Frogfoot FTTH - Mikrotik

Gravedigger

Gravedigger

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Hi everyone. Seems like a few towns is getting Frogfoot fibre deployments, and one friend of mine has gotten Frogfoot fibre to his home.

Now, the issue is, he is saying that he want to extend the wireless network, and tried everything in his power to get the second AP working.
I asked him to send me photos.

Turns out that the Frogfoot installers is using a MikroTik HAP ac2 lite as the main router, which is then connected to the ONT.
I just have a little issue with that, knowing that Mikrotik's AP's is not one of the best out there, and not compatible with 802.11r, etc.
My idea is that I want to set the network up for seamless roaming, and I know that most OpenWRT routers support the feature of 802.11r (Fast roaming) to avoid calls being dropped, when transitioning between the APs.

Will have to see what I can get running, setting the second AP's IP address to static, setting the password and SSID to the same, and see how it transitions.

I will need to gain access to the Mikrotik router, and I know for a fact that Frogfoot will not allow access to the router, for the sake of users not messing about the config, etc. (I worked with a few Mikrotik routers for statistics, checking IP addresses, and such, and is running one at home for DHCP, etc.)
Is there a way for the customer to sign a form, (router indemnity form) and get login access to the router? I want to create a config backup, even probably change the AP name and password.
 
Who is the ISP? Frogfoot only does the fibre to the ONT, with the ISP supplying the router. ISPs like vox will let you sign like 15 forms, and give you access to the router, or you can sign a few extra and they might give you the pppoe details, allowing you to bypass the router if you so wish.

Over-Exaggerations aside, all the other ISPs have given me rather free reign when it comes to requesting access to the router.
 
Will ask who is the ISP. Basically Frogfoot does the fibre, like OpenServe, and then it is up to the ISP of your choice to provide internet access?

How do I determine the ISP, if the customer does not know? Most likely it will be Vox or smth.
 
cavedog said:
Frogfoot doesn't install routers. They are an open access FNO.

Sounds like you are talking about Vox.
Click to expand...
Forgive me for being a little dumb on not doing the research, all I see is Frogfoot everywhere, and didn't realize that they're only a Fibre Network Provider, not a ISP.
 
Gravedigger said:
Forgive me for being a little dumb on not doing the research, all I see is Frogfoot everywhere, and didn't realize that they're only a Fibre Network Provider, not a ISP.
Click to expand...

The MikroTik HAP ac2 lite sounds like a Vox device because they do use that device and promo heavily when Frogfoot deploys a build anywhere because they are essentially the same company. I think they allow router access if you sign some waiver of some sort not too sure, but I do recall seeing a post somewhere here on mybb about it.
 
We are on frogfoot with afrihost as the isp

Don't know how other. Isp handle it


So you can factory reset the device , change the device or settings to your desired


Love how afrihost handles it
Ie you get a redirect page

After a device change

You do an authentication and that device is registered as your default device
 
cavedog said:
The MikroTik HAP ac2 lite sounds like a Vox device because they do use that device and promo heavily when Frogfoot deploys a build anywhere because they are essentially the same company. I think they allow router access if you sign some waiver of some sort not too sure, but I do recall seeing a post somewhere here on mybb about it.
Click to expand...
I saw it elsewhere too with someone saying something similar.

Tbh, Mikrotik is not bad when it comes to wired routing, etc, but wireless is a pain in the butt. Throughput is not the brightest, when compared to other APs. I also saw that it's only 10/100 capable, which is fine for a 20mbit line, for example. (I have one in my cupboard, since then upgraded to a gigabit Ethernet Mikrotik, and running the WiFi on a dedicated AP.)
 
leon.davibe said:
We are on frogfoot with afrihost as the isp

Don't know how other. Isp handle it


So you can factory reset the device , change the device or settings to your desired


Love how afrihost handles it
Ie you get a redirect page

After a device change

You do an authentication and that device is registered as your default device
Click to expand...
Don't want to reset the device, otherwise the tech must then be called out for setting up this device again, and that can cost money.

