Sky Fibre, HG612 and Draytek 2820

Apologies if I am covering old ground, but after a day of searching the internet I can't find a clear answer for what I want to do. However I know it is possible as I have read posts saying it is.

At the moment I have a Sky Router pushing everything into a DMZ which is picked up by wan2 on my 2820. This works in the main, but causes a few issues.

I have bought a secondhand HG612, and flashed it yesterday with the unlocked firmed. I contacted Draytek and obtained the MER beta firmware for my 2820.

At this point I flashed the 2820 and got it all working with the Sky Router. I then swapped out the Sky router for the HG612, and followed the instructions for entering my username & password (I tried using my old ADSL details as I already had them extracted xxxxxxxxx@skydsl - this worked fine when I was on Sky LLU).

The HG612 seemed to show a DSL light, but the 2820 never connected to/through it I then tried the [email protected]/install combination but that didn't seemed to work.

Is there something I need to configure in the HG612 to make it pass through to the 2820 so that the 2820 performs the authentication? I haven't as yet checked any logs, as I needed to get back online, so I just went back to the SkyRouter and re-enabled my old 2820 DMZ style configuration.

Draytek basically said:
Enabled WAN2, selected PPOE, enter username & password, disable, reboot.
Enable Dynamic/Static, reboot

Thanks

I think its back to Draytek to see if they have this combo working and what settings they used.

Sky are the only ones using MER on their FTTC.

The Sky Hub should also support a port as an Ethernet device with the HG612 rather than connecting direct to the VDSL, though fiddling with that config might break your one working device.

Am I right in thinking that I don't need to touch the HG612 configuration? Just plug LAN1 from it into the the WAN port on the 2820, and then all the configuration tweaks should be done in the 2820.....? In the meantime I have replied to Draytek support asking if they have tried out this particular combination.

Thanks.

Correct the HG612 should need no fiddling at all

The MER firmware is pretty much only for Sky (in the UK)

Maybe I need to obtain a new username and password - it might be the ones I had from LLU aren't compatible?

There's really nothing particularly 'clever' (or evil) about Sky 'MER' - What it in essence does is extend an Ethernet segment over ATM (or PTM with FTTC) - in fact that's what BT does over FTTC as well but they then choose to run PPP over it. PPP is not required with Sky, instead you should treat it as a local LAN and use DHCP to request your WAN side IP address. The 'trick' is that Sky require some additional authentication details before they'll hand you one...this is what DHCP Option 60 is all about.

Set your connection type to DHCP (or automatic for some sky compatible routers) and provide the 'xxxxxxx@skydsl|password' username/password combination. The username|password will get added as 'option 60' of the DHCP request and it should all just work.

In reply to a post by kevindb:

There's really nothing particularly 'clever' (or evil) about Sky 'MER' - What it in essence does is extend an Ethernet segment over ATM (or PTM with FTTC) - in fact that's what BT does over FTTC as well but they then choose to run PPP over it.

I agree. I prefer to give it its proper title, "RFC 2684". Aside from the DHCP authentication thing, it's actually identical to what BE used.

Worth noting that if you swap routers on Sky Fibre it can take anything up to half an hour for the new router to connect as the old DHCP lease has to expire before a new IP will be allocated to the connection.

You may be able to get around this by cloning the WAN MAC of the Sky Hub into the Draytek configuration. This worked when I swapped my Sky Hub for a TP-Link router.

Ohhh, good point, I had noticed the IP addresses seemed to be quite sticky. I'll try and clone the MAC into the 2820 as well....

Tried quickly cloning the MAC address from the Sky Router, but that seemed to have little affect Re-created by username/password using the details on my old LLU (Sagem F@ST) router just to make sure they were ok.

Guess that next, I'll have to check the 2820's logs and/or run wireshark on its WAN2 to port see what it really doing....

I've tried the username/password from my old Sky ADSL router on my current router and it works OK so it shouldn't be an issue.

Copy the broadband port mac address from the router itself, Dont plug the ADSLcable in just Wireless or LAN cable for you PC/Laptop but not the Fibre port, As i had to do this for MikroTik RouterOS to work

try this forum
http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-broadband-fibre-h...

