ToT Internet Problem

[doctormann]

I am tearing my hair out!

 

My ADSL ToT connection, using an Asus DSL-N55U modem-router, while not brilliant, has been generally acceptable with very few outages - until yesterday, when things started to go horribly wrong.  I was getting frequent drop-outs during the afternoon, just for a few seconds at a time.  I noticed that the ADSL was still synced but the Internet Connection light would go out when the outages happened - no surprise there.  Things got worse and I'm now at the point where, although all lights are on, I have no internet connection at all!  Can't even ping Google - packets just get lost.  I can ping Local Loopback OK?  

 

I contacted ToT, who said that their engineer would look into the problem.  He phoned me to say that he had reset the system - made no difference, still kaput.  Later, I got a visit from said engineer who, on the basis of no proper testing, told me that my router was knackered.  Somehow, I don't think that this is the case as my old D-Link router also refuses to connect!  I don't think that my equipment, excepting, maybe, the router, is at fault.  Using my phone as a tethered modem, both of my PCs connect without any issues.  More likely to be a fault somewhere with the ToT equipment but getting them to acknowledge this is not likely to be easy.

 

Maybe the solution is to change to fibre - I've been putting this off for ages!

 

Any thoughts on this rather strange fault?  Any solutions - apart from giving Tot the elbow!

 

 

[johng]

17 minutes ago, doctormann said:

Maybe the solution is to change to fibre - I've been putting this off for ages!

That's probably the best idea....I have a suspicion ( no proof just an idea)  that they are trying to phase out ADSL and so give less priority to fixing the faulty  lines and equipment..in the hope everyone just changes over...if you're a long time customer they will waive the  modem/router and installation costs..

and the price  per month (for me) was less with 4x increase in speed.

Edited June 13, 2018 by johng

[doctormann]

Johng, I agree with you about ADSL being phased out.  I've had this suspicion for a while as my line stats have been slowly degrading to the point where I can no longer get sync at the speed that I'm paying for.  My up-link speed is now only 50% of it's proper value - reduced to 512 kbps - and the down-link is also down to 10 Mbps from its nominal 13.

 

Yes, time for a change I think!

[doctormann]

OK, a bit of an update and a request for some advice,

 

Firstly, my ASUS router is by no means kaput - a factory reset and upload of the stored configuration from a backup file and everything is back to normal.  No idea of what was causing the problem - maybe something got corrupted or maybe something that ToT did.  Just restoring the config didn't work - needed the full reset.  The router then obtained the ToT connection details automatically so I wonder if they had changed something?

 

I have decided to upgrade to fibre anyway - should be installed sometime this week.  However, I foresee some problems ahead.

 

The ASUS DSL-N55U router that I currently use is quite a sophisticated little beast and lets me set up a guest network, forward ports, apply QOS and set up LAN address reservations - and more!  I don't know yet just what modem and router ToT will provide but I will be very surprised if I get the same facilities that I get from the ASUS.

 

I would like to continue to use the ASUS and I believe that this is possible by operating the ToT kit in bit/bridge mode and then connecting the ASUS with an Ethernet cable.  (The ASUS can be configured so that one of its LAN ports becomes a WAN port and I have the appropriate firmware installed).  However, this is where my knowledge stops - how do I set things up, having done this? 

 

Obviously, the log-on credentials will be different - ToT will provide - but do I log on from the ASUS or from their modem/router.  What about the LAN addresses for the two devices?  At present, the ASUS uses 192.168.1.1 - will this have to change?  Etc, etc!

 

I am somewhat confused and an internet search hasn't really helped.  What I need is advice from someone who has been there and done that - not necessarily with ToT and ASUS, although that would be ideal.  So, any offers?

 

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[thedemon]

I have had TOT Fibre for several years and for me it has been extremely reliable.

 

After you have TOT install with their supplied ONU/Router you will need to ask them to switch you to Bridge Mode which they do at the TOT network centre though the technician will likely be coordinating that from your premises.

 

Then connect your ASUS with a LAN cable from it's RJ45 WAN port to a LAN port on the TOT device. Usually it doesn't matter which LAN port you connect to but a few ONU devices will only do bridge mode on LAN port 1 so it is safer to use that.

 

In bridge mode the router and ONU communicate at the data link layer (layer 2 of the OSI model) rather than at the TCP/IP layer. So it actually doesn't matter which subnets each device is on - even if the 2 devices had exactly the same IP address it would still work. This is the part of bridge mode that I think often confuses people.

 

However it would be good practice to put the ONU device on a different subnet than the LAN in case you need to configure something on the ONU (not likely, but possible). In fact I think it is good practice to also change the main LAN subnet away from 192.168.1.x. That is because most devices out of the box are configured to use 192.168.1.1 so it is better to avoid potential conflicts by using a different subnet. So for example, you could set the TOT ONU to 192.168.0.1 and then set your ASUS Router to 192.168.100.1 with DHCP set to a range within the 192.168.100.x subnet.

 

To make the actual internet connection, you will set the WAN connection on the ASUS to PPPoE using the TOT supplied credentials.

 

 

[doctormann]

Thanks Demon, that's useful and I think that I almost understand it.

 

Have to wait for ToT to appear now - maybe tomorrow with a bit of luck.

