topic Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months in Broadband & Landline

Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 18:36:41 GMT

Summary

We got 500mb FTTP broadband installed about 4 months ago and from day one I had set it up to use OPNSense running on our home server virtualised under Proxmox. (Never even opened the brand new EE router).

It has been working flawlessly up until last Thursday, when the connection dropped and from then, I have been unable to get to connect using any third party devices.

Steps Taken

I have tried the following:

Connecting original unboxed EE router.
Connecting TP-LINK Archer VR2600 modem router (dedicated WAN port).
Direct to a Windows laptop using PPPoE connection.
Direct to a Linux laptop using PPPoE connection.
Restoring to a VM backup for OPNSense from a month previous.
- OPNSense nor the hypervisor Proxmox had had any updates or changes within two weeks of the outage.
Trying multiple different ethernet cables.
Rebooting ONT & Routers (letting them stay off for 5 mins and also tried keeping both off overnight).
Hard resetting:
- ONT (using a pin on the reset hole).
- TP-LINK router.
- EE router.

EE Support

I've had around 4 different phone calls with EE support.
They initially sent out a Home Engineer and he replaced the EE router with another new one and was then able to connect to the internet.
But trying to connect using any of the steps mentioned above to anything other than the new new EE router has failed.

Another call and they said they would book an Openreach engineer to come out today, i received text messages confirming direct from Openreach.

They never arrived.

Another call with them, it turned out that one wasn't booked at all and somehow the system never actually made the booking even though it was confirmed over the phone and through text.
They ran some tests against the EE router (first time doing this) and after speaking to managers told me they would not be sending out an Openreach engineer as the EE router was shown to be working and they have no obligation to restore service for third party equipment.

I told them I would have to cancel the contract and try another provider if I cant get this working again.
They said it was going to cost £265 to cancel and then redirected me to the sales team.

So this is my last ditch attempt to try and find a proper resolution and to save myself from paying £265 to cancel.

Current State & Setup Details

ONT:

NOKIA-ONT
- Model: G-010G-R
- MRev: 02
- Month/Year: 01/2024
Showing all green lights (Pwr, PON & LAN).
LOS light has remained off.
Rebooted & Reset multiple times.
Works with the new new EE router.

OPNSense Router:

Custom built server, with an Intel CPU and a single onboard 2.5gbps dedicated ethernet port.
Running Proxmox virtualisation as the OS.
OPNSense running within a container on Proxmox.
A single ethernet cable links the server and the ONT, with no joins or switches between.
Has worked flawlessly for 4 months.

TP-LINK Router:

Archer VR2600
Hard reset to factory settings
Has a dedicated WAN port for PPPoE connections.
Basic setup wizard lets you input your PPPoE credentials.
Worked previously when we had FTTC using the ADSL modem.

Windows Laptop:

Windows 10
Setup PPPoE connection using the wizard under the 'Dial up' section.
This worked when I tried it on installation day.

Linux Laptop:

Arch Linux
Setup PPPoE using nmcli.

All broadband credentials used throughout all tests have been:

USERNAME: bthomehub@btbroadband.com
PASSWORD: BT

All testing of the routers and laptops has been with a single straight ethernet connection between the ONT and router/computer.
Used the GUI's on the routers to check if a connection has been established. (checked over wifi with one of the laptops)

Conclusion

I'm really disappointed that EE refuse to help any further as I have read multiple other forum posts were others have been in a similar situation and had an engineer sent out or an ONT box replaced.

I just want to get my system back to were it was only a few days ago.

I'd really appreciate any help or advise with this.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

Chris_B — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 18:56:20 GMT

@radiohe4d21 It it works with the EE router and there is no issue then EE/Open reach are not obligated to help with a 3rd party router. The issue it seems is the router that you want to use and not the broadband connection. Not sure what you were expecting EE/Open reach to do it’s not the supplied product that has the issue

have you tried factory resetting this router and setting it up totally from scratch again.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 19:05:06 GMT

Yes, i completely understand they aren't obligated to help but with it working up to this point, having tried two factory reset routers and also two different laptops, none of which can connect to the internet, suggests there is in fact an issue somewhere outside of my control.

Ive exhausted all I can my side, and seen others with a similar position. Im led to believe its the ONT at fault or the configuration on the openreach side preventing anything up the EE router from connecting.

