AT&T Fiber & EERO

I've read through this, and some other places.

What's the pros and cons of bridge vs. passthrough?

I have a largish house with some week/dead spots.

5 streaming fools. 3 are occasional gamers. Have a couple of wired devices, but they're wifi capable.

Have ATT Fiber 1000, with the and their smart extenders aren't doing it.

I odered the new EERO Pro WiFi 6 3-pack. Should be here in a few days.

I have the BGW210-700. Used to have U-Verse cable. No more. Internet only.

Should I do bridge or passthrough?

I don't mind (and actually enjoy) doing tinkering. So I don't mind going though the steps above - thanks for those by the way.

Would prefer to be able to use all functionality if possible.

Just curious what downsides are to passthrough if any?

Thank you.

Brad,

Did you ever get an answer to this, and did you set it up? How is it working? I’m in a similar situation as you. I too have fiber-1000 and the BGW-210. Looking into getting the new eero wifi 6.

I have att I verse and want to purchase eero. Any suggestions? Is it possible? Do I need any other equipment?

I just purchased an Eero pro with 2 beacons to go with my ATT fiber and the NVG589 gateway. I've found the setup depends on what you want to do, and have come up with 3 configurations. Initial setup was annoying to get the Eero to recognize the internet, and I may have had to enable passthrough first, but I've forgotten the details.

As a general note, I did not find disabling my ATT wifi to be necessary as long as I gave the Eero network a different name (naming them the same is not the same as having a mesh setup - it's a problem). Doing so should only help as far as not having more signals in the air and not allowing devices to get on the ATT gateway behind the Eero. I also found DHCP needs to remain ON on the ATT gateway or nothing works out. I have static DHCP passthrough to the Eero, and need to experiment if I need it or it makes a difference if I choose to bridge the Eero. Lastly, I suspect TV boxes or landline phones must be connected to the ATT gateway if you have any. My TV box is connected to the ATT gateway via coax, so I can't confirm if you can put it behind the Eero if you have a network line.

1. Eero as the managing router with ATT gateway as a modem

This is probably the way Eero intends things to go to use all their features. In this configuration, you connect your ATT gateway to the Eero, set up IP passthrough to the Eero, and put everything else on the network through the Eero. This will have the ATT gateway be as close to just a modem as it will get, and the Eero will manage the rest of the downstream network. Connect to Eero wifi, or wire to it (use a network switch for more ports), and everything will be on the Eero network and use its features.

2. ATT router and Eero as double NAT

This configuration is strange in that normally you wouldn't do this with routers, but the Eero is designed to manage it. In this setup, you have passthrough to the Eero, but still have some things connected to your ATT gateway. It spreads your internet all over, but essentially makes 2 sub networks. Everything downstream from the Eero is on its sub network and can use the Eero features and controls, but anything connected to the ATT gateway is in its own sub network, is controlled by the ATT settings, and won't show up in the Eero app. It works until you need things to see each other on the same network. Things like Echos and Hue lights that go through the internet first work normally and across sub nets, but my Chromecast and NAS unit are only seen by devices on the same sub-network. This mode will work fine with some minor planning as to what you want to control with which router.

3. Eero in bridge mode

This conflicts the least with the ATT gateway, but you lose all the Eero control features and depend on the ATT gateway for all controls. It's also inconsistent as to what devices show up in your Eero app, but your controls are gone, so it's a bit of a moot point. The upside is that it unifies your network, eliminating the common network problem things like Chromecasts and NAS units have in option 2. In bridge mode, your Eero is just a mesh wifi extender. It gives you the coverage, but you lose the Eero app control features. I need to test connection speed differences, but they seem comparable for now.

Since I need my ATT gateway ports and don't want to add a switch for option 1 (yet), I will personally be using option 2 or 3. Probably option 3 since I don't have a current need for controls like pausing wifi on devices. I just needed a decent mesh to extend to my garage, and option 3 delivers without having to juggle networks for my Chromecast and NAS.

I hope this long description helps someone out there. I was never able to find an answer, and spent a day of tinkering to land on these.

FYI 
This is outdated information. I called Tech support and was told that BGW series do not use Dynamic mode but FIXED. 
The other information still relevant but needs lots of updates. This is the better approach: 

https://support.eero.com/hc/en-us/articles/207988076-Setting-up-eero-with-AT-T-U-verse

Eero Tech support is useless and you need to call ATT internet support with a tech that knows about setting up Eero routers.  I wish they could update their information in the ATT pages.

Hello Dave006

question if I put the Eero in bridge mode should the Eero have the WiFi have the same Name and password?

@tehDude  Why would you want to put the Eero in bridge mode if you are going to use it as your router? Most folks will put the gateway in pass through mode so that the Eero, or other mesh wifi systems, will handle the routing duties as well as WiFi.  As far as the SSID and pw, I would use a separate name/pw for your gateway because you can still use the ethernet ports on the gateway for connectivity. Or am I not understanding what you want to do?

I would suggest DHCPS-fixed.  That way you're certain that your eero is always the passthrough device.

The 450-550 numbers are wired to the eero router, or wifi?  If the latter, what is the make and model # of the device?

Thank you Tonydi, once I get home I will changed it to fixed and input the MAC address of the eero.

The 450-550 Mbps is when I do a speed test from my wireless devices so Wi-Fi. My Eero devices are all wired and receiving the full 1Gb. The model number for all three devices is 81000113 and that is the Eero Pro Model.