Would rather ask the ISP for PPoE details, and leave the Mikrotik disconnected and run a better AP as the "main router"
 
dj_jyno said:
This setup just screams Vox.
Click to expand...
So, chances are that Vox is using Mikrotik as the wireless router. Sigh.
They could have used a cheaper TP-Link router that has PPoE capabilities and better wireless throughput, unless there's something else that needs to be done with negotiating the connection?
 
Gravedigger said:
Don't want to reset the device, otherwise the tech must then be called out for setting up this device again, and that can cost money.

Would rather ask the ISP for PPoE details, and leave the Mikrotik disconnected and run a better AP as the "main router"
Click to expand...
Yea don't know how they handle it

Afrihost doean't use ppoe settings

I assume some form of tunneling , ie when i had problems i could just pop the rj45 straight into a pc hit the redirect page do the authenticate at surf to test connection ie it worked so could pinpoint modem as the problem

But like i said thats just how afrihost handles it in our area
(george)

Others may do differently
 
Gravedigger said:
I saw it elsewhere too with someone saying something similar.

Tbh, Mikrotik is not bad when it comes to wired routing, etc, but wireless is a pain in the butt. Throughput is not the brightest, when compared to other APs. I also saw that it's only 10/100 capable, which is fine for a 20mbit line, for example. (I have one in my cupboard, since then upgraded to a gigabit Ethernet Mikrotik, and running the WiFi on a dedicated AP.)
Click to expand...
hAP ac 2 is gig capable. Also comes with 2.4 and 5ghz wireless. When I was on FF I had it running fine with a 500mbps line
 
Mzezman said:
hAP ac 2 is gig capable. Also comes with 2.4 and 5ghz wireless. When I was on FF I had it running fine with a 500mbps line
Click to expand...
Oh, wait. I have a hAP ac Lite, not the ac2, which the friend of mine have with his frogfoot fibre setup. Apologies for the confusion. Seems like that Mikrotik likes to use the same enclosure/casing for a few products, my fault on that part.

I will report back tomorrow after I assisted him with the network setup.
 
First things first: Get hold of Vox, sign the indemnity and obtain admin access to the router.

Mikrotik RouterOS is not a toy, hence most ISPs that use them not being overly keen on allowing access.
Once you've Winbox'd in, disable the wireless and install a couple of decent wireless routers throughout the property.

This is where I'd normally advise you to buy Ubiquiti UniFi's and connect them to HostiFi. I have a WiFi 6 UniFi network in my own home, am extremely disappointed in it and am actively looking at other options.

TP Link's Omada seems good. But, there's nasty politics between the guy who built the TP Link brand in SA (who I bought TPLink routers from for 12 years) and TP Link themselves, so I'm tempted to stay away from TP Link going forward.

We have a number of clients running Reyee, including one that I know of where we removed an 8 AP UniFi network and replaced it with Reyee APs. Just like that the client stopped complaining about horrible WiFi.

Indoor Wireless | Reyee | Scoop

Reyee's indoor wireless products include SOHO routers and wireless access points which can be integrated together on the same network. All devices can easily be deployed using Ruijie's free cloud management platform.
scoop.co.za scoop.co.za

The five down at the bottom of the list are what you should probably be looking at.
 
It looks like that I didn't have much time, so I just powered on the extra TPlink router, reset it, plugged it in the LAN port, and set the configuration as a AP, with DHCP disabled, etc. The webUI of the TL-WR840N is not bad, was straightforward enough.

I just thought that when the extra ports on the MT was disabled, then I would have to set the config to bridge the rest of the unused ports, it appears to be configured correctly.

Set the SSID to the named MT router's SSID, and password, and it appears to be working. Handover seems fine, takes a moment to switch to the stronger AP, not like I'm used to 802.11r Fast transition which happens instantly.

And yes, ISP confirmed to be Vox.
Thanks for all the information, guys.
 
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