DHCP Lease issues - External IP

[crod]

All,

I use the 3000 modem and have been using it for ages. Always working fine with my Ubiquiti hardware (USG-Pro-4) firewall (PPPoE username/password used on the USG). Sure, the external IP would change every once in a while, like every couple months. No big deal and expected, as home users do not even get the option to pay for a fixed IP.

Issue is, in the past 10-15 days, the external IP has been changing multiple times a DAY. And as expected, every time it does, the connection to the internet drops. Maybe not an issue if between 1:00am and 6:00am but a massive problem when happening during business hours while I am working, in Zoom/Teams calls and so on.

Called Bell twice and the first time level 2 support got involved and told me they disabled something to avoid that. Did not really do much so I called again yesterday. The first level guy had ZERO clue what I was talking about, asking about the DHCP lease timeout. Had to go to second level support and the guy there told me this is the way it works, it may be seeing the PPPoE username/password used on multiple devices (the Bell modem 3000 and my USG), etc. In other words, excuses and no real fix as just today the IP already changed twice.

Is anyone seeing this? Could this be a problem with my particular modem? Anything you guys can think of?

Cheers!

CR

[Vanadiel · Accepted solution]

Since you have a 3000, I would just pull the GPON out of the 3000 and put it directly into the USG. You will need to deal with PPPOE and VLAN on WAN, but that way the HH3000 is completely removed from the picture.

I don't know if the USG allows you to configure the SFP port as WAN. It might only allow LAN as uplink.

[crod]

First of all thanks for the quick reply! Not sure about all the terminology but I am assuming you mean removing the fiber connector that is going into the Bell 3000 and connecting it directly to the USG, on the SFP port. Is that the case? I believe it does allow you to have one of the SFP ports as WAN so that should work. Now, what about the TV service? Will that go down? I heard something about specific VLANs are expected for the TV stuff, SSID, etc. Is that the case? Thanks a lot for the insight so far!

[Vanadiel]

VLAN 35 for internet, VLAN 34 I believe for TV services. These are VLAN's on the WAN, not LAN.

You will also be limited to 1/1 if you use those SFP ports as they cannot sync at 2.5. you might have to force them at 1/1.

[crod · Accepted solution]

For the record, I did get this working. The 3000 Hub is gone. I simply removed the fiber/adapter from the 3000 and put directly on the USG Pro 4. Only thing needed was, as mentioned, for the WAN port, to set the VLAN ID to 35 (and of course make sure the checkbox is CHECKED). Once that was done and the SFP moved to the USG I rebooted it and got internet working immediately. 

Now for people that want the TV service, then you will need a SWITCH first, with the fibre/SFP that you remove from the Hub 3000 going to an SFP port on the switch and then connect the Bell TV receivers to ports on the switch that must be on a VLAN (34, tagged). The port going to the USG/Router then must be VLAN 35, tagged (on the SWITCH). I have not tested that as I do not care about the TV service, as I am using Smart TVs with the Bell app installed on the TVs and that works perfectly on all TVs. Yes, I do lose the recording functionality but to be honest I have NEVER recorded anything so no, not a big deal for me at all.