Edited by francisuk25 (Tue 15-Apr-14 17:31:30)

I recently got this to work with an HG612 I bought from eBay, and a Draytek 2925 (ethernet only router).

Set up the HK612:
* Replace the firmware on the HG612 (http://huaweihg612hacking.wordpress.com/)
* Plug it in - it will get a DSL connection without having to change ANY settings
* Log in to the web-interface (through LAN2, read about this on the website above) and disable the VLAN-tag-insertion on the WAN interface.

Connect the Draytek:
* Configure the WAN interface on your Draytek to be "Static or Dynamic IP":
- "Obtain an IP address automatically" should be selected.
- "DHCP Client Identifier for some ISP" should be enabled, and configured with the Sky login details you sniffed from your SkyHub using Wireshark.
- You can leave the default MAC address (mine worked without having to take the MAC from the SkyHub).


It CAN take a while for the initial connection to occur, but once connected your Draytek should pick up your external IP and you will be free of the SkyHub.

In reply to a post by chrusty:

disable the VLAN-tag-insertion on the WAN interface.

Can you be a bit more specific please?

Well on my firmware it just works out of the box - VLAN tagging is disabled on the LAN interfaces of the HG612 (which is the WAN side of the Draytek).

If you go through the steps listed here: http://huaweihg612hacking.files.wordpress.com/2011/1... then you should end up with an unlocked HG612 which you can just plug in and will get a connection on your Sky Fibre line.

The Draytek side is a bit more fiddly - you need to get the username and password out of your SkyHub router (check this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvmn3xI77Os). You need to configure the WAN interface of your draytek to use these details.

Sorry, I meant specifically what did you mean by "disable the VLAN-tag-insertion on the WAN interface" - do you mean the tickboxes for LAN 802.1q and LAN 802.1p ?

Edited by deleted (Sun 27-Apr-14 10:30:07)

Yes.

Cheers

Just tried this again (kind of got disheartened & bored previously). Still no go

I'll post up some pictures later of my settings to see if anyone can spot what errors I have made.

Still really struggling with this
Logged into HG612, and did a reset with factory settings. It boots up and comes up suggesting all is good.

Logged into the 2820 and did the necessary changes (or at least so I believed), but it still refuses to connect Any ideas? Screenshots of configuration below.

http://www.matthewames.co.uk/tmp/index.php?loc=./sky...

Just to confirm, I have HG612-LAN1 plugged into 2820-WAN, and HG612-LAN2 plugged into my laptop (for the screenshots). I have even re-wiresharked the SR102 to ensure I had the correct usename/password for that.

I forgot to grab the status screen of the 2820, but basically is shows that the 2820 is never getting its WAN IP address (IP & gateway remain blank), but line, mode & uptime all look ok (suggesting the physical cable link is fine, which is is as it works with the SR102)

Thanks,
Matt

Edited by mbames (Fri 04-Jul-14 15:47:04)

Try cloning the WAN interface MAC address of the SR102 onto the WAN interface of the 2820

Tried that too, and waited a good 30 minutes or so. Snag was I was meant to be working from home, so had to give up and get back to work

Did you try following these instructions to the letter?

In reference to www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-broadband-fibre-help/50062-draytek-2820...:

You got there (as the username and password fields are shared) but the README that I was given says:

The firmware will send Option 61 in any WAN DHCP request using the username and password that's been set in the
PPPoE menu. Option 61 is sent in hex based in the form username|password

1. Set the WAN (either WAN1 or WAN2 depending on which WAN is being useD) to PPPoE
2. Enter the Sky username and password in the PPPoE screen
3. Save the settings reboot the router.
4. Change the WAN mode to "MPoA" (WAN1) or "Static or Dynamic IP" (WAN2). Even though PPPoE has been disabled the username
settings are still saved.
5. The Router will now send "username|password" as option 61 in any DHCP request. The string is coverted automatically
into hex.

