Community Fibre 1gbps Fibre Broadband Review (with speed tests)

[@relaxingchannel4all]

Another great video Pete. Nice call on the CGNAT.

[@Builtbypete]

Thanks

[@sufian2k6]

Good review! I'm getting mine 1Gbps service fitted tomorrow. Upgrading from Virgin Media's 125MBps which hasn't been very reliable.

[@Builtbypete]

Nice. I hope it all goes well. I had Virgin a few years ago. They were terrible in my opinion.

[@TheHacker425]

lol, me too

[@monicaduncan7109]

Yep I’m with virgin for about 10 years now only broadband now and charging me £56 month from M250 … I’m gone cancel as I’m out of contract now and you get nothing for loyalty these days

[@Builtbypete]

@@monicaduncan7109 I couldnt agree with you more. The same happened to me when I was with Virgin. So I moved to BT and the same again. Now I'm with Community Fibre and they are less than half the price for a better service. Lets hope it stays that way :)

[@911myporsche]

Thanks for a great review. 👍

[@DRUMTIMELESSONS]

Thanks for the review mate!

[@barrymccoy-fg7tk]

Thank you for mentioning the point about A VPN

[@Builtbypete]

Your welcome. I hope it helped.

[@Nowsherwan14]

Very informative. Thank you Can I ask, did you already plan to use your own router or did you not like the one they gave? I recently got mine installed and their router and mesh system isn't the best in my opinion, if you live in a house with two floors. The router will usually be in the corner of your house and although the coverage boost will get the Wi-Fi around the house, the speeds are considerably less. I was thinking to look in to whether I can just get a better router/modem and keep the mesh system to boost the coverage or whether I would need to change the whole thing which would up the costs! The speed is good if you are near the main router but if not i max out at about 300-350mb/s. The aim is to try and get a consistent level of 600-700mb at least around the house on Wifi.

[@Builtbypete]

I planned to use my router and Aimesh. I didn't even try using theirs. I have one AiMesh mode and it gives great performance. On my older WiFi devices I get around 350mbps but on new WiFi standards I get over 700.

[@Nowsherwan14]

@@Builtbypete any product links for router and mesh?

[@Builtbypete]

@@Nowsherwan14 Useful Links My ASUS RP-AX58 WiFi Extender: amzn.to/4a2EiUu My ASUS RT-AX88U Router: amzn.to/3GtNvHv The ASUS Store: amzn.to/3Ro6UjI

[@Builtbypete]

@@Nowsherwan14 you might find this helpful: kzbin.info/aero/PL0oXpMV3A2EO9MWJBkErHnkMUBMZ6V7oY&si=BxoRLarXzDJXvdII

[@Builtbypete]

@@Nowsherwan14 here's some other links: My ASUS RP-AX58 WiFi Extender: amzn.to/4a2EiUu My ASUS RT-AX88U Router: amzn.to/3GtNvHv The ASUS Store: amzn.to/3Ro6UjI

[@michaeldiver6031]

Thanks for the review. I was wondering about the splice point you mentioned. That looks like it's in the middle of your house . Did CF run a cable under your floor to get there? I thought they normally just drill a hole in the external wall and terminate the cable on the otherside of it?

[@Builtbypete]

Yes, normally would be on an outside wall. I pre-drilled the hole and ran conduit ahead of CM visit so I could have the point where I wanted it.

[@michaeldiver6031]

@@Builtbypete haha, clever guy. You had it all prepared. Also I wanted to ask you about the shared IP. Is the IP on the external interface they give you a private IP that get natted somewhere upstream? (I assume you are a network engineer of some kind from how you talk on your video)

[@Builtbypete]

They use CGNAT as do most new ISPs these days which means your public IP address isn't actually your IP address so DDNS won't work. You need to buy additionally a fixed IP from CM if you need that.

[@michaeldiver6031]

@@Builtbypete yeah I know , was just wondering if CGNAT means it has private IPs on the external interfaces of the CF modem. No worries.

[@Builtbypete]

Ah, right. Sorry. I missed that. I'm not sure on that one I'm afraid.

[@hubadabubbada]

Hey did you test with or without ethernet? Thanks for the review. ❤

[@Builtbypete]

The test was on a PC with an ethernet connection to the router.

[@jrbentham]

What speeds do you get via WiFi?

[@hubadabubbada]

@@jrbentham the range isnt amazing but if the router is nearby, you get around 600+

[@mfid0]

Interesting that you get 940ish as well. I’ve had mine for a few weeks and get the same, and was just wondering if it’s because of a bottleneck in my equipment. I currently have fibre into the CF-provided Adtran SDX621i which goes into my Ubiquiti UDM via Ethernet 1GE port using Cat6a. I’m wondering if I upgraded the ONT to one with 2.5 or even 10GE and start eliminating perceived weak links then I might get full 1000Mbps. Will eventually switch the UDM for a UDM Pro SE and connect with an SFP+ adapter.

[@Builtbypete]

I think 940 is what CF say you'll get. If I test on speedtest.net I get 940 or slightly higher. If I test on fast.com I often get 1.1gb

[@mfid0]

941 Down and Up without fail in the Ubiquiti Speedtest. Maybe I should stop chasing every last drop

[@Builtbypete]

I think that's a really good speed and is what I get most of the time. Try fast.com and see what you get 😉

[@Ari-jq5mj]

Thank you for this fantastic review. Do you have great internet in the entire house?