I came here hoping for some help from the community to sense check everything ive done so far or spot something I havent yet.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

XRaySpeX — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 19:45:23 GMT

Why is WAN i/f showing DSL Modulation Type = VDSL when you're on FTTP?

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 19:53:46 GMT

Just checked and this tp-link router only has two options for setting up an internet connection.

ADSL and VDSL

My assumption was VDSL would go through the WAN port and connect to ONT that way?

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

Mustrum — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:14:26 GMT

@radiohe4d21 the TP-Link also has an EWAN port, have you found the way to set that up?

The ADSL/VDSL is for the modem, which is not used on full fibre.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

JimM11 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:27:41 GMT

@radiohe4d21 Windows 10 pppoe ethernet connection direct to the ONT does it connect? Not going to bother looking at the VR2600 modem but you have a look see, unless one off those LAN ports is marked or can be assigned as a WAN then just forget that, used mostly as a dumb modem only mode device to router out to a fttc connection.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:36:02 GMT

@Mustrum & @XRaySpeX

Just had a look back through my notes and I've mistakenly uploaded the wrong screenshot of the TP-LINK router.

Here is the correct one. And as Mustrum mentioned, its using the EWAN setup not the VDSL setup.

I've also pulled out an even older modem router from the loft and tried to set it up in the same way as above. All default settings bar the username and password.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:40:10 GMT

I have tried the direct dial PPPoE connection on both Windows 10 and Linux laptops, it never connects and fails almost instantly.

The two TP-LINK routers I have both have dedicated marked ports on the back for WAN and both have the option to change from ADSL to EWAN.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

JimM11 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:06 GMT

@radiohe4d21 With the EE Router connected direct to the ONT Lan, it goes through the boot sequence then to Aqua light?

Can you then connect a device Ethernet would be easiest and get a network connection to the internet?

Remember Ethernet connected to the EE Router takes 30 seconds to establish the connection.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

Mustrum — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:07 GMT

@radiohe4d21 I would switch off the IP6 options until you get the TP-Link working.

Also the Auto-Auth to CHAP - long shot this one.

Also does the router have an event log, are you able to see what the WAN log is failing on?

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:40 GMT

The EE router provided by the home engineer connects to the internet without issue.

And i can browse the internet both through wifi and ethernet.

But due to my more complex network setup and the home server, hopping through the EE router wont work for me.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:28 GMT

Still the same outcome, also restarted the ONT & Router again for good measure.

Here are the logs, seems like its not receiving a response.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

Mustrum — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:38 GMT

@radiohe4d21 the router screen seems to show IP4 and 6 both in the same state, can you untick the IP6. The error log seems to show IP6 going out.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:15:14 GMT

Its not very obvious in this GUI, but IPv6 is disabled. Its unticked and greyed out rather than green.

I assume you mean these options?

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:21:42 GMT

Found a few posts from using the info in the logs.

Not sure if its relevant here but something else to consider I guess.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

Mustrum — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:28:30 GMT

@radiohe4d21 yes that was the one, but there was an earlier on on IP6 DNS.

The PADI and so on is correct, but for what even not getting anything back, hence my suggestions to keep things simple.

The SNR is for ADSL/VDSL as is the VLAN101, it is hanfled by the modem, in this case the ONT so should be off or 0.

Do you know anyone closeby with an EE or BT Full Fibre service you could try the router on?

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:35:39 GMT

Yea its interesting that its not even getting an initial reply to the PADI request. Ill try and find out what are the possible reasons that it wouldn't get a reply (beyond physical line issues which are already ruled out here).

Yea it was my understanding that a VLAN was not needed here, so good to get that confirmed.

Unfortunately I don't, nearest relatives and friends are over an hour away, but that would be massively helpful to rule out router/config.

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

Mustrum — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:30:05 GMT

@radiohe4d21 what model EE routers do you have - if you still have both?

And can you log into the working one, go to the advanced section and the technical log info tab and see what the username is?

@JimM11 has remonded me of a similar issue we saw a while back

Re: Third party router stopped connecting to the internet after working for 4 months

radiohe4d21 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:46:52 GMT

Funny enough I did just that earlier on, here's the screenshots.

I don't have the original broken EE router anymore unfortunately, but this is the working one.