Starhub UltraSpeed 3Gbps/5Gbps/10Gbps plans

[xiaofan]

Hi Xiaofan,

Below is my floor plan.

Currently, i'm using 3 x Deco M9 Plus. One is inside my DB Box with my ONT, 1 is at living room lan port, and 1 is at bedroom 2 lan port. Coverage wise, every part of the house is covered including toilets.

However, i'm wondering if it's possible to have only 2 router? 1 at living room lan port and 1 at bedroom 2 lan port? If so, how do i connect the main router (living room lan port) to the ONT which is at the DB box?

Any help here is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

In order for Ethernet Backhaul to work, the main router has to be in the DB Box in your case.

If your DB box does not block WiFi too much, I tend to think two nodes will be good enough: EB810v in DB box and HB710 in Bedroom 2 (which can cater for one 10G wired device in Bedroom 2).

You can carry out an experiment by removing the Deco M9+ in the living room to see how it goes.

 

[xiaofan]

Hi all

PS if this is not correct place to post.
But I have facing this netflix issue in my new home.

Subscribed to 5gb plan recently and netflix thinks I’m using VPN. Cannot access some of the shows. Anyone has any solutions?

It could be that paticular IPv4 address segment is wrongly identified as foreign IPv4 address. You can try the following to change to another IPv4 address, if you are using the ONT option.
1) change router temporarily to another old router
2) change back to your current router.

Some routers also have the function to disconnect WAN and then connect back (eg: Asus router).

The above trick will not work if you are using Nokia ONR. If you are using ONR, try your luck to reboot the ONR (unlikely to work though).

 

[xiaofan]

Thanks for sharing.
My current setup with Singtel ONT is having 2x RT5703W, but 1 at living room TV console and 1 in middle common room (both wired backhaul, so in the DB box only ONT is there).

Is there a difference in not having EB810v directly connected to ONT?
I am guessing that depends on my wired backhaul specs? Since I'm not sure of the cable grade used for backhaul done up by previous owner.
However for direct connection between ONT to router I can ensure it will be Cat 6 and up, so that at least I know my EB810v is not capped at 1gbps in case it's cat5e or down.

I believe you are using SIngtel ONR and not ONT. That is why you can connect your two RT5703W to the ONR. It will not work if you have a Singtel ONT. Singtel ONT has only one 1G LAN port active, the other LAN ports are not active. So it is not possible to connect two RT5703W to the ONT, one of them will not work at all.

If you go with the Starhub 5Gbps plan with ONT option, your main router has to be connected to ONT. And in order for the room LAN ports and Ethernet backhaul to work, the EB810v router has to be in the DB box. Then your HB710 can be put in a room. I think you are worried about this one, right? Even it if is CAT5E between the DB Box patch panel and the room LAN port, it may work well for 10Gbps at the short distance (out of spec but may work, and if not it may work for 5Gbps). CAT5E is okay for 2.5Gbps.

You may want to post your floor plan with details about the location of the DB box, Singtel ONR, room LAN ports and the two RT5703W units.

 

[waddahell]

It could be that paticular IPv4 address segment is wrongly identified as foreign IPv4 address. You can try the following to change to another IPv4 address, if you are using the ONT option.
1) change router temporarily to another old router
2) change back to your current router.

Some routers also have the function to disconnect WAN and then connect back (eg: Asus router).

The above trick will not work if you are using Nokia ONR. If you are using ONR, try your luck to reboot the ONR (unlikely to work though).

Hi Xiaofan, thanks on above. I’m using asus router. Will see how to tryout your method.

 

[joeidle1]

Hi Xiaofan,

Since buying a EB810v + HB710 will cost around the same as buying 3 x HB710, would it be better to just buy 3 x HB710 instead and place them where my Deco M9 Plus is at the moment?

Thanks!

In order for Ethernet Backhaul to work, the main router has to be in the DB Box in your case.

If your DB box does not block WiFi too much, I tend to think two nodes will be good enough: EB810v in DB box and HB710 in Bedroom 2 (which can cater for one 10G wired device in Bedroom 2).

You can carry out an experiment by removing the Deco M9+ in the living room to see how it goes.

 

[xiaofan]

Hi Xiaofan,

Since buying a EB810v + HB710 will cost around the same as buying 3 x HB710, would it be better to just buy 3 x HB710 instead and place them where my Deco M9 Plus is at the moment?

