Kitz Forum
Computers & Hardware => Networking => Topic started by: Ixel on March 18, 2018, 06:41:22 PM
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Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone here knows or has had experience in authenticating PPPoE over a wifi connection/bridge to a DSL modem.
I say this because my networking equipment, e.g. the EdgeRouter Pro 8, is upstairs while the master socket and modem are in the dining room downstairs. Currently I'm using Devolo homeplugs but I'm not a fan of homeplugs as they are known to create interference for DSL signals (particularly VDSL2) so would like to stop using them. Short of drilling holes to extend the master socket wiring to upstairs, the only other idea I had was trying to do PPPoE over a 5GHz wifi bridge. Question is whether this is even possible as I'm thinking the PPPoE packets might not automatically be sent to downstairs via wifi.
Any ideas or comments please? Thanks in advance.
P.S. I could move all the networking equipment downstairs but I need to get another cabinet to do that since it's rack mounted stuff :P. The one I've got isn't easy to take apart and already houses my PC.
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Currently I'm using Devolo homeplugs . . .
:no: :wall: :rant: :shoot:
Short of drilling holes to extend the master socket wiring to upstairs, . . .
Drill holes and install CAT6 structured Ethernet cable between the two locations. :)
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:no: :wall: :rant: :shoot:
Drill holes and install CAT6 structured Ethernet cable between the two locations. :)
Don't really want to do that if I can help it as it's a rented house plus was recently replastered throughout :), that's why I want an alternative ideally. I can typically get around 300-400Mbps over 5GHz wifi which is ample enough for even two bonded VDSL2 connections. I just don't know if what I want is possible over wifi. I will however try it probably tomorrow unless I know before then that it's not possible for sure.
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It's theoretically possible but I've never tried it. I guess that will be your next experiment. ;)
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It works :). I've got an N300 extender (Netgear) unused spare so I tried that first, now it works I'll buy a faster one which is 5 GHz and not just 2.4 GHz. Woohoo, now I can put away those pesky Devolo homeplugs :comp:.
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Just a thought...
Do you have sufficient bandwidth on your WiFi to support PPPoE to the modem as well as your WiFi LAN devices at the required speeds?
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Just a thought...
Do you have sufficient bandwidth on your WiFi to support PPPoE to the modem as well as your WiFi LAN devices at the required speeds?
Good question, all being well yes. Two VDSL2 connections hopefully will achieve a peak throughput of 130-140 megabits downstream or 30-35 megabits upstream. Wireless devices other than that are primarily two mobiles phones, two Google Home assistants and a laptop. My desktop PC is connected via LAN cable. Only time will tell I guess :P. If things do go end up going wrong then I'll resort to drilling holes and putting in a LAN cable from downstairs to upstairs, however this has been an interesting experiment so far haha.
Obviously at the moment with this crappy N300 I had spare, to make the wireless bridge, it's not particularly as fast as it can be. That should change later this afternoon once I have a much faster and newer wireless extender.
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Woohoo, now I can put away those pesky Devolo homeplugs :comp:.
The sooner, the better! ;)
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The sooner, the better! ;)
Haha yeah, unfortunately may have spoken too soon. While the connection is stable, it's not fast enough. I'm getting around 38 Megabits down and full upstream speed (as expected since that's slower than downstream) on a TP-Link AC750 extender. I've tried various things to increase the speed such as turning off the ability for it to broadcast a signal too, only connect via 5GHz, connect via my Amplifi HD mesh point which is right by it, change channel and finally reduce the wifi transmission power. All achieve similar results.
My final attempt is a NETGEAR EX7300 Nighthawk X4 AC2200, arriving by DPD later this morning. I'll post the results of that later today for anyone here who's curious. If my line was just 40/10 or even 40/20 (no such package however) then the TP-Link AC750 extender would've been fine. Ping is perfectly fine at around 9 to 10 milliseconds and rises a little when maxing out the downstream.
At least my DSL connection isn't seeing significant SNR fluctuations in the D3 band since using the wifi bridge however :).
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Final update to say that I've exhausted all ideas I had.
The NETGEAR didn't want to handle a PPPoE connection for some reason, so I tried turning a spare RT-AC68U into a media bridge which did allow a PPPoE connection but for some reason according to the EdgeRouter it could only transmit and not receive. It does sadly look like I'll need to start drilling into a few walls to install an ethernet cable.
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It does sadly look like I'll need to start drilling into a few walls to install an ethernet cable.
Done properly, with solid core structured cabling and sockets at each end mounted into shallow-depth backing boxes, I'm sure it won't look out of place.
Then, of course, there is your second line. Is that going to have its NTE5 located next to the existing socket? If yes, then you should run two lengths of the CAT6 cable between the two locations.
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Wherever you run an Ethernet cable I’d suggest you go the extra mile, and run several, for future proofing. Doing so may avoid the need for extra switches later. Cable is cheaper than switches, and less prone to failure. And whilst the energy footprint of each switch is often exaggerated and actually pretty negligible, it’s more than nothing.
Echo previous suggestion for shallow boxes, but even a 4 way RJ45 box doesn’t look too out of place. ;)
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Thanks for the replies all.
Then, of course, there is your second line. Is that going to have its NTE5 located next to the existing socket? If yes, then you should run two lengths of the CAT6 cable between the two locations.
