Pppoe passthrough is now broken on Open BSD router

[doverosx]

I’m in Barrhaven on Bell Fibe and it’s been great, using pppoe passthrough (OpenBSD router) with no issues for a while now.

This weekend, I’ve been getting disconnects, crazy high pings and more. Anyone else have problems?

I’ll be *trying* a direct connection to the modem in a bit.

 Using just the modem seems to have resolved the issue so Bell broke something nicely.

[doverosx]

MTU is set during the handshake, if the wrong MTU is being provided the issue is the way passthrough is configured. I was hoping MTU would be it, but I think you’d need to look at route tables…but it’s difficult to troubleshoot a device that breaks network standards.

[Vanadiel]

I currently use a Mikrotik 5009 with routerOS 7.17.

I have used an UDM Pro SE before without any issues also.

I should note I do not use a home hub.

[alexricher]

Hi @dks ,

Thanks for your reply, it's appreciated! Yes, you're right about Bell not troubleshoot my LAN issues. They usually only support their own hardware (modem/router) setup and that's it. I know it by experience as it's sadly not my first issue since they've upgraded my modem to the new Giga Hub about 3 years ago. That's why I was trying here. 😅 I continued debugging yesterday and today, and I think I might have solved it. I'm in double NAT, but it's better than nothing as I can get my full 1.5GB.

Relating to my 60 devices on my LAN, in other circumstances, I would say you're right and it might be problematic. In my case, I'm not too worried as it's been working fine for the last few years. I usually monitor my router's CPU onto my pfSense box and it rarely goes over 40% with tons of activity on the network. Most of the devices are IoTs, servers and PCs onto a 2.5GB LAN. Even when I'd download at 1.5GB, the CPU would not go over 50%. It's only since I changed to the Giga Hub that I've experienced these intermittent issues, but again, it might not be related to the modem, but my line.

We can safely resolve this thread. Thanks! 🙂

[JB1]

Thanks for the effort.  I think I'm going to drop the PPPOE and accept the the downgrade in speeds until some future point that it works.  Either a Bell or a Unifi issue but there's nothing I can do to troubleshoot it at this point unfortunately.  

[doverosx]

My experience was that pages weren’t loading, packets dropping, latencies going sky high, etc.

 I’ll try some more in the future, but I’ll likely start the paper trail and leverage every option we have. Ontario ombudsman, CRTC, etc.

[BellPatricia]

Hey there @doverosx 

Thank you for reaching out to the Bell Community 🙂

We would like to gather a few more details on this.

When setting up your Open BSD router did you add the B1 information to your external router?

Do you have any other third party equipment set up and if so can you share the make/model?

How many devices do you have on your network and how are they connected (E.g. Wi-Fi, Ethernet <which type of port>)?

You also mention that this seems to be intermittent. Does it occur at a certain time of day or sporadically? Is there certain equipment in use when it does occur?

We look forward to your reply.

@BellPatricia 

[atomiccow]

Hi, starting late last year, maybe around November 2024, I started noticing that web pages can load extremely slowly, and sometimes even time out. I have come to the conclusion that it is caused by my Bell modem, which is a Home Hub 4000. I am using it with my own wireless mesh router system attached in PPPOE. I have used it like this without issue since getting Bell service, and yet this issue with the slow web pages has only started recently.

The only solution I have to restore the speed is to reset the modem. After resetting, web pages load quickly as expected for about a day or more before it again reverses to this state of slowness. However, when it's in the slow state, it only seems to be affecting web pages. I can run an internet game or start up Netflix on my TV without any apparent slow down.

The only thing I know about and can think of is that there is some DNS problem. I have tried changing the DNS option in the Bell modem from auto to use Google DNS, but there is no effect. I have just tried contacting Bell tech support and they turned me away when I mentioned that I was using my own router. I believe it is a problem with the Bell internet because it only resolves when I restart the modem, and the overall problem only began in the past two months.