[johng]

In my case I asked ToT about bridge/bit mode right at the start saying I wanted to use my own router , they supplied ZTE GPON ONT fiber converter and TotoLink A3002RU router...which I swaped out for an ASUS RT-AC86U input PPPoE details and it all just automagically worked.

[doctormann]

Thanks Johng, I'm hoping that they can do the same for me.

 

When I went to the ToT office, the guy that I spoke to didn't seem to know much about bit/bridge - just said that I would need to talk to the engineer when he turned up.  So, I hope that they bring the right kit with them!

[doctormann]

Johng, a quick question or two for you, if I may.

 

You say that you replaced the ToT supplied router with an ASUS and things just worked once you supplied the PPPoE details.  At the moment, the only info that I have from ToT is the circuit number that they have, presumably, allocated to my installation, which hasn't been done yet.  The PPPoE will require a username and password and I assume that the username will be <circuit number> @ <something or other> and that the password will just be the circuit number.  Is this correct?

 

Presumably, the VCI/VPI numbers are no longer relevant for a fibre connection?

 

I shall also need the LAN login details for their router - which will be getting replaced in due course.  Is the LAN address 192.168.1.1 with admin and admin for the default username and password?  If they have changed the defaults, I shall have to get them to provide the details - if they will!

 

The wifi SSID and password I shall supply.  I don't know, at the moment, if their supplied router will support an additional SSID for a guest network, as my current ASUS ADSL router does, but this is an essential requirement for me.

 

If I can't get my ASUS DSL-N55U reconfigured to accept a WAN signal via Ethernet, which should be possible, I shall acquire another ASUS router that will.  The AC86U seems like a good choice - would provide a bit of future-proofing too!

 

 

[Fruit Trader]

I switched the office from TOT ADSL to Fibre a while back and asked for ONT with separate router.

 

On install day TOT provided ONT, a separate router, login details for WAN and modem. They will ask for the Wi-Fi login details so write it down ready for the day. If they forget to provide any login details you must remind them. The WAN username @ prefix is not the same the password. Old account should get cancelled new account and contract made on install day.

 

TOT provided me with an unusual Kasda router flashed with Openwrt.

When TOT have left you can use your own router and TOT router as backup.

Edited June 18, 2018 by Fruit Trader

[doctormann]

15 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

I switched the office from TOT ADSL to Fibre a while back and asked for ONT with separate router.

 

On install day TOT provided ONT, a separate router, login details for WAN and modem. They will ask for the Wi-Fi login details so write it down ready for the day. If they forget to provide any login details you must remind them. The WAN username @ prefix is not the same the password. Old account should get cancelled new account and contract made on install day.

 

TOT provided me with an unusual Kasda router flashed with Openwrt.

When TOT have left you can use your own router and TOT router as backup.

 

Thanks.  We'll see what happens when the engineers turn up.  Should be sometime this week.

 

[johng]

 

23 hours ago, doctormann said:

The PPPoE will require a username and password and I assume that the username will be <circuit number> @ <something or other> and that the password will just be the circuit number.  Is this correct?

PPPoE connection details   uses both user name and password,

username is written on the ZTE unit + @fttxhome    password  you have to ask for nicely  from the installation crew my PPPoE password is something quite un-guessable

 

23 hours ago, doctormann said:

Presumably, the VCI/VPI numbers are no longer relevant for a fibre connection?

not needed

23 hours ago, doctormann said:

I shall also need the LAN login details for their router - which will be getting replaced in due course.  Is the LAN address 192.168.1.1 with admin and admin for the default username and password?  If they have changed the defaults, I shall have to get them to provide the details - if they will!

they should provide you details yes  in my case it was admin  and password was the username on the ZTE unit ( = your subscriber number I think)

23 hours ago, doctormann said:

The wifi SSID and password I shall supply

once into the admin page of the router I was able to click on advanced and change Wifi settings

I think the Totolink router

did have guest wifi too   but don't quote me on that   only used it for about 48 hours.

 

23 hours ago, doctormann said:

If I can't get my ASUS DSL-N55U reconfigured to accept a WAN signal via Ethernet,

Just plug the Asus WAN  port (still LAN)  into the  ONT / bridged modem  LAN out port and set Asus to use PPPoE        there should be no reason why it won't work...even my "ancient"

Linksys  WRT54GL worked...but could only manage 14 Mbps  WAN speed .

Edited June 19, 2018 by johng

[doctormann]

Thanks Johng, that info should prove very useful.

 

No sign of anyone turning up to do the installation yet - should be this week, or so they said!

[doctormann]

Final update - hopefully.

 

ToT turned up today and did the fibre installation.

 

They provided a ZTE modem and a TotoLink AC1200 wifi router.  The Totolink router seems OK but not too friendly when it comes to setting things up.  At the moment, I have reconfigured my ASUS DSL-N55U to accept a LAN input and am using that instead of the TotoLink - far less head scratching that way!

 

Everything seems fine - speeds via Ethernet pretty much as advertised.  Slightly slower via wifi but that is to be expected.

 

I may, at some stage, acquire an ASUS AC86U  but there is no urgency now.  I don't even have any AC compatible kit at the moment!

 

Many thanks to those that contributed to this thread - I've gained a bit of education out of it and that's never a bad thing.