?
Would that modem then connect via one ethernet cable to that wall/ethernet port, and connect via another ethernet cable into my router/WAN-internet port?
Hi Dominic it sounds like you are on an ADSL connection which is done over the phone lines this guide only covers fibre connections. FTTH is Fibre To The Home if your router/modem is connected to the phone line you probably have FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) or FTTE (Fibre To The Exchange) the max speed you will get with either of these is probably around 25MBps.
Got FTTH installed the other day, but only with the F2000 unit.
No separate modem was installed.
I have an ASUS RT-AC68U that I would like to use instead of F2000.
Which one is a reasonably priced, good modem to get?
Currently the F2000 is (weirdly?) connected with a 2-wire telephone cable between wall-box ethernet port and F2000-DSL port.
Will a new modem go via ethernet-cables between wall-box/modem and modem/router-WAN-port?
Hi Dominic you are on an ADSL connection which is done over the phone lines this guide only covers fibre connections. FTTH is Fibre To The Home if your router/modem is connected to the phone line you probably have FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) or FTTE (Fibre To The Exchange) the max speed you will get with either of these is probably around 25MBps.
Another dissatisfied F2000 owner, complaining already after only 1 month of (intermittent) use.
So I switched the F2000 into bridge mode and then hooked it up to my own router, which is a (cheap T-Mobile) TM-AC1900 router, that I had converted into an (expensive ASUS) RT-AC68U router, following this: https://www.bayareatechpros.com/ac1900-to-ac68u/
As this worked perfectly, I just ordered a Huawei HG8311 ONT modem on eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/331847730570
This combo will soon replace that dreadful F2000 Eir-junk.
Nice one, Conor. I’ll be using this information when I get my 1gig FTTH line next week, as soon as the installer leaves the house! 🙂
No problem Dave!
The standard box gave me trouble for ages before I got rid of it.
How did you get on with it?
Hello Conor
Could you post a pic of your Basic Wizard Setup for Eir FTTH on the ER-X? I have a ER-Poe and I presume the settings would be similar.
Thanks
Hi Paul,
I think I used the WAN+2LAN setup initially but that was a long time ago so I have no idea what the settings were TBH.
The ER-POE and ER-X have mostly the same software as far as I can remember.
Hello Conor
When you login to the ER CLI and run “show ubnt offload” what is the output?
Hi Paul,
I’m not sure what you need this for but here you go:
HWNAT offload module: not loaded
Traffic Analysis :
export : enabled
dpi : enabled
Is that of any use?
Hi Conor,
Great write up, I have had the same issues with my Vodafone Gigabox for the last few months and I finally took the plunge and purchased the Unify products. I have the Unify Pro Gateway a couple of Switches and WiFi access points.
I assume that your settings should work exactly the same on my Router as yours?
I am going to give it a go following your instructions this weekend.
Thanks Richard,
How did you get on with this?
I would guess that Vodafone’s VLAN tag ID might be different but the principle should be the same I’d say.
Hi Conor,
First of all Happy Christmas and New Year.
I had been using imagine for the last couple of years with unfortunately a poor service and speeds at best, at the times I needed it most I.e., in the evenings. I had to have a pipe laid down last week for eir fiber (live in a rural area), they could not use the old pipe.
In the house I had been using Netgear Orbi, RBR50 with two sats and this was working fine as far as Wifi was concerned. Since the fiber broad band installation, I have noticed that the Orbi connects but in its app states “offline”. I can however connect to the wifi, using most of my devices but the playstation and amazon fire TV will not link into the Orbi network (previously worked when using imagine). They seem to get the IP address but fails to connect to Internet. Secondly, on my iPhone some sites would not connect and return a message :file not found, 404. I used to have apple AirPort Extreme device which I connected to the eircom modem router through CAT5 and an Ethernet socket at the back of the modem and it resolved the above problems but then I had two WiFi networks in that room and the speed was far lower then the mesh network. I presume the issue may be in the Eir modem router. Could You help.
