X-ONU-SFPP
Note These modules run hot, applying some active airflow over the module is strongly recommended.
An XGS-PON SFP+ ONT module. Preloaded with 8311 firmware, this module allows advanced configuration capabilities, including editing of serial number.
The X-ONU-SFPP is a powerful solution for users seeking a flexible, pluggable ONT alternative. Its firmware flexibility makes it particularly suited to replacing hardware like the Virgin Media Hub 5x, enabling direct connection to Virgin’s XGS-PON network without the need for the Hub 5x.
The module takes an SC-APC connector, despite the blue tab on the module.
Bundled with the module is a:
This kit essentially provides all the cables and connectors necessary to use with a vast majority of UK broadband providers.
Note: Some (but not all) Virgin Media connections require that a VLAN is set on the WAN interface of your router. If your router does not support this, a managed switch is recommend.
We can configure the serial number prior to shipping. The module will then work as-is on most Virgin Media XGS connections.
Other ISPs may require further tweaking. This module is known to work with:
These modules run the latest version of the 8311 firmware (2.8.3) and their supported bootloader. All modules are flashed and QAed by Better Internet.
If you choose for us to configure the module for you, they will be configured with VLAN Fixes enabled as documented here. The officially supported 8311 Virgin Media bypass is slightly different, we do not follow this specific procedure as there's less configuration required on the user's router, if you'd like to switch, you can follow the 8311 documentation for Virgin Media.
To aid in cooling your new SFP+ module, we have partnered with a 8311 community member in order to import and offer their USB-C coolers for the X-ONU-SFPP. These coolers are designed and 3D printed by EXEN.
More information about the direct mount cooler can be found on its product page and more information about the UCG-Fibre cooler can be found on its product page.
Overall rating: 4.9 / 5 from 46 reviews.
Spot on, chose the pre-config option. The module worked as soon as it arrived, no faffing. Change a few settings on my unifi and away we went. Full 1.2gbps speed now from virgin. The SFP module does run hot very quickly. So do get the fan as you get a discount too, I did and its great. USBC charger from amazon and it works great. Very quiet as well. Whole lot arrived next day as well, was very surprised. Thanks Better internet.
Très bon échange avec Marcus qui a préconfiguré le module pour remplacement de la bbox ultym wifi 6E Bouygues (https://pon.wiki/guides/masquerade-as-the-bouygues-sa-bbox-with-the-was-110/). Le plus délicat a été la configuration d'OPNsense (https://lafibre.info/remplacer-bbox/recap-2025-a-lire-pour-les-nouveaux-arrivants/). Débit descendant d'environ 280MiB/s et montant de 110. Très satisfait.
Serial number copying while purchasing worked perfectly. It was plug and play virgin media xgs-pon , very minimal effort was required. I can get proper 2 gigs up/down.
Plugged it in and worked without any configuration. Exactly what I wanted A*
This item runs a little hot ... as advertised, so certainly get the additional fan. But in itself it is fantastic, replaces my Virgin Media XGS-PON router. Now getting very stable and consistent speeds. Thank you :)
The module worked out of the box with Virgin Media Ireland , fitted with the fan. However, it still runs hot and experiencing frequent internet disconnects and packet loss. Wonder if there is a way to solve this. It was very expensive so be worth it.
Store owner replied: Thank you for your review. We’re sorry to hear that your experience hasn’t been as smooth as expected. The X-ONU-SFPP does operate at a relatively high temperature by design. However, heat would be unlikely to cause packet loss or frequent disconnections, particularly when active cooling is fitted. These symptoms are more commonly associated with other network or configuration issues. We haven’t received a support request regarding this order, so we haven’t yet had an opportunity to investigate. Please feel free to contact us, and we’ll be happy to help identify whether there are any issues with the setup.
Arrived very quickly and worked out of the box, great product, great company and very reasonable price
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Great product. Fast shipping. Much more stable than the Hub 5X.
Quick and amazing service
Truly amazing support. Goes above and beyond to help support configuration and setup and makes sure everything is working as it should.
Fonctionne parfaitement avec l’offre 8Go d’orange 👍
Purchased to bypass the Virgin Media 5x, and allow use of my TP-Link Omada setup without double NAT. Works perfectly. Initially I had some compatibility issues with my switch, but Marcus is extremely knowledgeable and diagnosed the problem over a few exchanged emails. Suggested an alternative switch, and I ended up getting the one sold by Better Internet. Customer service is second to none, and I recommend this upgrade to everyone. Excellent service and fast delivery from Better Internet. Regret not ordering it sooner.
