Frontier 2 gig Internet with Sagemcom FWR226e (FAST5290) Router & TWX206e (FAST399) Extender

[Starrbuck]

I decided to go with the Frontier-supplied router and range extender so I am no longer an ASUS router owner. (Well, I won't be once I sell the ASUS routers I have!) The main reason is the 2 gig service includes VoIP telephone and can't be configured to work through the ONT (at least not currently). We are odd in that we still use a home phone service in addition to our cell phones. We give the "home phone" number to companies and such and it cuts down on the number of calls we don't necessarily want to take on our cells.

I have the Sagemcom FWR226e (FAST5290) Router and the TWX206e (FAST399) Extender. So far they are working great and have many configurable settings. The best parts? Multi-gig and Wifi 6E, which ASUS can't provide yet. Additionally, if something breaks, they can no longer blame the ASUS routers (not that things go down often -- the service is extremely stable for me).

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about my setup as I have become more knowledgeable about the 2 gig service lately. I even helped a couple of the technicians figure out what all can be done during and after setup.

 

[Keropi12]

I have the same set up. But the extender does not work by itself.... only works when connected to the main which defeats its purpose. Is there a way to check it wirelessly? Tia!

 

[Starrbuck]

That's the way extenders work. They "extend" and require the router to be up.

 

[KingOfZuma]

I decided to go with the Frontier-supplied router and range extender so I am no longer an ASUS router owner. (Well, I won't be once I sell the ASUS routers I have!) The main reason is the 2 gig service includes VoIP telephone and can't be configured to work through the ONT (at least not currently). We are odd in that we still use a home phone service in addition to our cell phones. We give the "home phone" number to companies and such and it cuts down on the number of calls we don't necessarily want to take on our cells.

I have the Sagemcom FWR226e (FAST5290) Router and the TWX206e (FAST399) Extender. So far they are working great and have many configurable settings. The best parts? Multi-gig and Wifi 6E, which ASUS can't provide yet. Additionally, if something breaks, they can no longer blame the ASUS routers (not that things go down often -- the service is extremely stable for me).

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about my setup as I have become more knowledgeable about the 2 gig service lately. I even helped a couple of the technicians figure out what all can be done during and after setup.

Hi, I just got my 2 gig line installed and have the same hardware... problem is I'm not getting the extender connecting to the internet. The globe indicator turns red after flashing for a while. The main router is all green and works. Any help is appreciated because the Frontier tech support is not reachable
Been on the line for 2 hours and then the connection just dropped...

 

[Keropi12]

That's the way extenders work. They "extend" and require the router to be up.

sorry i meant i was only able to use it to extend when i am hardwired to the main unit. if it is not hardwired, it says its not connected. TIA!

 

[Starrbuck]

By default, it uses the 6G band to communicate between the router and the extender. Maybe you placed it too far away. Did you try the extender closer to the router?

 

[Keropi12]

By default, it uses the 6G band to communicate between the router and the extender. Maybe you placed it too far away. Did you try the extender closer to the router?

my house is only 1200 sq ft. with just the base i get around 900/900 Mbps right beside the base. but on the other side of the house i only get 92 and 54Mbps in the 5ghz... no other wifi system in place...then this extender doesn't seem to work when its not hardwired to the base... i was hoping this frontier 2gig plan would make it better but xfinity is better at 400-500 download with just the main unit...

 

[Starrbuck]

my house is only 1200 sq ft. with just the base i get around 900/900 Mbps right beside the base. but on the other side of the house i only get 92 and 54Mbps in the 5ghz... no other wifi system in place...then this extender doesn't seem to work when its not hardwired to the base... i was hoping this frontier 2gig plan would make it better but xfinity is better at 400-500 download with just the main unit...

Yup, the router and extender do not appear to be the greatest, but you may have something else going on there that is beyond my expertise. My units are covering my 2,800 sq. ft. house well, although I did have to experiment for a few days with the placement of the extender.

