Zzoomm - Issues since June 30th

Hi,

Had Zzoomm for 13 months - used with Draytek 2866ax router (never used their Icotera). Never had a single issue, until...

they apparently did some work on the 29th/30th and now the Draytek will only stay connected to the WAN for either 20,000 or 30,000 seconds (very round numbers don't you think...)

After that time I have to force the line to drop by doing any of:-
1 - Reboot router
2 - Reboot ONT
3 - Remove cable betweeen router and ONT for approx 10seconds
4 - Perform Release / Renew in Draytek console

I have a ticket open with them but they are just going all-in on the 'use our (totally incapable) router'.

I'm looking for anybody else with the same issue so that we can compare notes, etc.

Thanks

So what happens if you do test with their router??

In reply to a post by ianfretwell:

I have a ticket open with them but they are just going all-in on the 'use our (totally incapable) router'.

Well, humour them. It is the missing data point. If the problem persists, you can expect action from them. And if it doesn't, then there is more digging to be done.

OK - their router has been in place for approx 10 hours and so far hasn't gone down.


Hence my 'cry for help'...

If I go back to them with that info I expect it'll be game-over and they'll close the call - job done...


Happy to do any tests anybody wants to suggest at this point - problem is obviously that it's a 5+ hour wait between each test.

Does Zzoomm do any authentication (PPPOE) or is it simply DHCP?

In reply to a post by ianfretwell:

After that time I have to force the line to drop by doing any of:-
1 - Reboot router
2 - Reboot ONT
3 - Remove cable betweeen router and ONT for approx 10seconds
4 - Perform Release / Renew in Draytek console

OK, with the new info, it looks like your router is not doing whatever is necessary to refresh the connection, but in terms of the router software, any of the actions above provides the required event for the router to do the necessary.

In this situation, I would try another spare router, not from the ISP and not a Draytek, in the expectation that the problem will not reproduce, in which case, it is investigate the router and perhaps off to Draytek Tech Support. PCJM40's question is still very much in play.

Edited by DFScale (Fri 04-Jul-25 19:35:18)

It's a DHCP assignment of a static address for myself.

However I also tried setting the Draytek as if I had to set the address locally on that device. This worked and the connection came up - but failed again at approx. the 20,000 second mark.

Until seeing that I had been working on the assumption that it was a DHCP issue where Zzoomm's end wasn't responding to renewal attempts coming from my actual address and only when that address appeared as 0.0.0.0 (as happens after pulling the plug).

I rightly or wrong though that by setting the address at my end I would have taken DHCP out of the loop - but maybe not?

Have you tried a full reset of the router as this does sound like a problem at your end

Just in case this helps:-

Syslog on the router shows that right up until 15:17 on the 30th June these 5 lines appear every 16 or 17 minutes (essentially the DHCP checking the address - 5th line being the confirmation from Zzoomm DHCP I believe)

111.222.333.444 Is not my real IP !

<166>Jun    30    15:17:29    DrayTek:    "1449bc3b1110:WAN2 DHCP ==>XID = 0x3cd5375f, Client IP = 111.222.333.444, Your IP = 0.0.0.0, Next server IP = 0.0.0.0, Relay agent IP = 0.0.0.0, Option:"
<166>Jun    30    15:17:33    DrayTek:    "1449bc3b1110:WAN2 DHCP ==>XID = 0x3cd5375f, Client IP = 111.222.333.444, Your IP = 0.0.0.0, Next server IP = 0.0.0.0, Relay agent IP = 0.0.0.0, Option:"
<166>Jun    30    15:17:41    DrayTek:    "1449bc3b1110:WAN2 DHCP ==>XID = 0x3cd5375f, Client IP = 111.222.333.444, Your IP = 0.0.0.0, Next server IP = 0.0.0.0, Relay agent IP = 0.0.0.0, Option:"
<166>Jun    30    15:17:57    DrayTek:    "1449bc3b1110:WAN2 DHCP ==>XID = 0x3cd5375f, Client IP = 111.222.333.444, Your IP = 0.0.0.0, Next server IP = 0.0.0.0, Relay agent IP = 0.0.0.0, Option:"
<166>Jun    30    15:17:57    DrayTek:    "1449bc3b1110:WAN2 DHCP <==XID = 0x3cd5375f, Client IP = 111.222.333.444, Your IP = 111.222.333.444, Next server IP = 0.0.0.0, Relay agent IP = 0.0.0.0, Option:"


After this time, and coinciding with the date Zzoomm completed some 'change', it seems to go haywire - they only appear as single lines and then and much greater intervals (I'm assuming because the Zzoomm DHCP isn't responding the same way - these are the next four "WAN2 DHCP" entries. I'm pretty sure the fourth was after the ONT was powered off/on hence the client IP being 0.0.0.0 (this seems to be the key as it is only when it's 0.0.0.0 that the Zzoom end assigns the static IP to me).


