Running OpenWRT on the Plusnet Hub One (& BT Home Hub 5a)

[#1]

Sorry, Bill it was..

I know I could quite easily use that Netgear, but I already am running a second Netgear on the ground floor as a second access point. I am trying to minimise my electric base load and have the USB stick well out of the way in the loft router.

I'm one of those people insists on struggling to do something, if it ought to be able to do it, like this USB stick - but I have never really been involved with Linux before, so all new to me.

[bill888]

  bill888   Mentioned the use of the USB could cause instability of the router. I had loaded the necessary software, but not managed to progress it as far as being able to access the USB stick. The router did seem perfectly stable, except for the fact that the 2.4Ghz access point kept switching itself off and would refuse to Restart. The only way to Restart the access point, was to reboot the router. It would run for minutes to a few hours at a time. Whether it also affected the 5Ghz AP, I am not sure. Removing all of the extra software, restored normal, reliable operation.

[#3]

My ADSL was swapped over to VDSL overnight, so I followed the instructions to swap the HH5A over to VDSL, leaving the rest of the configuration as before for ADSL. I then got exactly the same issue as when I was trying to configure it for ADSL - the WAN was connecting, the LAN worked fine, but it seems no connection between, so no internet access.

I then did a factory reset and configured it all from scratch, following Bill's instructions in the 160+ page guide - leaving it on its default 192.168.1.1 IP. The result was exactly the same, WAN appeared to be connected, LAN also working, but .

I then tried the PN Hub One and that works absolutely fine - I am using it now. You may remember I finally got the HH5A working on ADSL by randomly checking and unchecking items in the configuration, so obviously I am missing something in the setting up, but what? 

[#4]

Have you checked DNS is working by using ping command, and checked if there is a route to the internet using trace route command from a computer?

If using Windows.  Open a 'cmd' box and execute these commands:

ping www.bbc.co.uk
tracert www.bbc.co.uk

ping 8.8.8.8
tracert 8.8.8.8

Report what you find.

If you are using a Windows computer, also execute this command:

ipconfig /all

Confirm the 'Default gateway' and 'DNS servers' for the active wired or wireless connection both points to default LAN IP address of the HH5a.  ie. 192.168.1.1

Did you delete the wan6 network interface because Plusnet does not support IPv6 ?

If you are testing using only Windows PC, can you confirm a non-Windows device such as a smart phone or tablet also cannot access the internet?

[#5]

This was exactly how I wrecked (figuratively) one of my Hub One’s. I had working WAN, a working LAN, and no link in between. It was to do with bridges, but I ended up disconnecting LAN from everything, including DHCP and DNS. Be careful or else you’ll have to solder it to reflash again.

[#6]

Replying to Bill888

I will get back to you with answers to your other questions, when I swap back to the HH5..

This is my etc/config/network file since trying to set up of VDSL

config interface 'loopback'
    option ifname 'lo'
    option proto 'static'
    option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
    option netmask '255.0.0.0'

config globals 'globals'
    option ula_prefix 'fd88:4ff8:ccda::/48'

config dsl 'dsl'
    option tone 'av'
    option annex 'b'
    option ds_snr_offset '0'

config interface 'lan'
    option type 'bridge'
    option ifname 'eth0.1'
    option proto 'static'
    option ipaddr '192.168.1.1'
    option netmask '255.255.255.0'
    option ip6assign '60'

config device 'lan_dev'
    option name 'eth0.1'
    option macaddr '40:f2:01:16:c6:28'

config interface 'wan'
    option ifname 'dsl0'
    option proto 'pppoe'
    option ipv6 '1'
    option username 'user@plusdsl.net'
    option password '++++++'
    option delegate '0'

config device 'wan_dev'
    option name 'dsl0'
    option macaddr '40:f2:01:16:c6:29'

config interface 'wan6'
    option ifname '@wan'
    option proto 'dhcpv6'

config switch
    option name 'switch0'
    option reset '1'
    option enable_vlan '1'

config switch_vlan
    option device 'switch0'
    option vlan '1'
    option ports '0 1 2 4 6t'

config switch_vlan
    option device 'switch0'
    option vlan '2'
    option ports '5 6t'

[#7]

Result of all pings and tracert - all negative. None of them reachable.

