I’ve just unboxed a three pack of Eero Pros. I was hoping to replace my old AirPort Extreme and solve a couple of dead spot issues we have in the house.
I’m with BT in the UK and currently have a BT Open Reach modem with a DSL cable and a Lan cable that goes into the AirPort Extreme. I’ve tried everything I can think of to try and get this working, even had a support call with Eero who told me the Eero should only require one cable going into the Eero.
Eventually went to Amazon to start looking through some of the reviews for help and found this:
“Most UK ISPs use PPPoE to authenticate users to their network, this is commonly used by DSL which if you have an OpenReach connection you will be using. Eero does not support PPPoE, which means you need to place it behind another router which leads to issues with NAT (the translation that a router carries out between public (Internet) and private (Home Network) addresses)”.
Sure enough if I plug the first Eero into the AirPort Extreme I’m able to set up the Eero. Although this seems super messy and defeats the object of replacing the Airport Extreme.
Your UK isp may provide ‘their’ router for a small fee. Or they may have sent you one when you signed up. (Mine sit unopened in a cupboard as I have my own routers)
If you haven’t looked at switching providers recently you might be paying over the odds for broadband anyway. If you change providers most will send a new router.
When the router arrives just turn off the included Wi-fi and use your Eeros for your Wi-fi. (You can do the same with your airport).
Or, if you are able, send the whole lot back and get some Ubiquiti UniFi kit (which might be slightly more expensive but works well with UK ISPs.)
Ubiquiti have a new bit of kit - the ubiquity dream machine that is aimed at soho users but will provide enterprise level controls if you want them, just add extra access points if you need them.
My parents have the BT router as well, from memory there is one red ethernet port and a few yellow ones on the back and you have to use the yellow ones with Eeros for it to work. I am going based on memory here, but we’ve used a few different routers over the years in their home and none of them ever had an issue except the time I tried to use the red port (which is now taped over to avoid this in the future!).
I find it odd that the variety of cheap routers I’ve tried over the years have worked with no issues yet the Eero of all devices has an issue? Very strange. I hope someone here has a better solution for you that my “check to make sure you’re using the right port” comment!
@RosemaryOrchard So do you have the Eero wired into the BT HomeHub directly and did you put the hub into modem only? I’ve had BT Infinity for an age, so I was supplied with a OpenReach modem which plugged into the BT HomeHub router.
I don’t think have the BT Home Hub router anymore as it was a terrible piece of plastic kit! I still have the BT/Open Reach modem which has been plugged into the Apple AirPort Extreme for years (replacing the BT Home Hub) and provided a pretty stable connection although with dead spots in a few places, one being the TV/Sky Box so was hoping to switch out the Apple router for the Eeros.
Eero have just confirmed that the only way for me to get these to work is to use as bridges with the AirPort Extreme.
As an experiment I’ve currently got one Eero wired into the Airport now and another set up in the living room near the TV. essentially placing the Eero behind the Apple router which is leading to issues with NAT and has stopped Sky Q from being able to connect.
I’m pretty certain the last BT Hub my parents had (also plastic junk) was in modem mode and we’ve put it through a variety of routers. I was planning on upgrading them to Eero next time I’m at home so haven’t tested this properly yet (I did talk to their neighbour who said he has it working, but based on previous things he’s said I don’t know how much to believe!).
This is extremely disappointing if it’s not working for you, I don’t want to waste a weekend faffing around with things only to send it all back! Hopefully another UK based person can lend an eye/ear to your cause.
Check out this review on Amazon UK, which essentially backs up my findings too, kicking myself for having not read this before I ordered:
Most UK ISPs use PPPoE to authenticate users to their network, this is commonly used by DSL which if you have an OpenReach connection you will be using. Eero does not support PPPoE, which means you need to place it behind another router which leads to issues with NAT (the translation that a router carries out between public (Internet) and private (Home Network) addresses). This has stopped Sky Q from working in my house for On Demand, but I have seen vastly improved WiFi Speed and coverage in a congested WiFi area (3 story town house in city).