Hi Amjad,
Are you using the Netgear stuff directly with the Eir network (plugged into the ONT) or are you using the Eir router in between them?
If you are using the Netgear router with the Eir router you need to make sure that the Eir router is setup as a bridge (bridged connection) and have the Netgear router act as your homes router or else you will get very weird behavior from your network which is what sounds like what you are getting. You cannot connect a router to another router without doing some configuration.
If you want to remove the Eir router you will need to setup the VLAN tagging that is described in the above post but it will be different for your setup.
I hope this helps and if you have any other questions let me know,
Conor.
Thanks Conor,
Happy new year. I am using the netgear Orbi connected to the eir router which is then connected to the ont. I will try to it to bridge mode and hopefully can follow your instructions. I have telephone included in the eir bundle, would changing it to bridge mode have a negative effect on the telephone line?
Thanks again for your help.
A
Hi Conor, how do you set the f2000 up in bridged mode? I’m using a tp link mesh system plugged into the f2000? Thanks
Hi,can U help me with configuration Tpink Archer Xr500v.
Cannot get Gpon Terminal working on Eir connection.
heya we recently got eir to upgrade the line from FTTC to the FTTH. they gave us a new router. a sagemcom one and the wifi on it is muck. the f200 was better. is it possibe to use the two them somehow
cheers
Hi Scott, I’m not familiar with the router in question but it is possible to use most routers just as an access point which would allow you to connect the two routers together and use Wi-Fi from one and the other to connect to the Eir network. You’d have to read the manual for both routers to figure this out.
Thanks,
Conor.
Hi Conor,
Great write up, any chance you know if this will work with sky fibre as they piggy back off eirs line for my house? I have a full unifi network setup around my house and don’t want it bottle necked by the Sky Q box.
Hi Trevor, I’m not sure but this article has info on a setup similar to this for Sky broadband: https://finbarr.dev/2017-07-13-replace-eir-f2000/
Thanks,
Conor.
Hi Conner,
I know this an old post but I am wondering if you maybe able to point me in the right direction. I have FTTH(Siro) installed I first got it with Vodafone I used their default hub as it could be set to bridge mode and I could use my Google Nest Wi-Fi with it no issues. I have since changed provider to Sky and found their hub is terrible, not only can it not do bridge mode it constantly drops the Wi-Fi signal from anywhere between 5 to 15 mins.
I wish to use my own router what I am having an issue with is I cannot find the settings to connect to the internet Sky will not hand this out this information. I know the following works for digiweb;
Connection type = PPPoE
Username = digiweb@siro.digiweb.ie
password = digiweb
VLAN ID = 10
Do you know or heard of anyone successfully replacing the Sky hub and how they done it, as I am struggling to find anything online, and as I have mentioned Sky have not been helpful at all.
Any help at all would be great.
Thanks.
Hi Denis, I’m not sure on the settings for Sky, but this article has info on a setup similar to this for Sky broadband: https://finbarr.dev/2017-07-13-replace-eir-f2000/
Thanks,
Conor.
Hi Conor.
Thanks for the write up and link back to my original post. I’ve moved my domain over so the original post is now located at https://finbarr.dev/2017-07-13-replace-eir-f2000/ which I just updated with Vodafone settings and soon will add Sky also.
Thanks for fielding all the questions as you can see it is a popular topic!
Cheers
Finbarr
Thanks Finbarr, your original article was the only reason I figured this out in the first place 🙂 I will update the link.
Thanks,
Conor.
Hello Conor
Do you know if you can use a static IP from Eir on any router other than their own?
I needed to get one as I need to access a server that is IP Restricted. But I can’t get it setup.
They have given me the Eir Static IP: 83.xx.xxx.xx/32.
Default Gateway for eir modems: 192.168.1.254
Subnet Mask for eir modems: 255.255.255.255
but not sure how these should be entered in the wizard setup. It keeps failing for me.
Thanks
P