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How Can I Get Full 1300/1300 FTTH Speeds on Xfinity EPON When the XB8 Uses the Only 2.5GbE Port for the ONT?
I am in Pelican Marsh Foundation in Naples, Florida, where internet and cable are provided to each residence under a bulk Xfinity community agreement with the option to upgrade internet speed tiers with a minimal monthly additional fee.
I am trying to determine how to fully utilize our FTTH service at speeds above the effective 1 Gbps wired limitation I am currently facing.
Our homes appear to be provisioned with a Nokia NKFN11AEL EPON ONT, which seems to require authentication through an Xfinity XB7 or XB8 gateway. Our bulk plan allows selection of the 1300/1300 Mbps speed tier, but in practice the setup appears constrained because the 2.5 Gbps port on the XB7/XB8 is occupied by the ONT uplink, leaving only 1 Gbps LAN ports available for downstream wired connectivity.
My network is currently configured with the Xfinity gateway in Bridge Mode, since I use a UniFi environment behind it.
From what I can tell, if Xfinity requires the gateway to remain in-line, the XER10 or possibly the XB10 may be the only practical hardware options because they provide additional multi-gig ports.
I am hoping someone from Xfinity, or anyone with experience on this type of EPON FTTH deployment, can clarify the following:
1. What options are available to obtain the full 1300/1300 Mbps service to my own network equipment?
2. Is it possible to eliminate the Xfinity gateway entirely and connect customer-owned equipment directly to the Nokia ONT?
3. Is there any supported method to use an SFP-based optical handoff, such as an ONT/XGS-PON-style SFP module, instead of the XB7/XB8 gateway?
4. If the gateway cannot be removed, is there any supported authentication method for customer-owned equipment, such as EAPOL / 802.1X and MACsec, that would allow direct use of third-party routing equipment?
5. If neither of those is possible, what Xfinity-supported hardware path would allow true multi-gig LAN output while keeping the required gateway in place?
I would appreciate any technical guidance, especially from Xfinity staff familiar with EPON FTTH bulk-community deployments.
XfinityRichard
Official Employee
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3.2K Messages
22 days ago
Hi there! Thank you so much for taking the time to reach out! I hope you're having a fantastic day!
1. What options are available to obtain the full 1300/1300 Mbps service to my own network equipment? To deliver the full symmetrical 1300 Mbps to your own equipment, you must use a gateway that has at least two multi-gigabit ports (one for WAN input from the ONT and one for LAN output to your router).
2. Is it possible to eliminate the Xfinity gateway entirely and connect customer-owned equipment directly to the Nokia ONT? No. The Nokia ONT (typically the NKFN11AEL) will not hand off a public IP address to third-party equipment. The Xfinity gateway (XB7/XB8/XER10) acts as an authentication "key." Without it, the ONT will not establish a data session
3. Is there any supported method to use an SFP-based optical handoff, such as an ONT/XGS-PON-style SFP module, instead of the XB7/XB8 gateway? There is no supported method for a residential customer to use an SFP-based ONT or "PON stick".
4. If the gateway cannot be removed, is there any supported authentication method for customer-owned equipment, such as EAPOL / 802.1X and MACsec, that would allow direct use of third-party routing equipment? While the network does use 802.1X for authentication, Xfinity does not provide the certificates or credentials required for a customer-owned router to perform this handshake.
5. If neither of those is possible, what Xfinity-supported hardware path would allow true multi-gig LAN output while keeping the required gateway in place? If you want to keep your own equipment while maintaining full speed: Request the XER10 Gateway: This is the only official path to having two multi-gig ports (one for ONT, one for your router). Use Bridge Mode: Once you have a gateway with a spare multi-gig port, enable Bridge Mode to disable the internal routing/Wi-Fi and pass the public IP to your own equipment.
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EG
Expert
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117.8K Messages
22 days ago
@chasecalvin
As an FYI, the XER10 does not support a bridge mode function.
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