Thanks!

Yes that is possible as well, but you may need to add a switch in order to use Ethernet backhaul for all nodes, since HB710 only has one 10G WAN port and one 10G LAN port.

A 2.5G/10G switch with dual 10G RJ45 ports and quad 2.5G costs about S$100+, so in the end you do not really save money. The performance of HB710 is worse than EB810v in terms of wireless coverage and CPU. So in the end you actually lose by going with the three HB710 plus switch solution.

I will suggest you to go with EB810v + HB710 (10G Ethernet Backhaul) first to see how it goes. You can add one more node if really needed. That 3rd node can be HB710 or even the cheaper HB410 (2.5G Ethernet backhaul).

Another option is to go with EB810v (S$360) plus two HB410 (S$120 * 2 = S$240), total cost is S$600.

 

[windwaver]

Sorry if this has been asked before.

My installation on 22nd and planning to get hb710.

My current confiq is as below and if I wanna keep it as such will it work?

Ont > main router > lan into masterbed room router via db lan port (main and room router same ssid)

Saw that the hb710 has a 10gb lan port behind and i don't intent to change the room router cos I only use for phone browsing in mbr. Hope to just changed main router into hb710 and have everything to work as it is.

What router you guys use to connect to ONT?

 

[joeidle1]

Ok, I’ll get the EB810v for the ont connection.

Is the wireless coverage and performance of the HB710B better than the Deco M9 Plus?

I don’t mind getting 2 x EB810v actually, but this router looks large and out of place. It’s going to stick out like a sore thumb in the bedroom.

Yes that is possible as well, but you may need to add a switch in order to use Ethernet backhaul for all nodes, since HB710 only has one 10G WAN port and one 10G LAN port.

A 2.5G/10G switch with dual 10G RJ45 ports and quad 2.5G costs about S$100+, so in the end you do not really save money. The performance of HB710 is worse than EB810v in terms of wireless coverage and CPU. So in the end you actually lose by going with the three HB710 plus switch solution.

I will suggest you to go with EB810v + HB710 (10G Ethernet Backhaul) first to see how it goes. You can add one more node if really needed. That 3rd node can be HB710 or even the cheaper HB410 (2.5G Ethernet backhaul).

Another option is to go with EB810v (S$360) plus two HB410 (S$120 * 2 = S$240), total cost is S$600.

 

[xiaofan]

Ok, I’ll get the EB810v for the ont connection.

Is the wireless coverage and performance of the HB710B better than the Deco M9 Plus?

I don’t mind getting 2 x EB810v actually, but this router looks large and out of place. It’s going to stick out like a sore thumb in the bedroom.

I believe HB710 to be a bit better than the old Deco M9+.

EB810v is big indeed. Even the HB710 is pretty big.

 

[xiaofan]

What router you guys use to connect to ONT?

I believe many people use either HB710 or EB810v.

I have bought an HB710 from Starhub myself to prepare for the upcoming Starhub 5Gbps installation on 22 Feb 2025. It is of superb value at S$192.

You can of course use other routers, including 2.5Gbps capable ones or even existing 1Gbps capable ones and only upgrade later.

 

[vaxvms]

Subscribed to 5gb plan recently and netflix thinks I’m using VPN. Cannot access some of the shows. Anyone has any solutions?

netflix via vpn no issue on my android box

 

[joeidle1]

Ok, i'll get EB810v for the ONT and 1 HB710 for bedroom 2.

If coverage cannot, then i'll get another HB710 for the living room lan port.

Btw, how do i check if the lan cable setup in my house is Cat 5 or Cat 6?

Thanks!

I believe many people use either HB710 or EB810v.

I have bought an HB710 from Starhub myself to prepare for the upcoming Starhub 5Gbps installation on 22 Feb 2025. It is of superb value at S$192.

You can of course use other routers, including 2.5Gbps capable ones or even existing 1Gbps capable ones and only upgrade later.

 

[xiaofan]

netflix via vpn no issue on my android box

Actually the issue is the other way around. He is not using VPN but then Netflix thinks he is using VPN.

Possible reason is that the Starhub issued IPv4 address is wrongly identified by Netflix to be a foreign IP.

SIMBA users used to have such issue and they had to wait for SIMBA to fix the issue due to CGNAT.