Purchased as a spare really but my initial X-ONU-SFPP is still working without issue. This spare was configured as a clone of my initial one albeit I set this one up myself.
Love this device. Lets me run my Unifi gateway without double NAT on Virgin Full fibre. It was literally plug and play if you provide your PON serial number.
Easy to set up and working great so far. Appreciate the rapid service!
solid product and support! would highly recommend
Perfect, was plug and play with virgin media. Would definitely recommend active cooling :)
great
Took me a while to get things work. Especially considering I was using new Ubiquity hardware. But all went through eventually
Happy to report that it arrived very quickly, well packaged (especially impressed by the custom box printing, nice touch), and worked immediately after plugging it in. I'm delighted to not have to use Virgin's stupid router combo. Great support, too!
I ordered the X-ONU-SFPP with the fan attachment (as the sfp+ module does get hot) to replace my Virgin Media Hub5x. The Better Internet store has made this process very straight forward. The module is pre-flashed with the 8311 firmware and the Serial Number entered. Once the package arrived I inserted the module and it was recognized by my router (a Mikrotik rb4011). The fiber cables provided connected perfectly to the virgin socket. I did not have internet at first, but simply connecting to the web interface via 192.168.11.1 and disabling the VLAN fixes then rebooting the module fixed the problem. The whole process took around 10-15mins. (before inserting the module I did spoof the MAC from the Hubx5 on the SFP port as I had read not doing this could cause a problem, I also tagged vlan100). Would definitely recommend the Better Internet store to anyone looking to switch out the VM Hub5x (as it looks unlikely it will ever get Modem mode).
This is the second ONT stick I've purchased from Better Internet and the speed and support are exemplary. Marcus even managed to get my second one out the door late afternoon for a delivery the following morning via tracked Royal Mail. The kit is very complete and I have used the SFP for my 8Gb Bouygues Telecom ISP in Paris, France, and after configuring with serial number and ID, it just works. It does run a little hot as suggested so cooling is recommended. As I have a 3D printer, I'll probably knock something up to assist cooling when it gets to the hotter months of the year. Top marks and many thanks to a great, quality service.
Had my Virgin XGS-PON installed on Monday and ordered the X-ONU-SFPP from here the instant I saw the Hub 5x connecting reliably (and knew the serial number). Configured my Ubiquiti UDM Pro for double-nat and daisy-chained it off the Hub 5x (just to get something working whilst waiting for the X-ONU-SFPP to arrive). Have to say, the Hub 5x really sucks! Anyway, the X-ONU-SFPP stick arrived (complete with fibre cables and the direct mount cooler) less than 24 hours later. Bunged it in to the UDM Pro's SFP+ port 10 (WAN2) and was connected to the internet (public IP showing up nicely) just a couple of minutes later. No faffing about with VPNs or MAC addresses. It just worked. Additionally, setting up a static route to 192.168.11.0/24 on the WAN2 interface allowed me to access the X-ONU-SFPP's configuration UI at https://192.168.11.1 from anywhere on my home network. All so easy! As said elsewhere, the X-ONU-SFPP is quite long and the strain relief boot on the fibre cable means it really sticks out a long way, meaning that I can't close the door on my IT rack. I have a cunning plan to fix this, but it'll mean stripping the whole rack down which will wait until the weekend! The direct mount fan works really well too, taking the stick's temperature down from 70ºC to around 55ºC. Well worth the outlay! Really must give a huge vote of thanks to Marcus from Better Internet for all his pre-sales help and advice, both here and on Discord. His service and support has been the best I've experienced in a very long time!
Plugged this into an SFP+ switch and it worked a treat. The switch is actively cooled and has kept the temps on the SFP around 55C. It does protrude quite a but, but there are a lot of components crammed into this module. It's been in service for quite a while with no hiccups at all. Initially, using Virgin XGS-PON, I wasn't able to receive an IP from DHCP without setting an Internet VLAN. Once I set an Internet VLAN, all was well. Highly recommended if you want to ditch the horribly limited 5x.
