Rogers Ignite Internet Fiber to Home

[chris993]

I'm currently subscribed to Rogers' 2.5 Gbps download and upload fibre-to-home plan, and I use the Rogers Gen 3 modem, which has one 2.5 Gbps port for the ONT connection and three 1 Gbps LAN ports. However, when I connect these 1 Gbps ports to my 2.5 Gbps switch, I'm limited to 1 Gbps speeds on these connections. Does Rogers offer a modem with at least two 2.5 Gbps ports to better utilize my switch and maximize my home network's bandwidth?

*Added Labels*

[-G- · Accepted solution]

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@chris993 wrote:

Does Rogers offer a modem with at least two 2.5 Gbps ports to better utilize my switch and maximize my home network's bandwidth?

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No, not yet.  However, later this year, Comcast will be releasing a Wi-Fi 7 router, the XER10, which is exactly what you are asking for.  Presumably, Rogers will eventually offer this to their FTTH customers as well.

Some customers have also just unplugged the Ignite Gateway and replaced it with their own multi-gig router.  This is not a Rogers-supported option but Rogers is also not stopping you from doing this either.

[chris993]

Thanks a lot, I will keep an eye on your thread about updates on this

[wolf6801]

Use a 2.5 ethernt switch box,it will give 2.5 gigs to everything you plug it into,just plug one end of cable into rogers 2.5g port on router then the other ent into 2.5g switch then out of switch to everything else that's what I did to all pcs in my house.

[MDK-2024]

@wolf6801 -- are you using "CAT-6" Ethernet cables to your computers, because "CAT-5e" cables max-out at 1 Gbps ? 

Do your computers have high-end (and expensive) network adapters, not just 10/100/1000 speeds, to support "faster-than-1Gbps" speeds?

Do you subscribe to "faster-than-1Gbps" speed from Rogers?

Properly configured, you should get "faster-than-1Gbps" file-transfer speeds between two "local" computers, if each computer has fast (SSD or NVMe) file-storage capabilities. Sometimes, the speed of the storage devices becomes the "bottle-neck" for your file-transfer.

What servers on the Internet are pumping-out data at "faster-than-1Gbs" speeds?  If those servers have multiple simultaneous clients, each client will be getting only a piece of their maximum-speed. Compare to driving on the German Autobahn at "rush-hour" -- through the road is capable of very fast traffic, "congestion" will limit your individual speed.

[Datalink]

@MDK-2024 your statement indicating that "CAT-5e" cables max-out at 1 Gbps isn't entirely correct.  For the original specification, Cat-5e supports 1 Gb/s for cable lengths of 328 feet (100 metres).  By changing the signalling rates and modulation, it became possible to run 2.5 or 5 Gb/s over Cat-5e cables, out to 328 feet (100 metres).  The 802.3bz standard was developed with the realization of the many miles of Cat-5e cabling installed around the world.  Once installed, its usually pretty difficult to upgrade that cabling without tearing the surrounding building apart.  So, plan b was to come up with a signalling scheme to run higher data rates over Cat-5e cabling.

[Datalink]

@wolf6801 as this is a Fibre to Home thread, are you indicating that you have the following fibre configuration:

Inbound -> Optical -> ethernet -> Rogers -> Port 4 (2.5 Gb/s port) -> 2.5 Gb/s switch - other devices @ 2.5 Gb/s

   Fibre        Network                          Modem

                    Terminal                         Ports 1 to 3

                     (ONT)

If that is your current configuration, it is incorrect.  With a fibre to the home installation, the ONT must connect with the modem's port 4, which is a WAN / LAN autosensing port.  It is the only port that has firewall capabilities when running as a WAN port, which is the specific case when running in conjunction with a fibre ONT.  

If you connect the ONT to any of the modems other ports (ports 1 to 3), then the modem does not provide any firewall capabilities.  Any device connected to the modem via wifi or any other port will be wide open to external port scans and intrusion from miscreants across the web.  Rogers IPv4 addresses are continually scanned by those miscreants, looking for any vulnerability they can find and use.  Any device connected to the modem will have to rely on its own firewall capability to protect itself and its user from external threats.  We've seen unstable configurations like this previously, so, the lesson learned is to follow the modems designed inputs and outputs.

The correct configuration in the case of Fibre to the Home is as follows:

Inbound -> Optical -> ethernet -> Rogers -> Ports 1 to 3 (1 /Gb/s)  -> 2.5 Gb/s switch - other devices @ 2.5 Gb/s

   Fibre        Network                          Modem

                    Terminal                           Port4

                     (ONT)                          (firewalled)

In this configuration, the best you can do from the ethernet ports (1 to 3) is 1 Gb/s.  That is the nature of the current modems in use for FTTH, the XB7 and XB8.  As @-G- indicated above, Comcast has or is introducing the XER-10 which should take care of the current bottlenecks with the modems.  When that modem makes its appearance across the Rogers network is anyone's guess.  2025, sometime?? Don't know.  

The only way that you can currently achieve 2.5 Gb/s throughput to your network devices via ethernet is to replace the modem with a router that has 2.5 Gb/s WAN and LAN ports.  That is not a Rogers supported configuration, however, many customers have done exactly that to run higher data rates to their ethernet connected devices.  You need to keep the modem nearby in the event of any technical issues.  If anything arose, you would need to swap the modem back into the configuration in order to allow tech support to run any required troubleshooting.

If you have a typical cable installation, where the modem is connected to the Rogers network via RG-6 cable, then running the 2.5 Gb/s port out to a 2.5 Gb/s switch will allow you to run 2.5 Gb/s out to any device that supports that data rate.  The firewalled port on the modem automatically switches over to the cable port in this case.  

If you have a Fibre to the Home configuration, as indicated in the first paragraph, you should revert to the correct configuration and consider all of your devices to be compromised.  You should run antivirus and malware scans on all of your devices until you are sure that they are clear of any virus or malware installations. 

[MDK-2024]

@Datalink wrote Plan B was to come up with a signalling scheme to run higher data rates over Cat-5e cabling.

Interesting.

Do the current (XB6, XB7, XB8) cable-modems support "Plan B"?

Does every network adapter that supports "over 1Gbps" also support "Plan B", or does one need to be "picky" when purchasing such high-speed adapters?

To me, it seems that 1Gbps routers, with CAT-5E (or CAT 6) cables, and with computers with 1Gbps network adapters, that there will be enough throughput for the "average" consumer.

It may be a while before routers have both optical input and optical output, and consumer PCs have optical input, without paying "premium" prices for such hardware.  But, of course, serious "gamers" will pay to be on the leading edge.  🙂

[asturias7]

Rogers customers will eventually be offered symmetrical speeds via cable (no need for FTTH) thanks to DOCSIS 4.0 (There is a thread here somewhere that explains everything). This thanks to Rogers' partnership with Comcast (and one of the first novelties is the recent rebranding of Ignite to Xfinity).

To answer your Q, “Do the current (XB6, XB7, XB8) cable-modems support "Plan B"?”. At the moment no. Along with symmetrical and higher speeds eventually being offered and available to customers, there will be a new modem, the XB10, a DOCSIS 4.0 gateway with Wi-Fi 7.