Default Gateway is showing as 192.168.1.1

This result IPconfig/all

C:\Users\Harry>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LAPTOP-LINHPB20
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : lan

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : lan
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : F0-76-1C-D2-33-40
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : fd20:572:6aef::fd7(Preferred)
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 17 August 2018 20:17:19
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 27 September 2154 22:19:38
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : fd7d:bf14:e040::fd7(Preferred)
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 19 August 2018 12:12:31
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 27 September 2154 22:19:38
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : fd88:4ff8:ccda::4d3(Preferred)
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 21 August 2018 11:45:30
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 27 September 2154 22:19:38
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : fd88:4ff8:ccda:0:6cd2:6792:dae3:ca8f(Preferred)
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : fd8e:2b40:f0bf::fd7(Preferred)
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 15 August 2018 13:08:50
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 27 September 2154 22:19:38
   Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : fd88:4ff8:ccda:0:7185:6580:aa7e:6b5c(Preferred)
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::6cd2:6792:dae3:ca8f%8(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.155(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 21 August 2018 11:45:35
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 22 August 2018 03:35:56
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 166753820
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-1F-43-32-BA-F0-76-1C-D2-33-40
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fd88:4ff8:ccda::1
                                       8.8.8.8
                                       8.8.4.4
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 4:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #4
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 12-52-CB-4D-3F-9D
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #5
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 22-52-CB-4D-3F-9D
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 16:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Hosted Network Virtual Adapter #2
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 52-52-CB-4D-3F-9D
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : lan
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Qualcomm Atheros AR956x Wireless Network Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 30-52-CB-4D-3F-9D
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Users\Harry>

[#8]

Were you sure you had a WAN connection to Plusnet?

ie. did you get an IPv4 IP address in LuCI -> Network interfaces for WAN ?

I thought you were using LEDE 17.01 because the config file looks like it is for OpenWRT 18.06  because of presence of 'option ds_snr_offset '0''.

In any case, one glaring mistake is the VLAN 101 tag has not been set for use with an Openreach VDSL connection.

config interface 'wan'
    option ifname 'dsl0.101'  # for OpenWRT 18
    #   option ifname 'ptm0.101'  # or for LEDE 17

 Go to LuCI -> Network Interfaces -> WAN. Click Edit

Go to Physical interfaces tab and change it dsl0.101 or ptm0.101 for OpenWRT 18 or LEDE 17 respectively.

Press Save & Apply button.

Reboot hub.

(ps. if you do have OpenWRT 18, remember to press the ENTER key after typing in dsl0.101 otherwise it will be lost !!) 

The tone setting under DSL section is also wrong.  Probably will work with 'av' but it should ideally be 'a' (ie. A43C + J43 + A43).  I suggest you recheck the Tone setting against what is shown in the guide. 

Update: corrected above VLAN tag for LEDE 17 to read ptm0.101

[#9]

Thanks Bill888.

I am using version OpenWRT 18.06.

I had mistyped ds10 instead of dsl0.101, but the tone setting was correct  as A43C + J43 + A43?

[#10]

fyi:

tone 'a' is A43C + J43 + A43

tone 'av' is A43C + J43 + A43 + V43

(I just double checked on an 'offline' hub running latest OpenWRT 18.06.1)

[#11]

Well that seems to have fixed it, all now working. Just the problem with the mistyped dsl0.101. Thanks very much for your time, help and patience Bill8888. 

[#12]

Thanks again Bill. I have just checked and yes, the setting had somehow slipped to A43C + J43 + A43 + V43. I have changed that to A43C + J43 + A43 - my speedtest figures have near doubled. Would that be right?

On either setting, the connect data speed was 40.000Mb/s /9.999Mb/s

[#13]

speed tests are related to actual DSL 'data rate'.  .

Some speed testers can be unreliable/inconsistent.

Could be Plusnet had not updated your line's current speed profile when you ran speed tests shortly after you were upgraded from ADSL to fibre.

https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed

A 40/10mb connection should return speed tests of upto 38mb down and 9.5 mb up, or thereabouts, using ethernet connection.

[#14]

I was wondering how many are now running 18.06?  Any gotchas (particularly for ADSL)?

If anyone could post a working 18.06 ADSL config that would be appreciated!

[#15]

As above, until yesterday I had my HH5A working on PN ADSL. I could email that entire config to you as a tar file, if it would help? PM me, with your address.

The one issue I had and I am still having is the wireless channel seeming to drop out after a while. I originally blamed that on installing the USB stick files, but it is happening after a factory reset, with no obvious cause. I only use the wireless on the HH5 for a web cam connected to the 2.4Ghz access point and a Raspberrry Pi feeding weather station data in via the 5Ghz access point. I have not noticed the 5Ghz drop out, but the camera seems to drop out quite frequently. Other than that, no obvious issues.