BT broadband help

Product Discussion Pepwave AP & Surf
1

I have just purchased a SurfSOHO and I am having a basic config problem connecting to BT broadband. The service is ADSL and I’m using a D-Link modem (DSL-320B) set to bridge mode to connect the SurfSOHO.

BT is PPPoA VCMUX.

The SurfSOHO doesn’t appear to support this. The WAN convection set to PPPoE just hangs trying to connect.

Any suggestions what I can do?

I’ve have Netgear, ASU’s and Billion routers that have worked fine with the D-Link

Peter

2

Yup PPPoA is Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM - ATM being the BT network. Your modem needs to support that. It then bridges PPPoA to PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet) which is what the Peplink devices support. So you use PPPoE on the Peplink with the BT username and password on the SOHO ethernet WAN where the modem is connected and everything should come right.

2 Likes
3

Martin

Thanks for your response. There were two problems, now fixed.

The D-Link has pre-loaded BT defaults that aren’t up to date. The Bridge connection type was wrong. I changed it to 1483 Bridges LLC and it worked.

The second problem as that BT said a user name and password was no longer needed. It is needed on both the D-Link and SOHO.

I’m now trying to set up a remote TP-Link AP wired back to the SOHO. I’ve tried adding it to a Guest VLAN (which work fine using the SOHO own onboard AP) but no internet access. The AP is plugged into a dedicated port (2) on the SOHO. Any suggestions?

Many thanks

Peter

4

Good work!

Plug a laptop into the same port you have the TP-LINK AP plugged into and make sure you get internet access. If not, check the IP, gateway and DNS servers you get assigned when connected to that port.

Or when connected to the TP-LINK AP over wifi, check the IP address you get assigned, then try and ping google DNS servers 8.8.8.8 and bbc website www.bbc.co.uk.

Normally connectivity issues are IP address related (DHCP isn’t enabled or gateway is incorrect) or DNS related (so you’ll be able to ping 8.8.8.8 but not www.bbc.co.uk).

5

Thanks Martin

Ill give that a try

Peter

1 Like
6

Martin

Thanks for your help.

It seems that for some reason the TP Link AP when connected to the SOHO takes a long time (3-5 minutes) to establish a route to the internet. This happens on both the VLAN and main LAN. I’m not sure why.

There is also showing another wired device attached to the VLAN (MAC 90:03:B7:F9:68:AA) which is showing up as Parrot SA. This is odd because the SOHO ethernet port I’m using for testing only has the TP Link device plugged in. Does your hardware us Parrot components? Is there any simple way I can deny access to this MAC address. I don’t have any Parrot hardware.

Many thanks

Peter

7

If you go to the status page of the Soho you’ll see a list of all the Peplink MAC addresses so you can double check. Parrot make WiFi chipsets - seen in cars normally. Do you happen to have a wifi enabled car or a hands free phone kit?

The YP link taking a long time is interesting. Does it take as long if you unplug it once you have proven internet access and then plug it back in again? Wondering if its DHCP lease time related.

1 Like
8

Martin

I have a car with internet access but the Parrot is showing up as a wired connection. The only other wired device on eth SOHO port is the TP-Link AP.

Ill check re the DHCP release time.

Thanks again.

I haven’t experienced help like this before.

Peter

9

Assuming your TP-LINK is in bridge mode (bridging wifi to ethernet), then the SOHO would see wifi devices connected via the TP-LINK as a wired connection.

1 Like
10

Martin

I can’t get to the basis of the Parrot issue. Later today I’m going to unplug everything and see what happens with just my PC attached by cable.

Re the internet access, when a new device Wi-Fi or cable is connected it takes between 1-3 minutes to show on the Client list.

New wireless devices can’t access the internet immediately it takes a few minutes to establish Internet access but they can immediately see devices on the LAN.

If the device (Wi-Fi or cable) isn’t used for 5-10 minutes the Client list shows them as inactive but when they try to connected to a device on the LAN or Internet there is an initial delay of about 30 seconds -1 minute. Some devices tolerate this others time out.

DHCP is set to renew daily.

Once reestablished the performance is excellent.

All the best

Peter

11

Thanks Martin

That explains the issue. The TP link AP is in the garage and its picking up our cars.

Peter