PPPOE not working after a recent firmware update

[shlomithemoney]

Hello,

I know this is a grey zone and is not officially supported but like a lot of Bell users i use my own routing equipment and like other users i have found that since my modem rebooted on the latest firmware, pppoe from the router is not working anymore.

There is already a reddit thread discussing the details here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bell/comments/1u2k2rb/did_bell_start_blocking_pppoe_connections_entirely/ 

Basically the bug seems to be that "Any packet over certain size would trigger incorrect PPP frame length meaning that the length reported in the header was different from the actual payload size."

Is it possible to know if this is related to some firmware issue and a fix is coming or if it was deliberate change from Bell?

Any info about this would be appreciated since its currently starting to impact more users and we are all on our own so far wasting our time debugging this.

Thanks!

[BoringPlodder]

There's a difference between "not supporting" and "breaking". 

Take away PPPoE sure, but ADMZ doesn't work either. That's Bell breaking a feature on their own equipment 

[AxelBest]

I'm facing the exact same problem described in this topic, and I can add a data point that rules out third-party router configuration as the cause.
It has been working for a year without any issues until I wake up with no internet this Monday morning July 6. Bell support of course blamed the 3rd party equipment.

My setup: Bell Fibe (FTTH) with a Giga Hub on firmware 3.11.6.2 (hardware 5690-000001-000). I've tested PPPoE with two completely different devices behind it — a TP-Link AXE5400 and a pfSense box — and both fail in exactly the same way.

Symptoms:
- PPPoE authenticates successfully (PAP AuthAck, public IP and Bell DNS assigned via IPCP)
- Small packets pass fine: I can ping everything, not limited to 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1, DNS resolution works, and plain HTTP sites (e.g. neverssl.com) load
- Large packets do NOT pass: HTTPS times out on every site, even by IP (https://1.1.1.1 gives ERR_TIMED_OUT). TLS handshakes stall right after ClientHello, which is consistent with full-size packets being silently dropped somewhere on the path
- I tested multiple MTU values (1492 and lower) on the client router with no change
- Same result on both the TP-Link and pfSense, so this is not a configuration issue on my equipment

Everything points to the Giga Hub (or something upstream tied to its firmware) dropping full-size frames on PPPoE passthrough sessions while letting small packets through. This matches what others in this thread are describing after the recent firmware update.

Is there any way to get this escalated, or a firmware fix/rollback planned? Happy to provide PPP logs from either device if it helps.

[Vanadiel]

It is for sure not something upstream because I use the GPON directly without a home hub and have zero issues with PPPOE connectivity.

So it has to be something related to the home hub.

One thing to try is to switch of the guard feature, which cannot be done from within the modem menu. It has to be done externally using the WiFi application.

Guard feature. 

It's a long shot, but who knows...

[BellAlexander · Accepted solution]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to post and share the issues you're experiencing with PPPoE functionality.

We are aware of the issue and technical teams are working on a fix.  Once a fix is confirmed, we will update this thread with an ETA on deployment.

Thank you,

@BellAlexander - Community Manger

[AxelBest]

@Vanadiel Guard feature is not activated.

Thank you @BellAlexander 
Please keep us posted. 

[chend]

I am seeing what appears to be the same family of issue.

My setup:
- Bell fibre 3 Gbps service
- Bell gateway upstream
- UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber downstream
- UniFi Network 10.4.57
- UniFi WAN tested with both DHCP behind the Bell gateway and PPPoE passthrough using Bell b1 credentials

Observed results:
- DHCP/double NAT through the Bell gateway works at full speed.
- UniFi speed test over DHCP reports around 3.2 Gbps down / 3.3 Gbps up.
- Local LAN is not the bottleneck.
- When UniFi WAN is switched to PPPoE passthrough, throughput drops to roughly 330-370 Mbps down and 440-455 Mbps up.
- Multiple simultaneous clients/tests do not scale total PPPoE throughput meaningfully beyond that range.
- UniFi CPU/RAM are not saturated.
- Smart Queues/QoS are disabled.
- IDS/IPS/security filtering was tested and did not explain the cap.

I also tried Advanced DMZ/public-IP passthrough as a workaround. Basic DMZ/DHCP is fast, but Advanced DMZ has been unreliable/not cleanly usable so far.

I spent significant time with Bell technical support on this. The support path did not help: despite the evidence that Bell gateway/DHCP works at full speed and only PPPoE passthrough is degraded, I was essentially told Bell would not do anything because the downstream router is third-party equipment. That is frustrating because this thread and the other Bell forum thread show the same issue across different routers and configurations, and Bell has already acknowledged that PPPoE functionality is affected.

This seems consistent with the reports in this thread and the other Bell forum thread about Giga Hub PPPoE passthrough / secondary PPPoE sessions being capped. The common pattern is:

1. Bell gateway native/DHCP path works at full speed.
2. PPPoE passthrough from a downstream router is broken or severely degraded.
3. Advanced DMZ is not a fully reliable workaround for everyone.
4. Front-line support treats it as unsupported third-party equipment, even though the failure appears to be in the Bell gateway firmware/path.

Can Bell please confirm whether this PPPoE passthrough issue and the Advanced DMZ instability are being tracked under the same firmware defect? Is there an ETA, target firmware version, or supported workaround for customers who need their downstream router to hold the public IP / PPPoE session?

[Vanadiel]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to post and share the issues you're experiencing with PPPoE functionality.

We are aware of the issue and technical teams are working on a fix.  Once a fix is confirmed, we will update this thread with an ETA on deployment.

[chend]

Thanks, it worked! There an issue with the lease DHCP every 10 mins, investigating. 

[xyaes]

@chend , exactly the same issue I am experiencing but with pfSense. 

[TechBoyJL]

Thank you for this update!  Much Appreciated!

[Gio1234]

Having the same issue, and looking forward to the fix ETA.

[chend]

@xyaes I had claude fable 5 and gpt5.6 sol (both on xhigh) to try to find that issue. I can say with confidence, there isnt a fix 😛 I wanted to be able to ditch PPPoE (or having a great fallback solution) since Bell is having issues to fix this as we speak -- weeks with the same issue is a bit insane. Technical support is not helping at all even if I try to explain that PPPoE is the reason why I bought this service, not your modem, not your wifi. 

I went to DMZ Basic, but I dont recommend at all if you run some kind of basic homelab / setup at home, I feel the double NAT confusion over the request every day. 
If there isnt a fix soon, we're screwed because they are no competitor here in Qc for this internet speed. Videotron, eBox, all they can offer is 1G at higher pricing than Bell. 

[AxelBest]

Here I have Cogeco and Telus knocking on my door every day offering me the world to switch services. I never thought about changing, but now with this situation, which is still unclear whether it's really a problem or a deliberate change in the service, I no longer see any reason for me to continue with Bell.

Therefore, I will continue to wait for a clear position or a solution. The post is marked as resolved, but it isn't. 

[dks]

Thanks for your question. Because there are posts marked as most helpful, the forum software marks the thread as Resolved. This is not a Bell issue or action but the way the third party forum software treats certain marked posts.  As we receive updates on this issue, more information will be posted. Again, please remember that the Giga Hub software is not Bell's but provided by a third party, Sagemcom, and licensed by Bell. Resolution and testing can take time and may be beyond Bell's control. 

[chend]

Hmm. The PPPoE issue is not JUST on my unifi router, what are you talking about here? Customer service do sell that we can use PPPoE at full speed with no issues. That has nothing to do with third party, its a common very well documented service every ISP has to give because your router is not for every home needs. Its limited, the LAN ports are just 1G, etc, the list goes on man.