Please help - normal channels won't! Fibre 500 - Failed to retrieve external IP address

[Pyewacket]

tldr: After an outage we can't get back on line due to the router not being given an external IP - Vodafone won't acknowledge as there is an (irrelevant) Openreach call open.

Good afternoon folk,

At the end of our tether here, been through webchat, twitter and the complaints procedure to no avail, posting here in the desperate hope someone with some common sense may be able to help.

For the second time in a month after a local outage our router is unable to get back on line as it is unable to get an external IP address. We live in a remote area, there are 30 houses and three people with fibre in our postcode, one either side of our house. Yesterdays outage was due to Openreach repairing a known issue about a mile down the road, the copper and fibre cable were tangled and they'd told us our fibre would be down for a bit while they sorted it - this has been known about for weeks. So once that was sorted our neighbours were able to reconnect to their broadband happily, seemingly as they are not with Vodafone. Nearly 24 hours later we are still unable to connect.

Our router had the same issue as last month were it could not get an external IP, despite any number of attempts at rebooting the router, the Fibre box, leaving them off for half an hour etc.

Last time this occurred (mid January in the storms) it was due to the storms so when we did a line test it raised a ticket, we were able to put the router logs on that ticket showing the IP address problem, which must have got to correct tech team and it was resolved in half an hour of putting that update on. (Although it had taken us a while to figure out). They still sent an Openreach engineer round the next day despite it working, because there was an Openreach call for the repair work that they did yesterday.! Anyway, he just admired our working connection, shook his head and advised about the upcoming repair work. 

Back to our current situation, Vodafone will not even log a ticket as there is an open Openreach call which will auto close tomorrow. Let alone of course investigate, despite sending the router logs showing the problem and that the router is connected 1000mbps Full Duplex etc. So I can't even shove the info on a Ticket for the tech guys to pick up.

I know it's not an unheard of issue having searched the forum on the previous occassion.

Please can anyone assist? - Further info below. 
Many thanks,
Remote and disconnected of Scotland!

Light on router is flashing two red flashes, pause.
Lights on Openreach box fine (one was red during yeserdays outage).
Router interface stages Fiber is UP, Full Duplex, 1000mbps.

The bits of log I believe are pertinent:
10.02.2024 04:56:51 system Info PROT_TRACE: Nb of retries 150
10.02.2024 04:56:51 system Critical CONNECTION: Failed to create socket.
10.02.2024 04:56:51 system Error SOCK_TRACE: cwmp_createClientSocket - no ip to bind to on interface wan - fail
10.02.2024 04:56:51 system Error UBUS_CLIENT: Failed to retrieve external IP address
10.02.2024 04:56:51 wan Notice Interface 'wan' is setting up now
10.02.2024 04:56:51 wan Notice Interface 'wan' is enabled
10.02.2024 04:56:51 wan Notice Interface 'wan' is disabled
10.02.2024 04:56:51 system Info CONNECTION: Connecting to server retry 149.
10.02.2024 04:56:51 system Info PROT_TRACE: Events are waiting

[Ripshod]

Try a router reset by holding in the recessed "Reset" button for a good ten seconds. Wait 10 minutes and rest. 

[Pyewacket]

Thanks for reply, sadly it's not helped. 

[Sandv]

I have the same situation with CityFibre since Tuesday. The 4 lights on the ONT are green, the internet light on the router is blinking red. Resetting router, ONT, hasn't helped. Event logs show the same errors.

Vodafone support asked me to do the usual troubleshooting and, based on the results, they opened a case with CityFibre. Engineer came after a few hours and verified the signal intensity, even used his regular ethernet cable and no luck.

He said that, considering the 4 lights are green and the signal is great, it can't be an infrastructure issue and it can't be a cable issue either since he uses that ethernet cable on a regular basis. That leaves only the router to blame so he advised requesting a new one.

I'm really tempted to try with a TP link router that other people use meanwhile, I have nothing to lose and a lot to gain since I work from home.

[Jayach]

I doubt it's the router, was it working previously?

[Sandv]

That's tricky, it always worked with the FTTC package, it has never worked with full fibre. If a new router doesn't fix it I think the problem might become a hot potato between Vodafone and CityFibre.

[Jayach]

Try factory resetting the router, make sure you have the ethernet cable connected to the WAN socket and the ONT.

I suggest resetting from the router's firmware. 

Don't power the router on without the WAN cable connected, it seems to default to the DSL connection if you do.

If that doesn't fix it, it's probably not provisioned correctly at Vodafone's end.

[Sandv]

I did, I also used the reset on the back as part of the steps requested during the call and provided the router S/N. If it's not provisioned correctly, neither first line nor second line support noticed, but I have no way to know.

[Sandv]

Got new router from Vodafone today, third in total. Nothing has changed, blinking red from the start and the usual:
system Critical CONNECTION: Failed to create socket.

[Sandv]

I have a tried a different router, same thing, don't know what to do at this point.