VSS v3 on BT Infinity / BusinessHub 5

[crobinuk]

Hi there,

I have had a Version 3 VSS since last week and have yet to get it working when connected to my BT Business Hub on BT Infinity.

Every time I switch it on, the power light comes on, the internet light flashes 8 times, then it flips to:

• Power: Flashing
• Internet: Off
• In Service: Solid Orange
• In Use: Solid Orange

I called Vodafone Tech Support and they told me that I needed to "leave it plugged in for 24 hours to complete configuration". This didn't change anything.

I also spent an hour on the phone with BT trying to troubleshoot it over the weekend - I can confirm:

- Serial: 42150207761

- BT Wifi is disabled

- UPNP Disabled

- the LAN IP of the VSS has been fixed

- all the ports are forwarded to the fixed IP (ie. ports not forwarded via MAC code):

8 tcp/udp

50 tcp/udp

53 tcp/udp

67 udp

68 udp

123 udp

500 udp

1723 tcp/udp

4500 udp

33434 to 33445 tcp/udp

- VPN port clamping is ON

- router has been rebooted.

BT told me that they have been through a lot of testing with Vodafone and these are all the steps that should be necessary to get it working; there are no outstanding issues between VSS and BT Infinity as far as they are concerned.

They also advised to leave the VSS for one hour (apparently it needs to resync) - but this didn't help.

Test Results:

Speedtest: 74.91 mbps DOWN / 16.75 mbps UP

IP Address: 81.XXX.XXX.XXX (removed my IP address - probably a coincedence, but when after posting here initially I saw an increase in dodgy inbound traffic from China probing for vulnerabilities...)

Pingtest:

- 0% Packet Loss;

- 9ms Ping;

- 0ms Jitter;

- GRADE A

Tracert:

Tracing route to cluster4.vap.vodafone.co.uk [212.183.133.177]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms BTBusinessHub.home [192.168.1.254]
2 5 ms 5 ms 5 ms host81-130-224-1.in-addr.btopenworld.com [81.130.224.1]
3 5 ms 5 ms 5 ms 213.120.178.141
4 7 ms 7 ms 6 ms 213.120.177.98
5 6 ms 7 ms 6 ms 217.41.168.33
6 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms 217.41.168.107
7 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms 109.159.249.110
8 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms core4-te0-0-0-18.faraday.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.249.45]
9 7 ms 7 ms 6 ms 62.6.201.187
10 9 ms 11 ms 11 ms lndgw2.arcor-ip.net [195.66.224.124]
11 9 ms 8 ms 8 ms 85.205.0.93
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

Would I benefit from a "manual sync" at your end?

Please help, thanks.

[crobinuk]

Answering my own post.

Despite following ALL the advice from BT and Vodafone (apart from the request to completely disable the firewall - I'm not doing that), I'm still seeing the following in the BusinessHub5 router log:

IN: BLOCK [5] Fragmented packet (IP 88.82.13.171-​>81.149.215.212 fragment_offset=1480)

Looks like the BT BusinessHub5 inbuilt firewall is blocking fragmented packets, and there's nothing that can be done.

This is the same problem that plagued Homehub users a couple of years ago and BT/Vodafone was able to come up with a fix. 

Any reply/update from Vodafone would be appreciated.

[crobinuk]

PS. I even put the VSS into DMZ and that still didn't work. I suspect the fragmented packet issue is what's blocking the VSS from calling home and registering.

[crobinuk]

Answering my own post (again) with (hopefully) a resolution...

So, this is DEFINITELY an issue with the BT Business Hub 5 and SureSignal.

BT is adamant that there is no outstanding issue with the BT Infinity service and Vodafone SureSignal... They are kind of right - the issue isn't with Infinity per se (ie. PPPoE / PPPoA, etc), it is with the latest hardware that is being given to Business customers - BusinessHub v5.

After a week of runaround from both BT & Vodafone I swapped out my BusinessHub v5 for an old BT HomeHub v5 and after resetting the VSS I did not get the orange warning lights - instead the white internet light pulsed continually.

I then carried out the setup as per the BT/Vodafone instructions (UPNP off; VPN Clamp on; set the VSS with a Fixed LAN IP; *tons* of port forwarding to the Fixed LAN IP - not via MAC address, etc etc)... and now I have white connection lights and a solid power light instead of the flashing power / amber warnings.

Progress!

Vodafone - please escalate this issue with BT. From the looks of posts on the forum it I'm not the only one with this problem. BT have sorted out the Homehub5 problem, but it persists with BusinessHub5. Suspect it has something to do with packet fragmentation (see my other posts).

Hope this helps other users? (Basically, ditch the BusinessHub5 as other non-Vodafone posters had suggested to me).