For Starhub users, there is still a good chance to fix the issue by yourself, especially for ONT users -- to get a different IPv4 address and hopefully the new IPv4 address has no issues. ONR users will be at the mercy of Starhub mostly -- you can try to reboot the ONR multiple times and hope to get a new IPv4 address.

Usually this kind of thing does not happen though. So most average users will still be fine with ONR or even CGNAT (eg: SIMVA).

 

[xiaofan]

Ok, i'll get EB810v for the ONT and 1 HB710 for bedroom 2.

If coverage cannot, then i'll get another HB710 for the living room lan port.

Btw, how do i check if the lan cable setup in my house is Cat 5 or Cat 6?

Thanks!

If it is BTO, usually CAT 6. If not BTO, you may have to open and check.

CAT 5E is good for 2.5Gbps and may work with 5Gbps or even 10Gbps (out of spec but may work).

CAT 6 is good for 10Gbps up to 55m, should be good enough for most households.

 

[Lynxlok94]

I believe you are using SIngtel ONR and not ONT. That is why you can connect your two RT5703W to the ONR. It will not work if you have a Singtel ONT. Singtel ONT has only one 1G LAN port active, the other LAN ports are not active. So it is not possible to connect two RT5703W to the ONT, one of them will not work at all.

If you go with the Starhub 5Gbps plan with ONT option, your main router has to be connected to ONT. And in order for the room LAN ports and Ethernet backhaul to work, the EB810v router has to be in the DB box. Then your HB710 can be put in a room. I think you are worried about this one, right? Even it if is CAT5E between the DB Box patch panel and the room LAN port, it may work well for 10Gbps at the short distance (out of spec but may work, and if not it may work for 5Gbps). CAT5E is okay for 2.5Gbps.

You may want to post your floor plan with details about the location of the DB box, Singtel ONR, room LAN ports and the two RT5703W units.

Hey xiaofan

First of all really appreciate you helping out and always contributing here
I attached a simple layout that shows my current ONT/ONR(?) with the 2 Singtel RT5703W.
Both RT5703W are connected to LAN ports at their respective points.
Now that you mention it I checked on Singtel website and maybe mine is indeed an ONR, since I know it is a Huawei device and Singtel only offers Huawei branded ONR, no ONTs.
I can't confirm the model right now since I am not home.

 

[windwaver]

I believe many people use either HB710 or EB810v.

I have bought an HB710 from Starhub myself to prepare for the upcoming Starhub 5Gbps installation on 22 Feb 2025. It is of superb value at S$192.

You can of course use other routers, including 2.5Gbps capable ones or even existing 1Gbps capable ones and only upgrade later.

I see.

In other words I can buy a 7DR5160 as a router in db box and connect to starhub ont then another as mesh in the middle of the house?

 

[xiaofan]

I see.

In other words I can buy a 7DR5160 as a router in db box and connect to starhub ont then another as mesh in the middle of the house?

Yes you can.

I do not quite like TP-Link China TL-7DR5160 as the main router due to the slower dure core CPU used, Airoha AN7563PT dual core ARM Cortex A53@1.0GHz. That is why I will recommend TL-7DR6560 and TL-7DR7260 as the main router. But that is just me.

It is perfectly fine as an AP or mesh node though. I use Xiaomi BE5000 only as an AP for this reason (slow CPU).

Reference: Router CPU Performance comparison, in Chinese
https://mao.fan/socpk.html

DMIPS score for router CPU (just for reference, some CPUs may have NPU which helps the routing and wireless performance)

IPQ9574/IPQ9570 --> 42240, CPU used in Archer BE800 and Deco BE85 and EB810v, Xiaomi BE10000
MT7988A --> 34560, CPU used in Archer BE805
IPQ9550/IPQ9554 --> CPU used in Xiaomi BE7000
MT7988DV --> 25920, CPU used in TP-Link TL-7DR7260 and Ruijie BE72 Pro.
BCM4916 --> 24000, CPU used in Asus ROG GT-BE98 and ZenWiFi BQ16, RT-BE88U and RT-BE86U
BCM4908 --> 18400, CPU used in Asus GT-AX6000, RT-AX86U Pro and ZenWiFi Pro XT12/XE12
BCM4906 --> 16560, CPU used in Asus RT-AX86U and GT-AX1000
MT7986B --> 14720, CPU used by Asus TUF-AX6000 and TUF-AX4200, Redmi AX6000
IPQ5322 --> 13800, CPU used in TP-Link TL-7DR6560, Asus TUF-BE6500, Xiaomi BE6500 Pro and TP-Link HB710
IPQ5312 --> 10120, CPU used in Xiaomi BE3600
MT7981B --> 5980, CPU used in Xiaomi AX3000T
AN7563PT --> 4600, CPU used in TP-Link TL-7DR5160 and Xiaomi BE5100
MT7621A --> 2640, CPU used in Linksys EA7500V2, EA8100 v1 and Asus RT-AC2600

 

[waddahell]

Actually the issue is the other way around. He is not using VPN but then Netflix thinks he is using VPN.

