Can't connect Asus ZenWifi Mesh router after FTTP

[Toby1Kenobe]

Hi,

I recently upgraded to full fibre (FTTP) and now have the Openreach OTC box on the inside wall of my dining room next to the router. Works fine with my standard Vodafone route (for reference, this is a THG3000). At the same time as upgrading, I bought an Asus ZenWiFi mesh system with three boxes: one to act as a router (i.e. to replace the Vodafone one) and two others to act as nodes in other parts of the house. However, I cannot get it to work. When I plug it in and attach the ethernet cable from the OTC box to the WAN input on the Asus router, the route light flashes green for a few seconds (meaning it is configuring) then it goes solid blue for a second (meaning it's all good to go) but then it goes to a straight red (meaning there is no internet connection). When the Openreach engineer installed the fibre, I set everything up using the Asus app. My phone will find the router with a strong signal, 5GHz, strong security, etc but no actual internet connection. I tried upgrading the firmware. The Asus app told me there was a PPPoE authentication error. I checked the PPPoE username and password in the Asus app and this had been auto-filled as my standard Vodafone account username and password. So I replaced these with PPPoE credentials Vodafone sent me. Still not working and said I should connect the ethernet cable from the modem (in this case, the OTC box) to the (Asus) router. It was already connected and I know the cable is fine because it works fine with the Vodafone router. Unplugged the router, waited a bit, and tried again. Did this twice. Still the same issue. Any ideas? Feels like it's so close to being sorted but there's an issue between the OTC/modem and the Asus router. Any help would be gratefully received! Thanks

[Ripshod]

Yes, speedtest over ethernet, or when you get the asus running directly from the router. 

Laptops generally have only two wifi antennas which will limit the speed of an AC connection to something like 433Mbit,and depending on the distance the maximum transfer speed I would expect would be around 300Mbit under ideal conditions. 

[Toby1Kenobe]

Thanks. I'd read lots of people saying speed tests show much slower speeds on their laptops than on their phone. I was pleasantly surprised to find tests showing download of almost 500Mbps on my (new Dell) laptop compared with c.220 on the phone. Seems odd that the same laptop is now showing only 200. Anyhow, main concern just now is getting the Asus gear working! Thanks again. Will re-post if I figure it out!

[Toby1Kenobe]

In case it's of interest, I managed to get the Asus ZenWiFi XD4 Plus set sorted. Using the 'reset' button/function on the bottom of the unit being used as a router and then fiddling around with various things on the app somehow got it up and running. I'm still not sure exactly how but it's working. One of the other units was faulty so had to order a new set and send the original back. All up and running now (route + two nodes). However, although I get above 500Mbps download if I connect my laptop directly to the route using an ethernet cable, using WiFi with the Mesh system, on different devices in different rooms, gives hugely variable results at different times, on different days. Never anywhere close to 500 and sometimes as low as 40. With the basic free Vodafone router I was getting near 450-500 on WiFi on my laptop and 200-300+ on my phone. My concern was inconsistent coverage across the house as this had been an issue pre-full fibre installation. Now I'm wondering why I spent £180+ on the Mesh system as everything seems to be worse!

[Anonymous]

I see no mention in any responses to the essential Vlan settings for a PPPoE connection. Your FTTP,  PPPoE connection won't work  without getting those right. To enter those go to your LAN settings and select the IPTV tab. In there, under the LAN port section, give the internet setting a 911 value,  Priority 0.  Then click apply. 

Here's a screenshot from my ASUS router.

[Jayach]

@Toby1Kenobe says he has an Openreach ONT, so the VLAN used will be 101, however it's not usually necessary to set it in the router, I suspect it's handled by the ONT.

Which raises a general question, How does the THG3000 work on both CityFibre and Openreach, as it doesn't have a VLAN setting? (at least not one we can see)

Anyone have any idea?

[Ripshod]

On the thg3000 the VLAN is set by the provisioning server. You can't see the setting in the same way you can't see the pppoe login.

No VLAN for openreach fttp. 

[Jayach]

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@Ripshod wrote:
On the thg3000 the VLAN is set by the provisioning server. You can't see the setting in the same way you can't see the pppoe login.

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Oh yes, good old CWMP again. I hadn't though about that.