Purchased one of these after getting a Virgin Hub 5x and discovering the modem mode issues. Was slightly sceptical it would be plug and play, but I was pleasantly surprised when it just worked. Plugged into a UDR7 and within minutes was back up and running. Fast delivery, great product.
After Virgin Media confirmed Hub5 could be used in modem mode I signed up. Waiting two months for install we then found out modem mode wasn't possible. We received this product within 24hour of purchase, plugged it into Unifi Dream Router & voila fully working connection with no awful VM box. No daunting up required. Highly recommended.
Ordered Monday 17th November, arrived Tuesday 18th November. Static route set within the UDM Pro and followed the guide to put the ONT serial in = https://fttppro.co.uk/replacing-the-hub-5x-with-a-was-110-sfp-module-on-virgin-medias-xgs-pon-broadband/ Virgin installed 1st December, first on the street :D 1G up:down. Connected the supplied fibre patch lead between the SFP and the Virgin outlet. Came online straight away and been solid 1140-1150 up and down. Thank you for taking the stress away by not only flashing it with the 8311 firmware but not having to participate in a group buy via Discord. Next mod is a fan and 3D printed mount for it! Merry Christmas!
Does exactly what it says on the tin! I was using modem mode on my VM hub 5x for a while then one day I upgraded my speed to 1gbit (1160mbits according to VM). Symmetric. When they switched the speed profile the 5x reset and I could no longer reach the page to re-enable modem mode. Added to that modem mode could only use the 1gbit ports which top out around 940mbps so I would have been losing 220mbps even if i could get to the page. Better Internet to the rescue! I proved my ONT serial in the box on the order page and it was through my letterbox in about a days. I didn't have an SFP+ port on my router or switches so got a cheap 2.5gbps sodola unmanaged switch with an SFP+ port. Connected the switch to my new Ubiquiti Express 7 via ethernet and after a couple of minutes I was back online, with the public IP assigned to my ex7. No need to configure anything with the X-ONU-SFPP, it just worked out of the box. Brilliant! The X-ONU-SFPP has been rock solid since and its been running around 3 weeks. It gets a bit warm but its in my cold garage. Will probably fix up some simple cooling for it in the summer which is no big deal. One very happy customer!
Ordered my X-ONU-SFPP at excellent price of £99 for VM and worked straight instantly as it came preconfigured as I supplied my Hub 5x serial number. I did update the configuration with software version A & B with 7.8.3-2410.5 as this was evidently much newer version. I don’t know if VM would look at this though. I also coned the VM 5X MAC address but that was pretty much it.
Fantastic service at a good price, great communications and fast delivery. Got my X-ONU-SFPP from Better Internet, plugged into an Asus RT-BE88U router directly to the SFP+ port and it is working fine. Only issues I had was me with working out a new router, rather than the module. Delighted. RIP Hub 5x!!! (well unless there is a mistake on Virgin Media's end that I need to connect it again I guess)
Had my eye on this for a while but as my network was fine I didn't purchase it earlier My ONT from Community Fibre died earlier this week, prompting my order (I'll save you my rant about Community Fibre's tech support) I ordered this and provided the serial of my old ONT, which Community Fibre replaced in the day it took this to arrive - however the support I got from Marcus was great and it was simply to update the serial to match my new ONT After setting the serial, I simply plugged it into the WAN port I wanted to use on my Ubiquity UCG Fibre and connected the fibre to it, within a minute it had picked everything up and was up and running - quick enough that nobody else in the house even noticed the downtime It has no problem maxing out the 5gb line I have with CF, getting the same speeds I had through their ONT Long story short, does exactly what it says on the tin, with great support too. 10/10 would recommend
Great service, though I did have some issues getting it up and running with my Unifi Cloud Gateway Ultra. I initially tried it with a TP-Link Omada media convertor, but could not connect to the device's webpage as the ethernet NIC showed no connection. After chatting with Better Internet I ordered a cheap SODOLA 6 Port 2.5Gb Ethernet Switch with 2 SFP+ ports and this worked. It allowed me to connect to the 8311 configuration pages. However, it still didn't work with the UGC; there was no internet connection even though the PON PLOAM Status was O5.1, Associated state as expected. When I changed the 8311 configuration IP Host MAC address to the same as the Hub 5X I am replacing, the internet connection came up and is now stable. Many thanks for the support.
