PPPoE Half-Bridge - Offload PPPoE to a separate device for UniFi gateways
Show HN: We Fixed UniFi's Slow PPPoE Performance with PPPoE Half-Bridge
PPPoE Half-Bridge is an OpenWrt-based solution that fixes the slow PPPoE performance of UniFi gateways by offloading PPPoE dialing to a dedicated device. It uses a hotplug script to strip the public IPv4 from the PPPoE interface and hand it to the UniFi gateway via DHCP, freeing the gateway from PPPoE CPU load. This technique, known as PPPoE Half-Bridge, can boost throughput beyond 5000 Mbps, as demonstrated with a Banana Pi BPI-R4 Pro. The project is open-source on GitHub and works with any OpenWrt-compatible device.
We were able to break past 5000 Mbps of PPPoE throughput, proving that offloading PPPoE to a separate device is the key to unlocking full line speed on UniFi gateways.
- chaz6
A lot of people dunk on PPPoE, but it does have one redeeming feature: failover is a lot easier and faster compared to IPoE. With IPoE you often rely on vendor-proprietary mechanisms. The closest thing to a common standard is packet-triggered sessions. Normally, BNG's set up sessions using DHCP but you can rig it to do a RADIUS request for a non-DHCP packet without a known session. In this case, it will send the source IP as the radius username, rather than the configured value (this usually comes from dhcp option 82 which includes the customer-id and circuit-id). In an access network, the source address is usually untrusted so instead you would want to have your BNG attach the NAS-Port-Id to the request (which usually contains the SVLAN and CVLAN).
- sarabveer
> Even in 2026, a huge number of ISPs still rely on PPPoE, including Bell Canada, AT&T Fiber, and Xfinity in the US, along with the vast majority of ISPs in Europe, Asia, and China.
Comcast (Xfinity) does not use PPPoE.
- throwaway67743
There is really so much failure in this post: crappy vendor, misunderstanding how PPP actually works (it requires no addressing at all), using "half bridge" (idiot term) instead of just using it properly. I swear people are even less informed than 20 years ago, it's very sad.
- nottorp
Oh thanks. My local ISP insists on pppoe even for business lines.
I like the unifi APs but then using their gateways is a no-no.
- davidhariri
In my specific situation I was able to use this WAS-110 to get full speed PPPoE from my fiber provider (Bell).
https://pon.wiki/guides/masquerade-as-the-bce-inc-giga-hub-2...