In reply to a post by mbames:

I forgot to grab the status screen of the 2820, but basically is shows that the 2820 is never getting its WAN IP address (IP & gateway remain blank), but line, mode & uptime all look ok (suggesting the physical cable link is fine, which is is as it works with the SR102)

Which means DHCP is failing as you're not correctly sending the username / password. Have you wiresharked what your 2820 is sending yet?

Mr Saffron's suggestion was an early idea for Sky ADSL but has been shown to make no difference.

Note the 2820 is a bit old and may limit your speeds if you're getting faster than 40 megabit download.

Edited by jchamier (Fri 04-Jul-14 19:42:26)

Instructions followed to the letter. Just checked, and I had a trailing space at the end of my username section, so I removed that, and tried again. Still no sucess, will do a wireshark on the 2820 tomorrow and post the results.

Thanks for your support so far guys.

Did you try setting the MTU value to 1478?

In reply to a post by Nighty1973:

Worth noting that if you swap routers on Sky Fibre it can take anything up to half an hour for the new router to connect as the old DHCP lease has to expire before a new IP will be allocated to the connection.

You may be able to get around this by cloning the WAN MAC of the Sky Hub into the Draytek configuration. This worked when I swapped my Sky Hub for a TP-Link router.

I just want to add in my experience to this. 30 minutes is VERY conservative I've often waited over 2 hours.

In reply to a post by mbames:

Tried that too, and waited a good 30 minutes or so. Snag was I was meant to be working from home, so had to give up and get back to work

30 minutes probably isn't going to be enough. I've often waited well over 2 hours!!!

I have never tried with a draytek but I did do it on a netgear dual band router using DDWRT firmware. I left the modem as it was and just changed a few settings in DDWRT. Worked a treat.

The main point is to clone the MAC of the Sky Hub and then I literally had no wait. So no 30 minutes or 2 hours it's instant as it thinks it's the Sky Hub.

It's not really that Sky have made it 'difficult on purpose' to use your own router, I doubt that was their intention. It's more of they're using a setup which most router manufacturers haven't adapted to...

I'm not sure if the settings will be similar, but for the netgear router I had with DDWRT these settings worked fine
http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-broadband-fibre-h...

Perhaps you will see a setting that's similar on your router which doesn't match up. So this may or may not help

Edited by ukhardy07 (Sat 05-Jul-14 02:33:13)

EDIT: they got it working on Sky user
http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-broadband-fibre-h...

FIrstly get your username and password from here

http://www.ph-mb.com/products/sky-calc

This is direct from the forum... It works I have checked with a friend who has a 2820 and apparently it worked.

"With the Openreach modem connected to WAN2:

1) Upgrade to firmware 3.3.7.2_RC3a
2) Reset router to factory defaults
3) Under WAN > General Setup, disable WAN1 and make sure WAN2 is enabled
4) Under WAN > Internet Access > WAN2 > Static or Dynamic IP, enable this mode, use "Obtain an IP address automatically" and specify the Router Name as your sky username and password in the following format: aabbccddeeff@skydsl|password
5) Set the MTU value to 1478 (this is what my Sky router was set to)
6) Apply the settings and reboot"

You may be waiting a few minutes for it to connect.
I would personally try cloning the original router MAC if it takes over a couple of hours (I've waited that long before).

I did a wireshark and the 2820 seemed to be making a DHCP request with totally the wrong username & password (nothing even remotely close to what was entered in the PPoE tab). One of the most recent posts here suggested entering in the router name section (under the Static/Dynamic tab) rather than in the PPoE tab.

So I cleared the PPoE tab, entered in the routername: xxxxxx@skydsl|password changed the MTU (not sure if that would affect DHCP request though?), rebooted, no IP address. I then went out and came back about 2 hours later and I was really surprised to see that it had connected, so maybe there was a sticky MAC address too.

Only oddity now is that when I do a tracert the 1st hop now shows my the @skysdl as obviously that has been entered into the router name field.

As it is all working, I think I'll leave well alone now! Thanks everyone for your continued support & help.

One final question, can I run the HG612 from a PoE kit?

Just over an hour should be long enough because the lease time is 60 minutes.