Draytek Vigor 2860 Settings

[Alcoraptor]

I'm trying to replace my EE Brightbox with a Draytek 2860 VDSL2 router, but am having some trouble with the settings.

I know it's not supported by EE, but I was wondering if anyone had any success getting it running.

Some background:

- I have FTTC, with the router plugged directly into the wall socket

- The EE Brightbox works fine and has no issues at all with stability

- The Draytek has no issues with the line, and reports SHOWTIME with 48,999kbps down and 13,461kbps up with a SNR of anywhere between 0 and -6db in each direction

- The Draytek automatically inserts a VLAN tag of 101

- The Draytek firmware is 3.9.1_BT (576D17)

- The VDSL firmware is 576D17_A/B/C with Vectoring support, although the syslog states that G.INP Vectoring is disabled on the line

- I have tried MTUs of 1480 and 1492, 1500

I have tried setting the Draytek up in PPPoE mode, with the credentials supplied by EE, and it occasionally gets an IP - but it does not stay connected for longer than 2 minutes. I get an error on WAN1 of PPP Shutdown, usually within about 15 seconds, and the syslog says Remote Terminated.

Usually, however, it does not get an IP at all, and the line goes into FAIL followed by TRAINING, and the connection process starts again.

I have also tried, as per the advice on other forums, setting the mode to MPoA with 1483 Bridged IP LLC Encapsulation (VPI 0, VCI 101, Modulation Multimode) , and Obtain an IP address automatically.

The line goes into SHOWTIME, but the router does not ever obtain an IP address (the SysLog states that Option 61 is enabled, but all of the DHCP IPs are 0.0.0.0), and eventually the line goes into RESET followed by TRAINING after about 30 seconds.

Has anyone had any luck getting the Draytek to work, or can shed any light on it?

[XRaySpeX]

In Home Broadband settings you'll find almost everything you need to set up your own router. What's missing for Fibre is:

• VLAN ID = 101.

What are the form of the BB Username & pwd you are entering?

[Alcoraptor]

Hi,I've read over that a few times already; the Draytek automatically inserts a VLAN ID tag of 101 as of the last few firmwares, so it's not related to that.The username is the same as the one from the brightbox - PRODUCTIONHQNUNxxxxxxxx@fs, and is valid as if I change it I get a different error and no connection at all.At the moment I get a connection for a couple of minutes with PPPoE, but then it drops.

[Mustrum]

You mention username, but not password? Have you entered this as well?

I am sure there is an earlier post with links to pics of the correct settings, there should not be much you change from default from BT or other UK VDSL setting, MTU 1490 should work.

[Alcoraptor]

Yup, I have the same username and password as the brightbox has (I called EE to double-check what they were).

If I don't set them, or change them, I get a CHAP error when connecting.

At the moment, the Draytek connects briefly, gets an IP, and the internet works for anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes - and then I get PPP Shutdown (Remote Terminated) and the whole connection starts again

[XRaySpeX]

@Mustrum : MTU = 1492.

[mikeliuk]

Hi @Alcoraptor ,

Have you been in touch with Draytek yet?

The circumstances seem similar to the below for a different service provider for which service provider-specific instructions were required which contradicted the publicly available documentation at the time.

The solution in your case may be nothing like this but the manufacturer is likely to have a fix if another customer has already reported the same.

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Product-Archive/PPP-Shutdown-with-DrayTek-Vigor2860/td-p/2181312

I guess the manufacturer's online instructions are now out of date at least with respect to the vlan on that firmware.

https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/kb-isp-ee

[Alcoraptor]

I read that TalkTalk guide and a PlusNet one, which both say to use MPoA rather than PPPoE, but I haven't had any luck with the MPoA settings either (I did try all of the encapsulations, as well as RIP and Bridge modes).

That Draytek guide seems to be out of date, yes - it says that the settings I currently have should work, but the article looks a few years old now.

I do have a support ticket open with Draytek, but they haven't got back to me yet so I was asking here as well in case anyone had managed to get it working

[mikeliuk]

Hi @Alcoraptor ,

If you are reasonably technically adept, the best play to have an idea of what is going on would be to mirror the WAN port and tcpdump or Wireshark the traffic

https://www.draytek.com/support/knowledge-base/5366

to check authentication goes as expected

https://www.draytek.com/support/knowledge-base/7528

and to see what traffic is passing immediately before a connection drop.

Easily 90% of technical problems are a case of user error and your firmware version and device are certified for use on OpenReach and known-good from what I can tell from online resources. If I did suspect user error, I would propose that a screenshot be posted of the settings for other Draytek users to eyeball (from posts on here there seem to be a number of Draytek users but not necessarily with the same device).

There are some reports of issues within the same ballpark for an older firmware version which leads me to suspect the issue may be real. http://www.broadbandbanter.co.uk/44944-vigor-2860-firmware-versions.html Draytek's delay in getting back to you and presumably their looking at the data/evidence you sent them suggests the same.

From what I can tell, EE hasn't done anything funny with their authentication but as you've gone down that route of debugging already you may as well mirror the WAN port and dump the traffic to see what is going on. The mention of Sky Broadband and Wireshark at https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/06/2018-update-best-vdsl-routers-for-uk-fttc-fibre-broadb... prompted me to feel that it's better to know for sure rather than speculate and guess.

Under other circumstances I might suggest to wait for the manufacturer's input but the certified firmware and device combination suggests more specific data may be useful.

Probably the easiest non-expert approach is simply to use the service provider's device in front of your device but I guess you've not given up on using the Draytek in-built modem yet.

[Alcoraptor · Accepted solution]

After a lot of digging, and with some help from Draytek, I've managed to get it running.

It turns out that the 3.9.1_BT firmware is not compatible with EE's network, as it uses an incompatible modem code (576D17_A/B/C).

I've switched the firmware to 3.9.1_vector1, which uses the modem code 576517_A/B/C - and it's been completely stable.

The other settings (PPPoE etc) all remain exactly the same and as stated on the Draytek KB article; the firmware seemed to be the key.