Remote DSL Stats - HG612

What's the best way of viewing DSL stats from a HG612 remotely?

Currently have it acting as a modem connected to my router via PPPOE.

Running a second cable to the router would be a PITA as it runs under the floor and the HG612 is in another room.

A 100Mbps ethernet connection only needs two pairs so you can wire 2 RJ45 connectors to each end of the cable giving you 2 connections to the modem ports down a single 4 pair cable. I can confirm that this does work. Obviously you will need RJ45 connectors and crimp tool.

I didn't think about that!

You can get splitters on ebay which do the same job so no requirements for tools.

Thanks Banger, I think that's the best idea.

There's no need for a separate cable. I've an HG612 connected to an Asus router set up for PPPoE and can access the HG612 via it's IP address over the single ethernet connection. There's quite few howtos around on how to do this but shout if you can't find them and I'll dig out the config (may take a few days as will be away from the property until the w/e).

The only possible gotcha is if you want to access the modem from other devices than the router as you may need to set up a static route for the HG612's address on the router.

I'll see if I can find how to do it.

How do you mean other than the router? External devices?

I just want to check the stats using a laptop on my LAN without sitting in the hall with an ethernet cable plugged into port 2 on the HG612 ha

What's the best was of monitoring one 24/7? DSLStats on a raspberry pi?

Install your router next to the modem, then use the single Ethernet cable as a link to a small switch where the router currently is.

The HG612 is wall mounted above the master socket in the hall. There's no space for a router to go there.

A cat6 runs under the floor to the cabinet TV where my router is and all other ethernet devices. I'd either need to use the Cat6 as a DSL extension cable or run a new DSL cable.

A lot of effort really.

The hallway is a lot cooler than the lounge too, ideal for the HG612 with it's notorious overheating issues.

Edited by wolvesmad (Wed 15-Apr-20 12:18:56)

Since you've gone to the extent of unlocking the HG612, a few more commands and you can access stats over the same cable with no butchering required: https://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,14621.0.html

Just a few words of note:
- while the HG612 does have a DHCP server, I've never got it to work. So just set the DMZ interface you use to static with 192.168.1.100/24.
- The router behind the HG612 needs to be able to assign an interface independently. The PPPoE connection is usually a virtual interface like pppoe0 which is bound to your WAN. The underlying Ethernet interface (e.g. eth0) can then be bound separately with 192.168.1.100/254 and you can then get free access to 192.168.1.1 of the HG612.

I tried and failed. I found a thread on another well known broadband message board on how to do it but got stuck.

Firstly I changed the 612's IP to 192.168.2.1 as my DD-WRT router is 1.1

Changed the HG612 to PPPOE_Bridged and removed the LAN port requirement from LAN1.

I then tried to add a static route in DD-WRT and that's where it went all wrong. I lost PPPOE completely somehow.

Did you mean 2.1? 2.1 and 1.1 would be in different subnets normally.

Yeah the guide I read said to stick the HG612 in it's own subnet and then setup a static route on the router.

You don't need a static route as all routes are on the router anyway and it doesn't need to know of a route on another router. However each router is different and DD-WRT seems to require some iptables mangling according to this wiki.

I also found that DHCP doesn't work with the HG612 properly, and you need to set up a static IP to the interface.

I'm confused now.

So I don't need to put the HG612 in it's own subnet?

I didn't when I was monitoring mine.

In normal use the HG612 does not have any user visible IP addresses. It's as transparent PPPoA to PPPoE modem.

When using the second ethernet port on the HG612 for monitoring I simply gave it an unused IP address on my LAN and connected it to my LAN. No need for routing or anything else.

I know that bit, I want to access the stats through the LAN1 cable. Not run a second cable from LAN2.

It's best to have the HG612 on a separate network from the internal network as the router will otherwise get very confused routing-wise ie

HG612------<LAN1>--------Router-------<LAN2>------internal devices

Here I've got the HG612 as static 192.168.1.1, the WAN interface on the router as 192.168.1.3

The router's LAN interface is set up as 192.168.100.1, and DHCP serves addresses to the 192.168.100.0/24 range.

Like you I've got the HG612 and the router some distance apart - in my case through Powerline adaptors.

If you need more info on how I've got the HG612 setup shout and I'll forward some screenshots.

This is how I did it:

https://support.aa.net.uk/Router_-_EchoLife_HG612