Converting a Cisco 827 for FTTN NBN

Question

I have a customer who is moving to NBN in a few months and I thought I would start to look at the config changes now when there is no time pressure.

I assume I will have 2 options:

1. Change the router to have a NBN compatible interface. (fibre to the node in my town where I live) If I go the replacement router option then I assume it will still just be a dialer interface of some sort connecting to the current NBN line. But I have not done this setup before and unsure on the Cisco hardware and configuration. Has anyone done this yet and if so could they give me some heads up on the equipment they used.

2. Simply let Telstra install the NBN router. If I go the new NBN router, I can then connect a cable from the FastEthernet port on the NBN router to to an Ethernet or FastEthernet port on the Cisco and not use the ADSL port.

Unless someone has done option 1 before I am favouring option 2 and just moving my crypto tunnel endpoint to the ethernet port instead of the dialer interface and having a NBN router in front of the Cisco 827.

Apologies for this not being a configuration question yet as I need to understand the best approach before making config changes.

Answer 1

With FTTx they likely use an obligatory ONT/router that you can just interface with Ethernet.

However, the 827 is pretty aged and seems to run only 10 Mbit/s - unless the customer doesn't require any significant speed, a new router is probably indicated...

Answer 2

It will probably depend on a couple of factors such as who is the ISP and what they will support.

A list of compatible routers are available at http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/fttn_registered_modem_router

The Cisco 827 router does not appear to be listed there.