By all means, go with Xfinity if you feel the equipment is better, but realize you'll be losing the upload bandwidth that Frontier offers.

 

[degrub]

maybe you have a couple walls between the two APs ?
If you have a piece of RG6 coax between the two points, you could get MOCA2.5 modems set up and get >900mbit/s both ways ( half duplex).

 

[wegotyourcar]

I decided to go with the Frontier-supplied router and range extender so I am no longer an ASUS router owner. (Well, I won't be once I sell the ASUS routers I have!) The main reason is the 2 gig service includes VoIP telephone and can't be configured to work through the ONT (at least not currently). We are odd in that we still use a home phone service in addition to our cell phones. We give the "home phone" number to companies and such and it cuts down on the number of calls we don't necessarily want to take on our cells.

I have the Sagemcom FWR226e (FAST5290) Router and the TWX206e (FAST399) Extender. So far they are working great and have many configurable settings. The best parts? Multi-gig and Wifi 6E, which ASUS can't provide yet. Additionally, if something breaks, they can no longer blame the ASUS routers (not that things go down often -- the service is extremely stable for me).

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about my setup as I have become more knowledgeable about the 2 gig service lately. I even helped a couple of the technicians figure out what all can be done during and after setup.

Hi any chance you know who is selling these extenders?

 

[Starrbuck]

Hi any chance you know who is selling these extenders?

They are Frontier-branded so I would reach out to Frontier.

 

[Starrbuck]

Well, this appears to have been a very short-lived experiment, as I have decided I have to return to an ASUS router with my 2 gig service.

Issues I am experiencing with Frontier's router and extender:

1. The router reboots around once per day, usually in the middle of a Teams call. This one is really the worst of the reasons, as I just can't have this happening while I'm working. I chatted with tech support and they said it was a known issue and the fix was to reset the router to factory settings. Tried that, re-configured with my DHCP static IPs, etc., and it did not help.
2. The extender disconnects at least once per day. I tried it in at least a dozen different areas around my house along with experimenting with the settings available but it still needs to be rebooted at least daily.
3. Wifi is poor on the router and the extender. Both my existing GT-AX11000 and RT-AX89X have better distance and performance on wifi.

These are the main three reasons although there are a few other minor ones. I am going to keep the router and extender as backups. For the VoIP phone that is included, before I disconnected the Frontier router, I forwarded it to my Google Voice line, so that I can continue to take calls there if I want.

To take advantage of the higher speeds, my main router is once again the RT-AX89X and I am using the GT-AX11000 as an AiMesh node. Covers my 2,800 sq. ft. house very well.

I was considering returning the RT-AX89X and living with the GT-AX11000 for now, since I would really like a GT-AXE16000 sometime later this year, but I got the RT-AX89X for only $400 new and they've spiked up in price to over $500 since then, I'm keeping it and will hope I can get something for it should I get my hands on a GT-AXE16000.

I'm still here and available to answer any questions about my experiences. If you don't mind a rebooting-on-its-own router and poor wifi coverage, the Frontier-supplied equipment may be fine for your needs. Maybe I just got a bad router, but I don't really have the time and energy to troubleshoot more.

 

[FL-Buc]

Well, this appears to have been a very short-lived experiment, as I have decided I have to return to an ASUS router with my 2 gig service.

Issues I am experiencing with Frontier's router and extender:

1. The router reboots around once per day, usually in the middle of a Teams call. This one is really the worst of the reasons, as I just can't have this happening while I'm working. I chatted with tech support and they said it was a known issue and the fix was to reset the router to factory settings. Tried that, re-configured with my DHCP static IPs, etc., and it did not help.
2. The extender disconnects at least once per day. I tried it in at least a dozen different areas around my house along with experimenting with the settings available but it still needs to be rebooted at least daily.
3. Wifi is poor on the router and the extender. Both my existing GT-AX11000 and RT-AX89X have better distance and performance on wifi.