Possible reason is that the Starhub issued IPv4 address is wrongly identified by Netflix to be a foreign IP.

SIMBA users used to have such issue and they had to wait for SIMBA to fix the issue due to CGNAT.

For Starhub users, there is still a good chance to fix the issue by yourself, especially for ONT users -- to get a different IPv4 address and hopefully the new IPv4 address has no issues. ONR users will be at the mercy of Starhub mostly -- you can try to reboot the ONR multiple times and hope to get a new IPv4 address.

Usually this kind of thing does not happen though. So most average users will still be fine with ONR or even CGNAT (eg: SIMVA).

Up for anyone who faced same issue. issue fixed!

 

[xiaofan]

Hey xiaofan

First of all really appreciate you helping out and always contributing here
I attached a simple layout that shows my current ONT/ONR(?) with the 2 Singtel RT5703W.
Both RT5703W are connected to LAN ports at their respective points.
Now that you mention it I checked on Singtel website and maybe mine is indeed an ONR, since I know it is a Huawei device and Singtel only offers Huawei branded ONR, no ONTs.
I can't confirm the model right now since I am not home.

Yes you are using Singtel ONR now. Once it is of Huawei brand, it is an ONR.

I believe EB810v in the DB Box (current Singtel ONR location) and HB710 in the center Bedroom (Bedroom 1) should be good enough for your wireless coverage.

By the way, your existing two Singtel issued RT5703W units can still work as well, just in case you want to use them as an AP or even as a switch (disable WiFi). For example, if you have multiple devices in the living room, you can keep the RT5703W there and disable its wireless to use it as a switch.

 

[windwaver]

Yes you can.

I do not quite like TP-Link China TL-7DR5160 as the main router due to the slower dure core CPU used, Airoha AN7563PT dual core ARM Cortex A53@1.0GHz. That is why I will recommend TL-7DR6560 and TL-7DR7260 as the main router. But that is just me.

It is perfectly fine as an AP or mesh node though. I use Xiaomi BE5000 only as an AP for this reason (slow CPU).

Reference: Router CPU Performance comparison, in Chinese
https://mao.fan/socpk.html

DMIPS score for router CPU (just for reference, some CPUs may have NPU which helps the routing and wireless performance)

IPQ9574/IPQ9570 --> 42240, CPU used in Archer BE800 and Deco BE85 and EB810v, Xiaomi BE10000
MT7988A --> 34560, CPU used in Archer BE805
IPQ9550/IPQ9554 --> CPU used in Xiaomi BE7000
MT7988DV --> 25920, CPU used in TP-Link TL-7DR7260 and Ruijie BE72 Pro.
BCM4916 --> 24000, CPU used in Asus ROG GT-BE98 and ZenWiFi BQ16, RT-BE88U and RT-BE86U
BCM4908 --> 18400, CPU used in Asus GT-AX6000, RT-AX86U Pro and ZenWiFi Pro XT12/XE12
BCM4906 --> 16560, CPU used in Asus RT-AX86U and GT-AX1000
MT7986B --> 14720, CPU used by Asus TUF-AX6000 and TUF-AX4200, Redmi AX6000
IPQ5322 --> 13800, CPU used in TP-Link TL-7DR6560, Asus TUF-BE6500, Xiaomi BE6500 Pro and TP-Link HB710
IPQ5312 --> 10120, CPU used in Xiaomi BE3600
MT7981B --> 5980, CPU used in Xiaomi AX3000T
AN7563PT --> 4600, CPU used in TP-Link TL-7DR5160 and Xiaomi BE5100
MT7621A --> 2640, CPU used in Linksys EA7500V2, EA8100 v1 and Asus RT-AC2600

Isn't it a waste if it's placed in the db box as a router because it's wireless signal will be quite bad?