Excellent service, great product. If you don't want the 'fun' of configuring your own ONT with the 8311 project, this is for you! Comes preconfigured if you send the existing 5x serial number, plug into your SPF+ port on your router and it works! Words of caution, if you are exploring the various options and testing different ONT devices, unless you spoof your MAC address, VM will lock out your connection! They appear to be tracking serial numbers & MAC addresses, probably to alleviate people attempting to clone the service. VM resolved it for me in about 30 mins, once I explained what I was doing! They didn't seem too concerned.
I bought one of the X-ONU-SFPP on here a few months ago. To use with my Virgin internet. Shipping was to Dublin, Ireland. Every step off the way, I received amazing support, step by step When the package got held up in customs, a replacement was sent out. Then, once I actually tried installing, it, I got step by step support, on a Sunday. Fast forward a few months, something went wrong, and it stopped working. Again, I received very good support.. Can’t give enough praise. I will recommend to anyone, if you are considering replacing your Virgin fiber with this, just do it… Our home wifi is 100% better with Unify. 11/10 for support and service.
Incredible support when I cocked up my own configuration due to my own stupidity. Patiently chatted (thanks for not judging me) and then shipped me a configured replacement same day so I could send my original back to be reset. Goes without saying it works like a dream. 5 stars is not enough.
Very quick delivery! This is not just a business who is reselling SFPs. The people behind the business truly understand their product to an extensive technical length, after support is very impressive. Everything included to bypass existing ISP ONT, purchased to bypass YouFibre ONT and reduce footprint in my comms unit. Thanks again for your service!
Purchased the ONU to replace the Virgin Hub 5x. The stick was packed well with tracking provided. Plugged into UCG-Fiber I received a public IP in a few minutes. The stick is warm at 60c, with USB Noctua fan blowing the temps are a cool 35c.
I purchased this item as we were switching from Connect Fibre to Virgin Media, the item was sent really quickly and expertly packaged. Also the after sales support I received was first class, helping me find a suitable switch for this module as it isn't recognised in my TP-Link Omada switch. I can confirm this module does also work on Connect Fibre using the default Mib file.
Arrived Sunday afternoon, via Royal Mail. Package fitted through letterbox, which was a good thing as was out for the day. I am a Virgin Media customer, 1Gbs symmetrical and also use OneStream via SoGEA as a secondary / failover connection. Due to Virgin Fibre and Openreach Copper (to be replaced with fibre) both coming via pole to the rear of the property and my office is located in the upstairs small front room, this I thought would be an issue. My router is a Unifi Cloud Gateway Max, with WAN1 for Virgin and WAN2 for OneStream. What I have done is purchase two, Binardat 4 Port 2.5G Web Managed Switch with 2x10G SFP+ Slot. The unmanaged version of this would be fine if running just the one internet connection. One is located where the fibre and copper comes in to the house. Port 1 Current 2.5GB Trunk (ALL VLANS) Port 2 VLAN 50 (Former Hub5x Link) Port 3 VLAN 51 (OneSteam Link) Port 4 VLAN 2 (Sky Glass) Port 5 VLAN 100 (X-ONU-SFPP) Port 6 Future 10GB Trunk The other located in Office Data Cabinet Port 1 Current 2.5GB Trunk (ALL VLANS) Port 2 VLAN 100 (WAN1) Cloud Gateway Max Port 3 VLAN 51 (WAN2) Cloud Gateway Max Port 4 VLAN 2 IoT Network Port 5 Unused Port 6 Future 10Gb Trunk Switching from the Hub5x to the X-ONU-SFPP was simple. I change the VLAN TAG of Port 2 on the switch located in the Data Cabinet to that of the Port 5 on the switch with the X-ONU-SSFP connected, disconnected the fibre from the Hub5x and I am currently running with the supplied SC/APC to LC/APC patch lead and coupler, but have a SC/APC Male to LC/ APC Female Hybrid Adaptor arriving later today, so I can use the existing fibre run. As the X-ONU-SFPP does run hot, I have a Newhail 120mm Quiet USB Fan, powered via the TP-Link Archer, which the Binardat switch sits on top of for passive cooling. I have also setup a static route on the Unifi Cloud Gateway Max, to access the web interface of the X-ONU-SFPP and on the Network Interface WAN1 now has a public IP address, so no more Double NAT. I would highly recommend this product for anyone who wishes to bypass their ONT supplied devices.
