UK RT-N66U with 380.58 - pppoe dropout issues

[MichaelWDP]

Hi there,

I've been using this router in office and home applications for some time now, and didn't think I was having any issues until recently. My internet connection keeps dropping, for just a few seconds 5 or 6 times per day - sometimes more.

This is not a Wifi issue.

My setup is FTTP with 'Direct Save Telecom' in the UK. There is a ZTE ONT connected to the router via cat5e to the WAN port. I get the same problem with two brand new RT-N66U's. I tried putting the latest ASUS firmware on, but continue to have the issue, so I put the merlin 380.58 back on.

I've been using Pingdom to monitor the connection. When it goes down it's always less than 1 minute.

Here is a log entry that shows a disconnection for the exact time that pingdom shows the connection was lost:

Apr 4 14:36:09 WAN Connection: No response from ISP.
Apr 4 14:36:09 stop_nat_rules: apply the redirect_rules!
Apr 4 14:36:39 pppd[987]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Apr 4 14:36:39 pppd[987]: Connection terminated.
Apr 4 14:36:40 pppd[987]: Modem hangup
Apr 4 14:36:50 pppd[987]: Connected to a0:f3:e4:b9:cd:90 via interface eth0
Apr 4 14:36:50 pppd[987]: Connect: ppp0 <--> eth0
Apr 4 14:36:53 pppd[987]: peer from calling number A0:F3:E4:B9:CD:90 authorized
Apr 4 14:36:53 pppd[987]: local IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Apr 4 14:36:53 pppd[987]: remote IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Apr 4 14:36:53 pppd[987]: primary DNS address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Apr 4 14:36:53 pppd[987]: secondary DNS address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Apr 4 14:36:53 start_nat_rules: apply the nat_rules(/tmp/nat_rules_ppp0_eth0)!
Apr 4 14:36:53 wan: finish adding multi routes
Apr 4 14:36:53 rc_service: ip-up 9941:notify_rc stop_upnp
Apr 4 14:36:53 miniupnpd[9821]: shutting down MiniUPnPd
Apr 4 14:36:53 rc_service: ip-up 9941:notify_rc start_upnp
Apr 4 14:36:53 ddns update: ez-ipupdate: starting...
Apr 4 14:36:53 miniupnpd[9972]: version 1.9 started
Apr 4 14:36:53 miniupnpd[9972]: HTTP listening on port 46026
Apr 4 14:36:53 miniupnpd[9972]: Listening for NAT-PMP/PCP traffic on port 5351
Apr 4 14:36:53 ddns update: connected to dynupdate.no-ip.com (8.23.224.120) on port 80.
Apr 4 14:36:54 ddns update: request successful
Apr 4 14:36:54 ddns update: asusddns_update: 0
Apr 4 14:36:54 ddns: ddns update ok
Apr 4 14:36:55 WAN Connection: WAN was restored.

The above pattern is shown every time the connection is dropped.

Although i'm using DDNS, I now have a static IP address with the ISP, so I will turn off DDNS.

After some research, I found it could be something to do with false positive DHCP/LCP echo requests. Apparently some ISPs can blacklist your MAC if you test the connection too often. Someone suggested changing this from 'Agressive' to 'Normal', but there is no such option when using a pppoe connection. I tried setting 'Enable PPP Echo Detect' to 'NO', but I still get the same problem (actually more disconnections).

I initially thought that the problem lay with the ISP so I got in touch with them, but after leaving an ubuntu laptop connected via pppoe, directly to the ONT, there was a 100% stable connection for 12 hours (this is much longer than I have got with the router).

Can anyone offer any suggestions as to what the problem might be?