7800N EWAN

[dma5m561]

I've used a 7800N very successfully on ADSL2+ for several years but am now trying to set up a 7800N to work in conjunction with a Draytek Vigor 130 modem so that I can use the combination on a line that provides FTTC VDSL2. The Vigor 130 is described as providing only a transparent VDSL-to-Ethernet bridge and doing the physical conversion between the VDSL2 service and an Ethernet port - there is no facility for configuring a username or anything like that in the 130. The Vigor 130's instructions are absolutely clear that the user details etc must be configured in the device attached to the Ethernet port, ie. the 7800N in my scenario.

I've connected a laptop directly to the Vigor 130 and have configured the 130 to have an IP address of 192.168.1.253, ie. in the same subnet as the 7800N, and when I access the Vigor 130's web interface I can see that the 130 can connect to the VDSL2 service at line speeds of 50M up and 10M down, which is exactly what is expected. However...

When I connect the Vigor 130 to the 7800N's EWAN port, and set the 7800N to use EWAN as its main WAN interface and, in the WAN profile, select PPPoE as the protocol, I find that I can't 'reach' the Vigor 130 over the LAN - I can neither access the 130's web interface nor ping the 130 on address 192.168.1.253 from a PC connected to one of the 7800N's LAN ports. I've found that if I connect the Vigor 130 to one of the 7800N's standard LAN ports instead of the EWAN port then I can access the 130's web interface and ping the 130 without any problems. Is there something else I need to do in the 7800N to make the Vigor 130 accessible over the LAN when it's connected to the 7800N's EWAN port, so that I can see the 130's stats etc when it's in operation?

As a secondary question, both the 7800N and the Vigor 130 can act as DHCP servers. Thus far I've disabled the Vigor 130's DHCP server and left the 7800N's DHCP server enabled; is this the optimum way round or might it be better to use the Vigor 130 as the DHCP server for the LAN (but that will presumably rely on the 130 being accessible via the LAN!)?

Thanks in advance,

[dma5m561]

Thanks for the reply, billion_fan. Although I'm not at all familiar with the detailed technicalities of PPPoE I did wonder if its use as the protocol on the 7800N's EWAN port might prevent the attached device, ie. the Vigor 130 modem, from being accessible using TCP/IP.

Thanks also for the guidance about the DHCP server - what you've said confirmed my own perception of the situation.

Although I also use a 7800N (with excellent results) on my ADSL2+ connection, the 7800N and Vigor 130 I've been fiddling with belong to a friend who has recently migrated from ADSL2+ to VDSL2. When we first tried the combination of the Vigor 130 modem and the 7800N on his line, to replace the BT Home Hub that he's currently using, the 7800N didn't seem to want to log in to the ISP even though the Vigor 130 modem was showing a good VDSL2 service. It's now occurred to me that at that time I hadn't changed the IP address of the 130 modem to put it in the same 192.168.1.x subnet as the 7800N - the 130 still had its default address of 192.168.2.1. Would this have made any difference and prevented the connection from working - does the use of PPPoE on the 7800N's EWAN port require the attached device, in this case the Vigor 130 modem, to be in the same IP subnet as the 7800N?

Thanks again for any help and guidance you can provide!

[billion_fan]

Thanks for the reply, billion_fan. Although I'm not at all familiar with the detailed technicalities of PPPoE I did wonder if its use as the protocol on the 7800N's EWAN port might prevent the attached device, ie. the Vigor 130 modem, from being accessible using TCP/IP.

Thanks also for the guidance about the DHCP server - what you've said confirmed my own perception of the situation.

Although I also use a 7800N (with excellent results) on my ADSL2+ connection, the 7800N and Vigor 130 I've been fiddling with belong to a friend who has recently migrated from ADSL2+ to VDSL2. When we first tried the combination of the Vigor 130 modem and the 7800N on his line, to replace the BT Home Hub that he's currently using, the 7800N didn't seem to want to log in to the ISP even though the Vigor 130 modem was showing a good VDSL2 service. It's now occurred to me that at that time I hadn't changed the IP address of the 130 modem to put it in the same 192.168.1.x subnet as the 7800N - the 130 still had its default address of 192.168.2.1. Would this have made any difference and prevented the connection from working - does the use of PPPoE on the 7800N's EWAN port require the attached device, in this case the Vigor 130 modem, to be in the same IP subnet as the 7800N?

Thanks again for any help and guidance you can provide!

The IP address should not matter, its just a matter of passing authentication.

I would suggest using the following credentials when configuring the 7800N, once setup and applied, and saved to the config, reboot the router with current settings for WAN changes to take effect.

BT PPPoE settings entered into the 7800N (EWAN >> PPPoE)
Username - bthomehub@btinternet.com
Password - BT

[dma5m561]

The IP address should not matter, its just a matter of passing authentication.

I would suggest using the following credentials when configuring the 7800N, once setup and applied, and saved to the config, reboot the router with current settings for WAN changes to take effect.

BT PPPoE settings entered into the 7800N (EWAN >> PPPoE)
Username - bthomehub@btinternet.com
Password - BT

Thanks again billion_fan.

I thought those were the credentials I'd tried in the 7800N when we previously had the Vigor 130 modem connected to my friend's phoneline and the 7800N's EWAN port connected to the modem. I'll re-check the config I've put into the 7800N so that when I can next get access to my friend's phoneline we can have another go at getting the combination to work. My friend is otherwise occupied most of the time at present so it's going to be a few days before we can try again at getting the combination of the Vigor 130 modem and the 7800N to work as expected. Perhaps during the previous attempts I hadn't restarted the 7800N to bring the WAN profile settings into operation - time will tell!

[dma5m561]

I would suggest using the following credentials when configuring the 7800N, once setup and applied, and saved to the config, reboot the router with current settings for WAN changes to take effect.

BT PPPoE settings entered into the 7800N (EWAN >> PPPoE)
Username - bthomehub@btinternet.com
Password - BT

A couple of evenings ago I was able to have another go at getting the combination of my friend's 7800N and Vigor 130 VDSL modem working when connected to my friend's phone line, and this time success was achieved.

I found that the username needed in the 7800N was 'bthomehub@btbroadband.com' and that I needed to disable 'VLAN Mux' in the WAN profile when using PPPoE over the EWAN port with the Vigor 130 modem. I'd previously enabled the 'VLAN Mux' setting and had entered 101 as the VLAN ID but it transpired that the Vigor 130 modem included this setting by default so it would appear that it doesn't also need to be configured on the 7800N.

The Vigor 130 modem was showing VDSL line sync speeds of 50M down and 10M up and, according to my friend, the combination of the 130 modem and the 7800N is giving noticeably better overall IP throughput and hence website responsiveness than he was getting with his BT Home Hub so all seems to be well. I'll see if I can run some speed tests on the system in 10-14 days time to see if the initial speed has increased at all after the settling-down period.