<166>Jun    30    15:48:05    DrayTek:    "1449bc3b1110:WAN2 DHCP ==>XID = 0x3cd5375f, Client IP = 111.222.333.444, Your IP = 0.0.0.0, Next server IP = 0.0.0.0, Relay agent IP = 0.0.0.0, Option:"

<166>Jun    30    21:29:36    DrayTek:    "1449bc3b1110:WAN2 DHCP ==>XID = 0x3cd52d6c, Client IP = 111.222.333.444, Your IP = 0.0.0.0, Next server IP = 0.0.0.0, Relay agent IP = 0.0.0.0, Option:"

<166>Jul    1     03:28:07    DrayTek:    "1449bc3b1110:WAN2 DHCP ==>XID = 0x3cd52aa8, Client IP = 111.222.333.444, Your IP = 0.0.0.0, Next server IP = 0.0.0.0, Relay agent IP = 0.0.0.0, Option:"

<166>Jul    1     08:35:13    DrayTek:    "1449bc3b1110:WAN2 DHCP ==>XID = 0x3cd51848, Client IP = 0.0.0.0, Your IP = 0.0.0.0, Next server IP = 0.0.0.0, Relay agent IP = 0.0.0.0, Option:"

16 to 17 minutes sounds very like 1000 seconds...

And then the chnage to 20,000 or 30,000 seconds before drops seems like they changed something about their lease times.

I can do a factory reset - but don't the numbers above seem highly suspect ?

In reply to a post by ianfretwell:

I can do a factory reset - but don't the numbers above seem highly suspect ?

The problem is you may be right but Zzoomm are not going to budge on their position and you know it works with their provided router so that only leaves you with trying everything you can with your kit. If you don't want to try it then best wait and see if people in the same position as you come forward and start complaining but it may be a UK region specific problem.

Edited by PCJM40 (Fri 04-Jul-25 11:15:32)

Thanks - and you're right.

This post was to see if anybody else could confirm similar - so I'm happy to wait a little longer. I've also emailed Draytek with the details to see if they will suggest anything - so far nothing from them though.

The Zzoomm support desk 'kind of' said that they'd had other Draytek users reporting similar issues but wouldn't expand upon that and wouldn't give any details of what the 'change' they'd made was.

I only have the two routers available to me at the moment - and anything else I could beg or borrow would ironically be more Icotera's from Zzoomm or Draytek's from work...

There is one very vocal Zzoomm customer (in Hereford) on here with their own TP-Link router and if they were having an issue like you I strongly suspect they would be posting about it.

Lol!

OK, so I've just checked the syslog entries created since putting the Draytek back online at 10:32.


The 5 repeating lines referring to "WAN2 DHCP -->" are now back and occurring at 1000 second intervals again - so maybe they've found something or maybe rolled back the change. Fingers crossed.

Next expected drop would have been at 16:05 - I'll see how it goes...

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

There is one very vocal Zzoomm customer (in Hereford) on here with their own TP-Link router and if they were having an issue like you I strongly suspect they would be posting about it.

No problem here and have not been any problem for nearly 2 years, the TP link is fine. Just do a reboot now and again to clear the router memory,

Zzoomm prefers people to use their router, I suppose it is easier to sort out problems. if you use your own, then you are on your own, so to speak.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Zzoomm prefers people to use their router, I suppose it is easier to sort out problems. if you use your own, then you are on your own, so to speak.

Unless you use a specialist ISP such as AAISP then all the providers will only support their own router. These companies are not the size of Apple, or HP where they would buy EVERY printer available in a country and test with them all to train helpdesk.

These ISPs have limited margins, so to control helpdesk costs they have no choice but to only support use of their router.

Having trained helpdesks I can see exactly why they do this.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

No problem here

Thanks Adrian for confirming

In reply to a post by ianfretwell:

Hi,

Had Zzoomm for 13 months - used with Draytek 2866ax router (never used their Icotera). Never had a single issue, until...

they apparently did some work on the 29th/30th and now the Draytek will only stay connected to the WAN for either 20,000 or 30,000 seconds (very round numbers don't you think...)

After that time I have to force the line to drop by doing any of:-
1 - Reboot router
2 - Reboot ONT
3 - Remove cable betweeen router and ONT for approx 10seconds
4 - Perform Release / Renew in Draytek console

I have a ticket open with them but they are just going all-in on the 'use our (totally incapable) router'.

I'm looking for anybody else with the same issue so that we can compare notes, etc.

Thanks

As suggested, replace the problematic Draytek router with another, if at all possible, to confirm of the issue travels with the router. Or not.

I suspect the issue is within the Draytek router rather than service, given no wider complaints have been observed.

Thanks for all the comments.

So - as stated previously - everything appears to have gone back to normal with regards the syslog entries - and so far no drop.

As far as I'm concerned - they've rolled back the change or implemented a fix, but no actual contact from them so I'll just see how it goes over the weekend.