PPPoE support has an open request on the Eero support forums as a feature, but it has been open for over 2 years! Considering PPPoE and DSL are the two primary connectivity technologies in the UK, I am shocked that this has not been fixed before Eero was launched in the UK! My advice is, its not simple - if you’re a pro IT (which I am) then feel free to experiment, but for users looking at a simple plug in and go solution look at alternative Mesh solutions which support PPPoE and avoid the hassle of managing double NAT.
I really wish Eero would support this. My ISP in the US is the same way and it drives me nuts that I can’t use all the features of the Eero system. It should be something they could add since other mesh systems work with that kind of logging.
There are certain ISP in US which uses PPPoE but they are in the minority. For those unlucky users, they need to use Eero behind their existing router.
In Malaysia, my ISP is also using PPPoE and so I had my Eero running in bridge. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what I’m missing. But I sure get reliable and wide coverage of WiFi at every corner of my house. It’s truly a set and forget device. No regrets on my end. I’m sure you will enjoy them too.
I looked hard at mesh wifi, but in the end I went with Airport Extremes and Powerline. I have 3 Airports covering a 4-story house (UK) very well.
There are aplenty of Aurports around used and powelerine adapters are cheap - you want pass-through adapters so that the AP can plug in.
Then you set up each Airport to create a wireless network, giving them all the same SSID and credentials. Powerline provides the backhauland devices switch easily.
Not for everyone, but my sense fo Eero (and other mesh systems) is that they’re not yet perfect and they’re not cheap either.
Yep, I just run it in bridge mode. Unfortunately, it means I lose out on some of the advanced features Eero has to offer. To be honest, I’m thinking of finding a new router. I seem to have devices drop from the Eero network and it’s a bit slow. Without the cool features it has to offer, I’m not sure the system is worth it.
A little update on this. I’ve had another play and managed to get everything up and running albeit using the AirPort Extreme to handle the PPPoE so the Eeros are running in double NAT mode. Even managed to get out Sky Q box connected, I have no idea why it wouldn’t connect yesterday.
The two dead spots we had in the house are now gone, so on that front it’s doing it’s job, hurrah!
I might see how we get on with it for a few days before I make a final decision about returning them.
Thanks for your thoughts everyone, much appreciated!
If you should decide to return the Eeros then I’d suggest considering the Linksys Velop range.
These do support PPPoe and I’ve had good experience running them against a BT DSL connection (in my case using a Draytek Vigor 130 modem).
I bought these a couple of years ago because at the time they were the only Eero equivalent available in the UK that supported Ethernet backhaul between base stations (which can offer significant speed improvements for devices connected to satellite stations).
I’m with Virgin and I use their “super”hub in bridging mode. My Eero’s are working fantastically well in this configuration. No problems with NAT at all.
You make a very good point sir regarding the AirPort Extreme being at the end of it’s life! Fell down the Amplifi rabbit hole this morning on YouTube. The Amplifi Instant gets very mixed reviews but the HD version looks a little better. Also considering the Google Nest Wifi which also supports PPPoe and completely discounted the Netgear Orbi.
Eeros still working well this morning connected to the Airport Extreme although I seem to have lost the Hue lights in HomeKit. For the first time in a long time we are able to stream photos and vid from a Mac on one side of the house to the Apple TV on the other, so if nothing else I’ve learnt that I need some sort of mesh or bridge set up.
Convenience comes at a price.
Not the first time that I hear about a product that’s supposed to make life easier, but actually is lacking much needed functionality. It’s pretty bad news of course. And hard to understand why a premium product like eero “pro” (what’s in a name) doesn’t offer this. There are routers that are much more reasonably priced that do have it. No clue why they left it out. Open source firmware (like dd-wrt) offers PPPoE out-of-the-box.
Sorry to be cynical, but this is yet another example of a “nerdy”/“geeky” product advertised on MPU that turns out to be much less aimed at “power users” than one would expect.
I do agree with @Philrob.
They do, and it’s pretty good, not to mention quite cheap. But the only way to know whether ti works in your home is to try it. I looked hard at it but (per my earlier post) decided to organise my Airports instead.
I take the pointhere that Airports are out of support, but I’m willing to live with that for a bit longer.