[@Builtbypete]

I don't use their router. I use an ASUS RT-AX88U. I have a couple of mesh nodes and get great coverage everywhere.

[@joshkonagym]

What app are you using to test the speeds???

[@Builtbypete]

I use three different ones. These are the ones I typically use: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqOugqCCpJmLZ6csi=fbut8nlUvMY0blcd

[@robsmith6794]

My biggest gripe with Virgin is the lack of customer service. Virtually impossible to get through in less than 20 minutes and then you get a call centre. What is the customer service like with Community Fibre. In other words how easy is it to actually talk to a person rather than some idiotic phone keypad options malarkey , etc and were you able to actually speak to someone there rather than a call centre employee.

[@Builtbypete]

I had a terrible experience with Virgin. Personally I'd never use them again. So far with CF I have only had to ring them twice at the beginning of my contract and for me the service was great.

[@stanlee4210]

Could you please explain the CGNAT a bit more on what it means I'm pretty clueless when it comes to understanding these wifi things. I mainly want to know will i be able to use a normal vpn like nord vpn with the WiFi and is there any other real downsides to having CGNAT. Thanks

[@Builtbypete]

With regular NAT, a single public IP address is shared by multiple devices behind your router. With CGNAT, a single public IP address is shared between multiple customer's routers. The IP address that your router's WAN interface is allocated is taken from a reserved CGNAT IP range. I believe you should be able to use an external VPN service. The CGNAT , will make accessng your LAN remotely difficult with the ISP assigning you a fixed IP address.

[@stanlee4210]

@Builtbypete oh ok and is there any safety risks or is it just as safe? Also will there be any problems with gaming online?

[@KevinYu0504]

8:14，No offense, but you should choose the same test target server to be accurate .

[@Builtbypete]

Hi Kevin. None taken. You are right. I did think of that after I uploaded the video. The speed test site auto chose. I might do another test of CF to the same target as I did for BT.

[@KevinYu0504]

@@Builtbypete Cool ~ :D

[@Truth565]

Regardless, the CF speed is as advertised and is synchronous. I’ve been a customer of theirs for a few years now. Fast and reliable.

[@slicedpage]

thanks for the VPN heads-up. I use mine A LOT!

[@Builtbypete]

Your welcome. They should make it clear on their adverts

[@TheCheshireCat.]

I couldn't get CF in my area. However, Hyperoptic was so went with their 1 Gig service, takes me six minutes to upload 30 Gig file to my personal server, plus had static IP. Had to ditch Virgin, wasn't worth the money for 1 Gig, didn't have all their TV or phone plus they were increasing the price, ridiculous, plus Virgin don't don't do IPV6. Working great with my Asus.

[@Builtbypete]

Good choice. I know a few people that work there and I hear good things.. bt, virgin etc al all charge too much for a crap service. You made the right choice IMHO.

[@marcosscriven]

I so wish I could get this - they seem to focus on large buildings, and even if you're next to them, they can't provide their service.

[@Builtbypete]

They used to be only central London, but they are now going to outer London so hopefully they will be near you soon.

[@marcosscriven]

@@Builtbypete There's some local/ex-local buildings within 300 metres of me in N3 that have it. But they're not filling in the gaps.

[@Builtbypete]

That's a shame. Hopefully they'll do something soon for you.

[@SJHD]

So annoying how they are the only ones that do equal upload/dwnld speeds and everyone else is 120mbps up max, and they are at least £15 a month cheaper too!! Of course they are the only ones i cant get 🤬 gonna have to just get BT, hope its good

[@Builtbypete]

Yeah, that must be frustrating. I was so pleased when Community Fibre moved I to my area. I had BT before and their download speeds were good, but like you say the upload speeds let it down. I'm the two years I was with them the service was good. It went down once in all that time.

[@SJHD]

@@Builtbypete thats good to know, at least. I have basic fibre with them and it has been the most stable of anyone else, it just really sucks that 500mbps down is £35 vs Community which is 900/900 for just £25! Sucks to be me I guess

[@Builtbypete]

I feel really sorry for you. When BT know there's no competition in an area they know they can be greedy.

[@SJHD]

@@Builtbypete its true mate, appreciate the responses 👍 vodafone is slightly cheaper but their minimum guaranteed speeds is much lower which makes me think they wont be reliable. Maybe I can convince BT to price match vodafone at the very least

[@Builtbypete]

I've not heard good things about Vodafone. It's definitely worth a try. When I first went BT I managed to negotiate a few quid off. Don't ask don't get 😉

[@ckovu]

Has anyone living in a house had their fibre connected underground rather than telegraph pole

[@Builtbypete]

I've never seen that. Normally underground to a pole and then from a pole to the house.

[@Kiet888]

Their customer service is atrocious. Reliability was fine for a few weeks. If you’ve ever experienced regular dropouts like I have, almost daily, then good luck getting anywhere with them. They take at least a week to acknowledge your query, and then give you the usual WiFi troubleshooting steps even though it’s the whole connection that drops. I’ll be replacing the Linksys mesh router (even bought an additional one off eBay for £40) with my own one soon, as I read its custom firmware is dodgy and could be the source of my issues.

[@Builtbypete]

I did even try to use their router. I used my ASUS RT-AX88U form the start and has performed brilliantly.

[@Nemesis-db8fl]

This is very cheap

[@Builtbypete]

Yes, it was less than half of what I was paying for BT broadband.