These are the main three reasons although there are a few other minor ones. I am going to keep the router and extender as backups. For the VoIP phone that is included, before I disconnected the Frontier router, I forwarded it to my Google Voice line, so that I can continue to take calls there if I want.

To take advantage of the higher speeds, my main router is once again the RT-AX89X and I am using the GT-AX11000 as an AiMesh node. Covers my 2,800 sq. ft. house very well.

I was considering returning the RT-AX89X and living with the GT-AX11000 for now, since I would really like a GT-AXE16000 sometime later this year, but I got the RT-AX89X for only $400 new and they've spiked up in price to over $500 since then, I'm keeping it and will hope I can get something for it should I get my hands on a GT-AXE16000.

I'm still here and available to answer any questions about my experiences. If you don't mind a rebooting-on-its-own router and poor wifi coverage, the Frontier-supplied equipment may be fine for your needs. Maybe I just got a bad router, but I don't really have the time and energy to troubleshoot more.

I have so many questions for you, so thanks for the open offer to help folks. I moved from 500kb to the 2gig frontier last week or attempted to. The installer brought the same Sagemcom FWR226e (FAST5290) Router and the TWX206e (FAST399) Extender. On the ONT they had to go back to coax/moca since my house it Cat5E and. they said you need Cat 6 or coax to get 2Gig.
I also had 3 euro pros that previously bridged to the old fios router -- the installer said to remove those from the equation because they won't give over 1Gig.

Long story short, I could never get over 1Gig, and the router is horrible i mean so bad it takes 20 seconds to save every little change you make or to go to any new tab/page.
Last night I had Frontier move me back to the 500KB plan since I'm having bad problems, but they said i keep this equipment which is worse than my old 500KB fios router. so the questions:

1. Any thoughts on the above comments / issues? Why does this router hang forever, is that normal?

2.. In the FAST5290 I could not see the 6G SSID from any of my iPhone or mac devices, but the installer could see it from his Galaxy phone. Am I doing something wrong to not see the 6G signal from apple devices?

3. The default router set up was to have both of the 2.4 and 5g with the same SSID, but 6G with a different ssid. is that correct? why or why not?

4. I tried to Dynamic DNS and port forward. The router updates the right DNS IP for DYNDNS, but I can not access in remotely. And port forward does not work at all. Is it one or the combo of both of those setups? Did you mess with these settings in the FAST5290?

5. I believe I can just remove these two new frontier devices and just use one of the Eeros as the main default gateway (then meshed out to the other two), true? I would run the ONT straight to the eero. I know that would be 1Gig max but might be better than their current router/extender combo. Thoughts?

Answer appreciated!

 

[Starrbuck]

I have so many questions for you, so thanks for the open offer to help folks. I moved from 500kb to the 2gig frontier last week or attempted to. The installer brought the same Sagemcom FWR226e (FAST5290) Router and the TWX206e (FAST399) Extender. On the ONT they had to go back to coax/moca since my house it Cat5E and. they said you need Cat 6 or coax to get 2Gig.
I also had 3 euro pros that previously bridged to the old fios router -- the installer said to remove those from the equation because they won't give over 1Gig.

Long story short, I could never get over 1Gig, and the router is horrible i mean so bad it takes 20 seconds to save every little change you make or to go to any new tab/page.
Last night I had Frontier move me back to the 500KB plan since I'm having bad problems, but they said i keep this equipment which is worse than my old 500KB fios router. so the questions:

1. Any thoughts on the above comments / issues? Why does this router hang forever, is that normal?

In my experience, yes, there were considerable delays when making changes on the router. In fairness, the ASUS RT-AX89X is not much better, requiring reboots for seemingly minor changes.

2.. In the FAST5290 I could not see the 6G SSID from any of my iPhone or mac devices, but the installer could see it from his Galaxy phone. Am I doing something wrong to not see the 6G signal from apple devices?

