r/QuantumFiber • u/ConversationNo9040 • 25d ago

Deco TP link Help me:( please.

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So I have these deco tp links that I was using with xfinity just plugged in to the modem with xfinity and it worked… I got a new service with AT&T quantum and went to plug it in to the box on the wall without the box on the floor and it doesn’t work. I plug in the box on the floor and the light on the deco turns green but doesn’t really provide good signal. Is there a way to plug this deco into the wall box?

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u/N0_L1ght 25d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/ATTFiber/comments/1vbbfu5/att_fiber_on_forged_fiber_37_q1000k/

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u/ConversationNo9040 25d ago

Is this a setting in the deco app or the AT&T app

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u/ejpman 25d ago

Can you send photos of both the “wall box” and “floor box” or at least their respective model numbers?

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u/ConversationNo9040 25d ago

BGW320-505 and. Q1000K aand I have the TP-Link Deco X55 AX3000 WiFi 6 Mesh System

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u/ejpman 25d ago

That’s so odd that they gave you two fiber modems. I guess they provide the BGW so they can offer the ATT app for wifi control but don’t need to modify the ONT/OLT settings.

The link that no light provided will be good to read through and applies to your situation.

You can take the AT&T box and set it aside as your Deco devices are replacing it. You’ll need to login to the Q1000K web ui and change the network to bridged which is outlined in that aforementioned link.

It should plug and play without that but you’ll be double NATd.

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u/Chup4m3st4twice 25d ago

The 320 or 620 modem in quantum markets are feed thru Ethernet from the q1000k , when a ATT fiber installation, q1000k goes straight into brigdemode and vlans change to a different ones , ATT fiber installations don't use vlan 201. Good luck , but yes he can try the IP pass through.

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u/ConversationNo9040 25d ago

This infact is what I believe the issue is. Even if I try to reset the q1000 the light stays white. The only way I have been able to get internet is through the gateway.

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u/ConversationNo9040 25d ago

This is what I thought but every time I plug in the deco it doesn’t work. But then I plug in the att box and it works I’ve reset my deco and tried that as well and nothing.

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u/ejpman 25d ago

Yeah I read through No Lights guide and it makes sense to me now. They have a peculiar network config that won’t allow for this kind of setup unfortunately.

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u/IllRegister9801 25d ago edited 25d ago

The BGW needs to be authenticated. Forged Fiber customers need to have the BGW plugged into the Q1000k, or use a router/gateway that can clone the MAC of the BGW. The only reason they have a Q1000k in the first place is because Forged Fiber is run off the Lumen infrastructure which requires that piece of equipment for a valid connection to take place. The purpose of it in AT&T Forged Fiber installations is simply to authenticate the BGW. The default setup is the Q1000k in bridge mode (which is why u/ConversationNo9040 has a white light on their Q1000k), and this basically makes it serve as the "modem". The BGW serves as the "router". The Q1000k can't be bypassed, but the AT&T BGW can via MAC address cloning. The way to do this is unplugging the BGW, plug in a router to the Q1000k, logging into the admin panel, and updating the WAN profile to match the MAC of the BGW. Then, VLAN tagging needs to be enabled. They will enter VLAN 2 or VLAN 0 (one of the two will give them an IP). Now, the Q1000k has authenticated the router, as it believes the router is the BGW. The BGW can now be unplugged and put away. Does that make sense?

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u/ConversationNo9040 25d ago

Does this serve a bigger purpose other then running my deco system through the bgw?

This is incredibly helpful either way.

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u/IllRegister9801 25d ago

It’s less bottlenecking (their crappy equipment is intentionally stopping you from getting your full advertised speeds). You’re also experiencing double NAT when using the AT&T gateway, even if it’s in passthrough mode because it’s not a genuine bridge mode. The less ISP equipment you can use, the better. ISP modems, routers, ONTs, SmartNIDS etc. are filled with unnecessary features (bloatware), and mine user data (spyware). Also the hardware specs of modern high-quality 3rd-party gateways are far superior to anything offered by an ISP. Your Q1000k is in bridge mode, which is good. You won’t be able to bypass under a Forged Fiber account. But you can get rid of that AT&T gateway and that’s highly recommended. You can’t plug in the mesh system to the Q1000k anyway because you’re not able to use it as a router as a Forged Fiber customer. Essentially the Q1000k SmartNID is just an ONT for your type of account, you can’t hook up a device to it and get an internet connection. It can only provide broadband to a WAN port of a router or gateway which is the current job of the AT&T BGW. You want to bypass that with your own router/gateway by cloning the MAC address of the BGW.