I appreciate any help. For what it's worth, this is what I found in the modem log:
2024-12-01 13:54:55 INF SYS Modem login was successful
2024-12-02 01:48:09 INF SYS ppp0:TR69 creating new session with ACS
2024-12-02 01:48:10 INF SYS ppp0:TR69 sending Inform message
2024-12-02 01:48:10 INF SYS ppp0:TR69 event found : 2 PERIODIC
2024-12-02 01:48:10 INF SYS ppp0:TR69 sending Inform message
2024-12-02 01:48:10 INF SYS ppp0:TR69 event found : 2 PERIODIC
2024-12-02 01:48:10 INF SYS TR-069 connectivity to remote server has been initiated
2024-12-02 01:48:14 INF SYS TR-069 connectivity to remote server has been closed
2024-12-02 13:48:10 INF SYS ppp0:TR69 creating new session with ACS
2024-12-02 13:48:10 INF SYS ppp0:TR69 sending Inform message
2024-12-02 13:48:10 INF SYS ppp0:TR69 event found : 2 PERIODIC
2024-12-02 13:48:10 INF SYS ppp0:TR69 sending Inform message
2024-12-02 13:48:10 INF SYS ppp0:TR69 event found : 2 PERIODIC
2024-12-02 13:48:11 INF SYS TR-069 connectivity to remote server has been initiated
2024-12-02 13:48:15 INF SYS TR-069 connectivity to remote server has been closed

[Lastofpizza]

Hi,

I am experiencing a similar issue. Was using a TP Link Deco AX3000 system with the Giga Hub in the PPPPOE mode happily for a month and today (23 Jan) it just doesnt want to work. I have factory reset the gigahub, changed my b1 password.. nothing works.. the deco app shows everything is good but internet is highly unstable dropping every min. The Bell rep said that an overnight update to the gigahub could have caused it. I can’t see any updates in the system log. I am not sure what to do.. any ideas?

[alexricher]

I was experiencing the same issue since about a week. PPPoE doesn't work for me anymore.Whenever I get PPPoE working, it is unstable (disconnects often) and cannot go above 10MB/sec.

As a temp solution, I set myself up in double NAT where the Giga Hub gives through DHCP an IP to my own router, and from there, I can get internet access. If I open up ports, I need to do it on both. Maybe I'll give DMZ a try, but I'm somewhat glad I wasn't the only one where PPPoE suddenly stopped working.

I wonder if the fact that the modem and our own router is not creating any issues for Bell where they see this as two simultaneous connections? Food for thought.

[doverosx]

Yes. My OpenBSD router has been working for YEARS just fine. It was configured for pppoe passthrough this entire time without issue.

 There’s nothing 3rd party in between my OpenBSD router and the GigaHub.

 There are 30+ devices using wifi and Ethernet. The tests were run from my router (and everything was disconnected), which is connected over 10G with an X550 Intel network card.

 The issue is there constantly, but the lag spikes are intermittent. Let’s just say, it’s occurring noticeably every few minutes. The router also worked fine with the HomeHub 4000. The router also worked fine until you (Bell) pushed firmware 2.13 to my GigaHub. I was able to correlate that in the logs on the GigaHub.

[doverosx]

The two pppoe connections are separate sessions so if that was the issue, someone really goofed up.

 One person says pppoe passthrough isn’t supported. It clearly is…as bell implemented it. Bell also implemented ADMZ. 

ADMZ was broken on GigaHub, but worked perfectly on HomeHub 4k. And now, the same is happening with pppoe passthrough.

[dks]

Thank you for your research. The 2.13 firmware is being rolled out. Staff will likely take note of this issue. As Bell does not support user hardware behind the Giga Hub, there is no guarantee that the next firmware release, whenever it arrives, will address the issue. We can only hope. 

[JB1]

Thanks dks for update -- I've been trying to problem solve and noone told me there was new firmware being rolled out which is likely the culprit.  I had same issue as doverosx and it seemed like last year Patricia kindly resolved things if memory serves me correctly - with some PPPOE update.  

Look forward to hearing the resolution -- in the meantime I'm just fully downgraded my services so they work with the Gigahub and not my UDM network (pretty frustrating tbh).  I know there isn't much you can do in the meantime @@dks - hope your team gets something rolled out to get the PPPOE working again.

[dks]

To be clear, I don’t work for Bell and have no input into their development process. I just try to be helpful. Sometimes I am. The Bell staff do keep their eyes and ears open, but what they pass on and to whom is their work. Bell does not support user hardware and software and is under no obligation to do so. That customer hardware works is mostly a happy outcome or some clever McGuyvering by users. 

[doverosx]

Can you please stop misconstruing what I’m saying? I never said that bell should support my hardware nor my software. In this case, it is obvious that Bell’s firmware is broken on this modem/router (GigaHub). Bell is obligated to fix their own hardware and software, so yes, I expect Bell to resolve this under the consumer protection act at the very least.