Asus rt-ac68u and Huawei HG612 - not behaving nicely

Hi,

Kind of a long pre-amble to this but here goes...

I used to have an O2/Sky ADSL broadband connection. I had a O2 wireless IV modem/router acting as a modem for two other routers with faster/stronger wireless than I got from the O2 box alone. One of these two additional routers was the above mentioned Asus RT-AC68U, which was setup to run a permanently connected VPN. All worked well apart from the speed.

So I switched to BT broadband. The speed has tripled from what I was consistently getting before. So far, so good. This has been through the use of just the HH5. However, I want to go back to the type of setup I had before with a modem and (two) separate routers.....

I have been given two modems (for variety!) - an HG612 (unlocked) and an ECI (locked). I already have the two routers and various switches etc.

I have been messing around for some time but can't get the RT-AC68u to work just with either of the modems. The RT-AC68u is running asuswrt Merlin firmware. I can however get it to function if plugged into the HH5 (HH5 lan to Asus wan) - but not with the VPN on on the Asus, it won't successfully authenticate. I have verified the Asus router VPN settings with the VPN provider and all is good there. I can access the VPN service by using a software client from the laptop, so I am using the correct password.

So I am missing something:
- Whichever modem I am choosing (i have swapped them over) is not set up correctly
- The settings I have used for the Asus PPPoE configuration are incorrect
- The settings I have used for the Asus VPN are incorrect (but these have been checked by the service provider and are okay)
- I've used a dodgy cable (but these work for other configurations and did work before)
- A combination of the above...possible as I have gone somewhat round in circles on this!
- Or something else that I have overlooked?

Does anyone have an illustrated setup of their working, BT configured HG612 modem and an RT-AC68u router that they would care to share with me? A screen shot of the GUI for both would be fantastic. I suspect I am snow-blind on this by now!!

Many thanks

Jon

Either modem should be fine.

What settings are you using for the PPPoE on the Asus? For example you'll probably be needing to set the VLAN tag to 101.

Post images of your own GUI settings for people to check rather than requesting people to post theirs!

Your VPN issues should be kept to one side until you have the basic connection working. Unless I'm missing something they'll be completely unrelated.

As above, make sure the broadband is working before attempting to set up the VPN.

I have a RT-AC68U with a locked ECI modem working just fine with no issues, but I have not tried VPNs. I pretty much left the Asus settings on default, only ones I changed was the username and password.

I find using a Huawei modem with a Huawei cabinet offers better speeds and ECI with ECI. You can use this page to find if the cabinet you're connected to is either ECI or Huawei: http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/cabinet-lookup.htm

For the Huawei, as it's unlocked, make sure it's on the latest firmware as previous firmwares is not compatible with G.INP: http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,14262.0.html

Thanks for the feedback.

Well, as they say, time is a healer!

Between last night and this morning the Asus has decided to work happily with the ECI modem, but not the HG612 (?). I guess there must be a setting in the unlocked HG612 firmware that perhaps is preventing that (B030SP08). Not sure how I would see the settings on the ECI.

Anyway the Asus seems to work fine now, apart from the VPN which still won't authenticate. Any ideas what that could be?

The PPPoE settings are shown below, but are the standard settings I believe I have seen others using. (not sure I have inserted the image correctly from the preview of this post )

I run an AC56U running Merlin's FW (i'm on Sky so they have a partial MER implementation) and ECI/r (locked) or HG612 (unlocked) depending on mood/need. Both modems do the same job and require zero user input to work - swapping over I power the modem allow it to boot and then power the router, i've never had an issue and even after a power cut both come back up automatically.

For the VPN side of things which provider are you using? I've set up a VPN SSID on my router for stuff that benefits from it (normal stuff goes by a UnifiAP on it's own SSID). I did click the image link but it's chucking up an error.

Okay, so now the image should be visible!

I do wonder if the HG612 is not set up completely vanilla, hence the issue. (should I post the GUI for that too?)

I am using Private Internet Access for the VPN. I have had some very detailed configuration information from them that has been followed exactly - in fact, there was nothing to change as the VPN was previously setup and working fine before the ISP switch.

In truth, I'd be happy just to be able to have the one router, sending some traffic via the ordinary ISP connection and selected via the VPN, but that is beyond my skills and knowledge and patience at the moment!

And for completeness, the WAN settings from the HG612...in case there is something wrong there.

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My VPN provider has told me that,

"If you require PPPoE to access your internet , the VPN must be configured on a DIFFERENT router from the one negotiating the PPPoE authentication. You cannot authenticate the VPN AND the PPPoE on the same device.

As such, if you are configuring the VPN on the Merlin router, you will need to set the PPPoE authentication on your other router/modem in order for both to allow authentication."

Does that ring true with you guys? Is that what you are doing?

The VPN issue is solved - I am a class one idiot and now know to be much more careful when using cut and paste - I left a leading space in the password!!!

At present I have simply connected the Asus WAN port to a BT HH5 LAN port. I have then left the PPPoE authentication with the HH5 and set the Asus to obtain an IP automatically. Not necessarily quite what I was looking for but it does work.

Can anyone spot if there is a problem with the settings on the HG612? It would be good to have all my options and alternatives open going forward.

Many thanks for the help and advice offered.