DD-WRT on my own router to connect to EE Fibre Broadband?

[StuartJ7]

Has anyone had experience configuring a DD-WRT router for EE fibre broadband, that they are willing to share?

I'm running DD-WRT v3.0-r46395 (on a D-Link DIR-615) and having seen the help guide at https://ee.co.uk/help/help-new/broadband-and-landline/home-broadband/how-do-i-use-my-own-router-for-..., I set the following in the DD-WRT admin UI (in Settings > Basic Setup) :

• Connection Type - PPPoE
• Username - PRODUCTIONHQNUN123456@fs <where 123456 replaces my actual values, obtained from the working configuration in the EE router>
• Password - HQNPASS123456 <where 123456 again replaces my actual values>
• MTU - Manual 1492

Looking in the forums, I also saw the recommendation (by @XRaySpeX  at https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/Broadband-home-phone/Broadband-Username-and-Password-own-router/m-p/88...) to set "VLAN ID = 101" for fibre broadband, so I tried setting the following in the admin UI (in Settings > Networking) :

• VLAN 0 Interface - vlan2 - Tag Number 101 - Prio 0
  (to match the WAN Port Assignment defaulted to 'vlan2')

Not sure that's right, but I don't really know what I'm doing with the VLAN config... Anyway, I've applied all this and have also restarted the router, but still, it isn't connecting. Any ideas?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

[mikeliuk · Accepted solution]

Hi @StuartJ7 ,

Your hardware appears to have no inbuilt modem so presumably your external modem connects to the WAN.

https://eu.dlink.com/uk/en/products/dir-615-wireless-n-300-router

From other posts on here, the vlan tagging is taken care of by the service provider's modem so it's worth omitting the tagging on the DD-WRT router and treating everything as access ports (not trunk ports).

[StuartJ7]

Hi @mikeliuk - thanks! That's exactly the problem: not DD-WRT, or EE, but me being a fool for not noticing that I bought a DD-WRT capable router off Ebay without an inbuilt modem. Looks like I will need to buy an additional external modem.

[mikeliuk]

A quick aside for others who come across this that it should only be FTTC that a separate or inbuilt modem might be considered. FTTP provides an ONT and only a router should be needed.

For a simple DD-WRT lab, a service provider's devices should be an ok starting point configuring the DD-WRT WAN for DHCP and connected to a LAN switch-port on the service provider's router (a modem could be added later to remove one layer of NAT).

A quick mention that a router with no inbuilt modem cannot be physically connected to an OpenReach master socket so either the current connection is to a service provider's modem, or router, or less likely a FTTP ONT.

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/getting-set-up/home-networks/a-wired-home-network/what-type-of-mas...

[pip11]

@mikeliukWhy do you always insist on providing information that has nothing to do with the OP's issue?

Customers who come here are not advanced users and are just looking for a resolution, nothing else.

[mikeliuk]

DD-WRT is for advanced users as it's flashed over the vendor's stock firmware and there's considerable risk of bricking a router.

I've only ever used it on old routers that I didn't care about bricking, but have flashed OpenWRT onto a brand-new router (obviously no recourse to warranty at that point 😂).

The danger here is that a user reading this thread may buy an item of equipment which they do not need, so I've put up red flags that if a physical connection can be made to a DD-WRT router with no inbuilt modem, there's a good chance a separate purchase of another modem may not be necessary (but a knowledgeable user can choose to make that purchase to avoid one layer of NAT). 🤓

[StuartJ7]

Just to follow up on this for the benefit of anyone else in my position. I ended up purchasing a HG612 on Ebay. I then unlocked it per the instructions at https://kitz.co.uk/routers/hg612hacking.htm, but I'm not sure that's necessary, since I just left the HG612 in the default bridge mode, connected the LAN1 port to the WAN port of my router with the config from my original post and it all just worked. 😀

I'm having separate issues with the wifi dropping out intermittently on the new router, in a way that didn't happen with the EE one, but that's a different matter...

Thanks again to @mikeliuk for the sanity check that put me right in the first place!

[pip11]

The only reason for unlocking an openreach VDSL modem is to access the modem connection stats, The modem would connect without unlocking.