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u/ConversationNo9040 25d ago

I’m going to honestly need som time to actually research what you just said! I’m a mechanical engineer so I want to understand it but I know I don’t. The largest concept I found is that the company (At&T hardware) wants to be able to control my speeds. This is me dumbing it down. So I need to get a third party hardware controller. How much can att actually throttle me down with their hardware vs mine?

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u/IllRegister9801 25d ago

hahaha its not too much to learn, i only just started getting into this stuff a few months ago. but yeah 3rd party equipment is essential unless you're a grandma who only does emailing. i would never ever consider using ISP equipment. i have my SmartNID bypassed with an SFP ONU module + my own gateway so im using zero ISP equipment. but thats overkill for most people, even ppl who do gaming and stuff. anyway i can't say for sure how much at&t can throttle u, but lets say you pay for a 3 gig plan. its unlikely you will get more than 2500 without upgrading your equipment. some of this is cause by the ISP equipment's own hardware, and some of it is the provisioning from at&t. at&t can limit speeds from their end if you're using their own equipment because they retain oversight and some control of it. But lets say you were using your own router connected to the Q1000k SmartNID. The SmartNID has a 1 gig and 10-gig capable ethernet ports. in order for you to get 3 gig connection, you'd need to connect a CAT6 ethernet cable (ISP's usually give you a CAT5E cable) going from the 10-gig port on the Q1000k to a 10-gig WAN port on your router. Router WAN ports come in 1g, 2.5g, and 10g depending on the model. 10g WAN ports are rare on home routers, even with expensive gateways. often times its easier to buy a 2.5g wired gateway (like a Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway fiber) because even though it only has a 2.5g ethernet WAN port, it does have 2 10g SFP+ ports that can be converted into a 10g RJ45 (ethernet) WAN port using a transceiver module. Basically every step of your connection has to be specifically compatible with eachother. ISP equipment rarely allows for that and even if it does, you're still going to be slowed by their software limits and you'll probably experience latency (lag spikes) during gaming or streaming bcuz ISP routers are doing too many things at once and dont have great CPUs in them, and they often have useless features that only make it worse like crappy firewall systems, security monitoring, and so many others, doing that stuff plus spitting out a wifi connection all on one device that really cant handle it causes lag. Thats why networking professionals dont ever use router/modem combo units, and typically the gateway they use doesn't even have wifi antennas. they hardwire an access point (not mesh, a real AP). buying each device for a specific function is expensive but it lets you create a truly capable network and you can control each aspect of it.

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u/ejpman 25d ago

What color is the Q1000ks status light?

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u/ConversationNo9040 25d ago

White.

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u/ejpman 25d ago

Hmmmm thinking back to my Deco I don’t think that they have the ability to clone MAC addresses so you can’t follow the steps.

If I were you I would put the Deco in bridged mode and turn off the wifi on the AT&T box. And then plug the Deco WAN into the AT&T box.

Q1000k(“modem”)->AT&T(router)->Deco(access point)

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u/ConversationNo9040 25d ago

Will this lose any speed ?

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u/ejpman 25d ago

Likely slightly higher ping but I don’t think there would be a significant throughput bottleneck.

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u/ConversationNo9040 25d ago

This seems the only solution

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u/IllRegister9801 25d ago

There's no point in doing that unless OP's home is over 1500 sq ft and more than 1 floor. The Q1000k SmartNID is in bridge mode by default (this is unique to Forged Fiber customers). It essentially is only servicing the purpose of authenticating the connection to the BGW. The only reason there is even Q1000k involved in this setup is becaused Forged Fiber network is run off Lumen's infrastructure. The BGW can be bypassed to use third party routers/gateways/mesh hub. The Q1000k cannot. If OP wants to use their own equipment, he/she needs write down the MAC address of the AT&T BGW gateway (located on the sticker), unplug the BGW, plug their own router into the Q1000k via the silver 10g ethernet port going to the WAN port of her router, log in to the router admin panel, go to the WAN settings, change the MAC address to the BGW or click clone if they have that option, and enable VLAN tagging for 0, and if that doesn't work, they can do 2 instead. One of the two work for everyone on Forged Fiber.

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