I could not see it on any of my devices either. Are you sure the devices support 6E? Also, the default configuration may have the 6E band for the backhaul to the extender only. (I am not sure.)

3. The default router set up was to have both of the 2.4 and 5g with the same SSID, but 6G with a different ssid. is that correct? why or why not?

Yes because it was using band steering to put supported devices on the 2.4 or 5 band depending on the signal, etc. The 6E I think was for backhaul only. (Again, not sure.)

4. I tried to Dynamic DNS and port forward. The router updates the right DNS IP for DYNDNS, but I can not access in remotely. And port forward does not work at all. Is it one or the combo of both of those setups? Did you mess with these settings in the FAST5290?

Yes, port forwarding was working ok for me, but I did not try Dynamic DNS as I have a docker container on a different device that handles my Dynamic DNS.

5. I believe I can just remove these two new frontier devices and just use one of the Eeros as the main default gateway (then meshed out to the other two), true? I would run the ONT straight to the eero. I know that would be 1Gig max but might be better than their current router/extender combo. Thoughts?

Yep, you could definitely do that. I switched back to my ASUS RT-AX89X but I really want the GT-AXE16000 when it is finally released. If you do want to take advantage of the full 2 gig speeds, there are only a handful of routers that can do that right now. Here is a list:

Multi-Gig Wi-Fi 6/6E Routers: Best Lists | Dong Knows Tech

Looking to get ahead of the curve in wired home networking? This list of multi-Gigabit-capable Wi-Fi 6/6E routers will come in handy. Pick yours today!

dongknows.com

Answer appreciated!

Hope these answers help. Best of luck!

 

[criveman]

I just got installed Frontier 2Gb. My question is how do I bypass their router/modem, to install my own router?
Thank you.
1st time here

 

[criveman]

I decided to go with the Frontier-supplied router and range extender so I am no longer an ASUS router owner. (Well, I won't be once I sell the ASUS routers I have!) The main reason is the 2 gig service includes VoIP telephone and can't be configured to work through the ONT (at least not currently). We are odd in that we still use a home phone service in addition to our cell phones. We give the "home phone" number to companies and such and it cuts down on the number of calls we don't necessarily want to take on our cells.

I have the Sagemcom FWR226e (FAST5290) Router and the TWX206e (FAST399) Extender. So far they are working great and have many configurable settings. The best parts? Multi-gig and Wifi 6E, which ASUS can't provide yet. Additionally, if something breaks, they can no longer blame the ASUS routers (not that things go down often -- the service is extremely stable for me).

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about my setup as I have become more knowledgeable about the 2 gig service lately. I even helped a couple of the technicians figure out what all can be done during and after setup.

I just installed Frontier 2Gb. My question is how do I bypass the router/modem Sagemcom FWR226e they gave me, so I can install my own router? Or do you recommend stay with the router they gave me.
Thank you

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @criveman.

If you have true FTTH, you should have an ONT installed. Which means you can use an Ethernet cable to connect your router to it. The OEM router should not be required.

 

[Starrbuck]

I just installed Frontier 2Gb. My question is how do I bypass the router/modem Sagemcom FWR226e they gave me, so I can install my own router? Or do you recommend stay with the router they gave me.

If you replace the router, you will lose the phone service. If you put another router after it, you will be doing double-NAT.

I had to dump mine because it kept randomly rebooting. I forwarded the phone number to Google Voice.

 

[Xhile]

Apple does not support the 6Hz channels yet. Even with the latest iPhone 14Pros.

 

[Starrbuck]

Welcome to the forums @criveman.

If you have true FTTH, you should have an ONT installed. Which means you can use an Ethernet cable to connect your router to it. The OEM router should not be required.

Sometimes they wire them with coax and sometimes ethernet, so be careful. You may have to do the ethernet cable yourself if they did it with coax.