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!

[chend]

I have decided to get rid of the Bell router/modem for this instead: XG-PON/XGS-PON ONU Stick SFP+ Transceiver with 8311, 10G

It requires some configuration from the device, nothing gpt or claude cant handle or direct you to do. No VLAN required, just plug the thing with PPPoE and thats it. I now have 3G/3G. I think its a more permanent solution than waiting after Bell ultra senior tech to maybe someday when they care to fix the issue. Since I am from Qc, I have NO competitors available offering higher speed than 1G. 

[Chris_p]

Do you have a link to the one you picked up?.  If I can't get another isp in quick enough I'll probably get a that as a stopgap. Thanks so much!  Frustrating tho, Bell has been stable for years. I understand there arnt that many of us that need to run out own hardware, but good way to loose some customers 

[somehelmet]

So this is still an issue today, right? I factory reset my Dream Router 7 on June 26th for what I thought was an issue with my configuration although I had not changed anything in weeks.

Internet was fine all the way until I noticed today that, *facepalm*, I forgot to set my pppoe, (I was at work connecting remotely to my router mind you), hit "save", boom, cameras, lights, pcs, I'm getting notifications from different monitoring services, and my Unifi.... Arrive home later, the whole operation's in shambles.

I reset my Bell internet password and input into my Giga Hub... check
Enter new password in my router's pppoe settings... check

Nothing worked. Factory reset the gigahub, then eventually the router. 

pppoe off => everything works, except I'm double NAT'd
pppoe on => see shambles reference above

I almost gave up, wanting to smash my, what I thought at that moment was my piece of doodie Unifi router, until I started searching up pppoe with 3rd party routers and Bell (Bell specifically) and boom, landed on this article as well as a few others.

I'm relieved it's not just me and I hope that Bell hopefully fixes soon. Leaving pppoe off for now as it only affects gaming and other infrequent activities. 

The End

[rtailor]

Hello,

I am on a trial with bell 1.5G in AB, and I have a similar issue. Internet went down for everyone and they were working on fixing it. After they fixed it, my My PPPoE using a cisco C1111X router stopped working.  I have a tplink modem set in bridge mode, and my router is doing authentication. Upon checking the logs, I would not get a response from the remote server on PADI

Jul 16 03:45:26.250: padi timer expired
Jul 16 03:45:26.250: Sending PADI: Interface = GigabitEthernet0/0/1
Jul 16 03:45:26.250: pppoe_send_padi:
contiguous pak, size 60
FF FF FF FF FF FF 8C 94 1F 45 8C 81 88 63 11 09
00 00 00 10 01 01 00 00 01 03 00 08 9C 00 00 0C
00 00 0F AD 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

It would not work when using the interface g0/0/1 any longer, and it was working fine before the outage.

I had to reconfigure the router using a BDI interface, but now I am getting stuck at 500Mbps.

I will probably switch back to Telus after the trial.  it seemed more reliable.

[dks]

I am confused. Does Bell supply a TP-Link modem in Alberta? I was not aware that Bell sold internet service in Alberta. Please say more. 

[rtailor]

It's not offered to consumers yet, but I am on a trial service

[dks]

Thank you for the clarification. As I am unaware of your trial, I can't offer any suggestions. Does your trial include support? 

[Chris_p]

Thanks again for the heads up on that XG-PON/XGS-PON Sfp. The one you linked worked good for me. Setup is simple, and now getting full bandwidth without the Bell equipment.

Cheers, Chris

[User665]

Care to share a link for XG-PON/XGS-PON adaptor? From what I have read, there are different types (not too sure of the difference). Thanks. 

[Sonocaldo]

I found a temporary, but flaky, workaround. I added the static routes 128.0.0.0/1 and 0.0.0.0/1 while keeping the UDM Pro on DHCP and using Advanced DMZ. This mostly works, but it's unreliable—it still disconnects 2–3 times a day and occasionally experiences random spikes in latency.

When I switch to PPPoE, the UDM Pro receives a public IP address and appears to have an Internet connection based on the UDM Pro's status. However, none of my client devices can actually access the Internet.

I also ran a traceroute, and it consistently appears to fail or encounter issues around the third hop.

I only have a short maintenance window each night to troubleshoot, so progress has been slow. At this point, it's becoming pretty frustrating.

[BoringPlodder]

Hi Alexander, it's been almost a month since a firmware update broke this feature. Do you have any updates on when a fix will be rolled out? Was the old firmware so bad that the current obviously broken firmware is better? Do I need to pay $200 to buy a fibre SFP module to bypass your broken modem? Or do I need to change ISP?

Your customers are getting frustrated. Using ADMZ mode on the Gigahub my connection has dropped 57 times in the last 24 hours. 

[Khorem]

Hello everyone,

I'd like to add my experience in case it helps Bell engineering or other customers.

My setup is:

Bell FTTH (3 Gbps)
Bell Giga Hub (original model)
UniFi Dream Machine SE (latest firmware)

After the recent Giga Hub firmware update, I began experiencing issues with both PPPoE and Advanced DMZ.

PPPoE:
- Authentication succeeds.
- A public IP is assigned to the UDM-SE.
- Internet connectivity is either unusable or significantly degraded.

Advanced DMZ:
- The UDM-SE receives the public IP.
- Internet initially works.
- The connection later becomes unstable due to routing or DHCP lease renewal issues, resulting in periodic connectivity interruptions.

I have ruled out my own equipment by testing factory resets, different cables, DHCP, PPPoE, Advanced DMZ, multiple WAN configurations, and repeated reboots.

The only completely stable configuration is leaving the UDM-SE behind the Giga Hub using standard DHCP (double NAT), which defeats the purpose of using Advanced DMZ.

If Bell engineering is monitoring this thread, I'd appreciate any update regarding a firmware fix. There appear to be multiple customers experiencing similar behaviour with third-party routers.

Thank you.

[User665]

@ Chris_p thanks for the link.... doubt this issue wont get resolved as it seems it probably interferes with their monitoring tactics. 

[BoringPlodder]

Hi chend, can you please send me the link to the one you bought?

[EonBlue]

Hey, any chance you could send me the link too? I'd love to just permanently remove Bell's hardware from the equation, the internet speed is great but the GigaHub has come with too many headaches for something I wish just had a real bridge mode.