New FTTP install - No service for 9 days and counting

Hi all,

Long story (hopefully) short, my parents ordered the FTTP 100Mbps package based on my recommendation because it's both faster and cheaper than the (NowTV) VDSL package they were on. Unfortunately ever since the Openreach engineer finished the physical install 9 days ago they've had no Internet and no phone. The ONT appears fine and has all the same lights lit up as my working one, but the router simply flashes red indefinitely

I live 200 miles away so haven't been able to do much myself, but the Openreach engineer has been an absolute gem and spent multiple hours out of his own time over multiple days trying to get them connected to no avail. They've been into their local Vodafone shop, in which the manager spent a couple of hours on the phone to support but ultimately never called back with an update, and I've badgered them myself via Twitter and live chat. All that ever seems to happen in every case is that the L1 support person will insist that they've found the issue at their end, and if we just wait for 2-24 hours before rebooting the router then all will be good. Of course it doesn't work, but by that time we're back to square one going through the same support script over and over again.

I'm going down there on Friday myself - a forced day off when I really can't afford to take one, and a 400 mile round trip - armed with a laptop, some ethernet cable and a couple of spare routers, hopefully to get to the bottom of it once and for all. Hence my question to you all is: Is there anything I should know going in?

Is there an admin page for the Vodafone router for me to check the settings? (My gut feeling is that they've supplied it with a generic DSL config).

Is there anything specific that I can mention to support that might kick them into gear?

And what kind of settings should I be applying to my spare routers to try and get a connection with those?


Much thanks for any pre-emptive assistance!

Is there anything specific that I can mention to support that might kick them into gear?

Tell them the automatic compensation payments are currently at £52.50 and ratcheting up by the day…

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Is there anything specific that I can mention to support that might kick them into gear?

Tell them the automatic compensation payments are currently at £52.50 and ratcheting up by the day…

It always works with Virgin, even if they never pay up!!!!

Thanks for the link. I think it's actually more like £157.50 at this point because they were supposed to install on the 5th. They delayed it by two days (so mum had to cancel her birthday day out), and then an engineer showed up briefly, grumbled about needing a cherry picker to get up the telegraph pole, and then just vanished off the face of the Earth! It was another two weeks wait for another engineer appeared to actually finish the job. I said it was a long story!

Though regardless of any automatic compensation, when this is all taken care of I fully plan to put in a formal complaint to get my own fuel and other expenses back.

If the lights are on okay on the ONT then physically all appears fine.

Is the router a new router from Vodafone? Assuming it is, you should be able to log in to the router and see the status and find out why it isn't connecting to Vodafone. It is very likely trying to log in but failing to connect. I've had this before with another ISP where the log in wouldn't work and the ISP needed to re-setup the account again, then it started working.

Things to check. Make sure you try a different Ethernet cable and make sure they are plugged in correctly and in the right port on the router. Trying other routers might be helpful, do you have the Vodafone PPP credentials? Other than that, not much else you can do really and it is either a faulty router or a setup issue at Vodafone.

I've been through similar issues with my parents during lockdown, trying to sort something out on the phone is a nightmare especially when the parents are not technical. Good luck.

In reply to a post by Noiz:

I'm going down there on Friday myself - a forced day off when I really can't afford to take one, and a 400 mile round trip -

If there is good 4G signal at your parents, phone tethering for internet connection and a remote access tool such as Teamviewer may save you a long trip. You can take control of their computer and have direct access to the router for setup and diagnostics.

Amjad.

Yeah it's a new router, fresh out of the box. On the one hand I hope it's something super simple like this, whereas on the other hand driving 400 miles for a 5 minute fix that Vodafone themselves couldn't fix in 10 days would be a real kick in the teeth!

I don't have the PPP credentials. I did Google it yesterday and it looks like the username is fairly simple and based on the phone number, possibly with no password? But then there was mention of needing a VLAN ID, which might vary depending on region? I'll probably need to call them up.

Have you double checked the Ethernet cable from the ONT is connected into the WAN port of the router, this is the Blue port. It will fit into the other ports for LAN of course as they are the same connectors, but will not work. Do not assume the BT engineer checked this.

I find it helpful to believe nothing you are told on the phone (when helping remote parents!). If possible get them to take a picture of everything plugged in from the back of the router and a picture of the ONT and send it to you as you may spot the issue immediately. An Ethernet cable fresh out the box is unlikely to be faulty, not impossible, but unlikely. Double check they haven't plugged the router into the master socket as it was with their previous ISP.

VLAN IDs shouldn't be needed for FTTP. Good luck.

Vodafone VLAN ID on openreach is 101, not that that matters as you can't access these settings from any gui - automatic provisioning and all that. As this router is remote to you all I can suggest is getting your folks to reset the router by holding in the recessed reset button next to the power button for 15 seconds and see what happens. After this reset it should take less than 15 minutes for the router to connect to the provisioning server and be programmed up with the correct PPPoE login.

Edited by Ripshod (Thu 05-May-22 20:13:35)

I'd second trying a full reset on the router to try and make it get re-provisioned.

If you're trying another router you can get the PPPoE credentials from Voda webchat/customer service - I'm guessing a Voda router may be needed at least once to get the creds into the provisioning server/billing/support systems.