The second master socket is already in place and next to the other master socket. Just no VDSL2 signal on the line of the second master socket, yet :). Just to clarify, in case there's some confusion, the plan kinda was to run CAT6 ethernet cable from the two master sockets downstairs as an extension cable to upstairs, then ultimately connect the two modems and phone upstairs where the other networking equipment also is. It made more sense to me to just have all the networking equipment and such in one room rather than split up in two different parts of the house. Does this makes sense/seem sensible? I've got a fairly large roll of CAT6 cable waiting to be used :P.
Wherever you run an Ethernet cable I’d suggest you go the extra mile, and run several, for future proofing. Doing so may avoid the need for extra switches later. Cable is cheaper than switches, and less prone to failure. And whilst the energy footprint of each switch is often exaggerated and actually pretty negligible, it’s more than nothing.
Echo previous suggestion for shallow boxes, but even a 4 way RJ45 box doesn’t look too out of place. ;)
A good idea, but my plan was to use the CAT6 cable as a short extension cable to upstairs instead (not that cheap CW something or another cable normally used for extension wiring).
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Understood. :)
However I am always of the mind that it is best to convert the (very weak) xDSL signal to a considerably stronger set of Ethernet frames as soon as practicable.
Diagrammatically, this --
NTE5 <---> Modem <---------- relatively long distance ----------> Other networking equipment
^ ^
xDSL Ethernet frames
signal
-- rather than --
NTE5 <---------- relatively long distance ----------> Modem <---> Other networking equipment
^ ^
xDSL Ethernet frames
signal
In the latter case, it would be preferable to glue a rectangle of plastic over the xDSL port on the front of the NTE5 face-plate. Why? If any attempt was made to use the port, the in situ wiring would be an excellent bridge tap.
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A good idea, but my plan was to use the CAT6 cable as a short extension cable to upstairs instead (not that cheap CW something or another cable normally used for extension wiring).
The point I was making was, that whilst above may have been your immediate requirement, there might evolve later some other requirement for fast data movement around your home, quite apart from (or in addition to) access to the Internet.
I had nothing specific in mind as I have no functioning crystal ball, merely a general suggestion that data cabling is future-proofing. :)
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Understood. :)
However I am always of the mind that it is best to convert the (very weak) xDSL signal to a considerably stronger set of Ethernet frames as soon as practicable.
Diagrammatically, this --
NTE5 <---> Modem <---------- relatively long distance ----------> Other networking equipment
^ ^
xDSL Ethernet frames
signal
-- rather than --
NTE5 <---------- relatively long distance ----------> Modem <---> Other networking equipment
^ ^
xDSL Ethernet frames
signal
In the latter case, it would be preferable to glue a rectangle of plastic over the xDSL port on the front of the NTE5 face-plate. Why? If any attempt was made to use the port, the in situ wiring would be an excellent bridge tap.
Yeah I realise that, nothing will be plugged in downstairs however and I'll make sure of that. I've done it after a little hassle with a pair of wires which weren't initially making proper contact (had to be the broadband activated line lol). Oddly although Hlog and QLN appear the same as before... on my initial connection I had hundreds of CRC errors per minute. I've since reconnected at a reduced sync rate temporarily and will let things settle before I increase it again tomorrow. Reminds me of my old address where I had to reduce sync rate a bit because of an odd 'stream' of downstream CRC errors. A slight loss in attainable rate but understandable given I've extended the wiring for the DSL/phone slightly.
adsl info --stats
adsl: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: Showtime
Last Retrain Reason: 0
Last initialization procedure status: 0
Max: Upstream rate = 19834 Kbps, Downstream rate = 77392 Kbps
Bearer: 0, Upstream rate = 19794 Kbps, Downstream rate = 59995 Kbps
Link Power State: L0
Mode: VDSL2 Annex B
VDSL2 Profile: Profile 17a
TPS-TC: PTM Mode(0x0)
Trellis: U:ON /D:ON
Line Status: No Defect
Training Status: Showtime
Down Up
SNR (dB): 10.6 6.0
Attn(dB): 17.3 0.0
Pwr(dBm): 12.7 6.9
VDSL2 framing
Bearer 0
MSGc: 17 13
B: 239 238
M: 1 1
T: 64 64
R: 0 16
S: 0.1273 0.3844
L: 15080 5307
D: 1 1
I: 240 255
N: 240 255
Counters
Bearer 0
OHF: 610729 203236
OHFErr: 5 194
RS: 0 117030
RSCorr: 0 10721
RSUnCorr: 0 0
Bearer 0
HEC: 27 0
OCD: 0 0
LCD: 0 0
Total Cells: 144104018 0
Data Cells: 4535233 0
Drop Cells: 0
Bit Errors: 0 0
ES: 170 322
SES: 11 0
UAS: 1588 61586
AS: 1250
Bearer 0
INP: 0.00 0.00
INPRein: 0.00 0.00
delay: 0 0
PER: 2.04 6.17
OR: 89.97 24.61
AgR: 60085.29 19818.63
Bitswap: 433/434 0/0
Total time = 55 min 22 sec
FEC: 0 21442
CRC: 5599 194
ES: 170 322
SES: 11 0
UAS: 1588 61586
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
Latest 15 minutes time = 10 min 22 sec
FEC: 0 0
CRC: 2 0
ES: 1 0
SES: 0 0
UAS: 0 0
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
Previous 15 minutes time = 15 min 0 sec
FEC: 0 10721
CRC: 2963 194
ES: 86 161
SES: 6 0
UAS: 36 30051
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
Latest 1 day time = 55 min 22 sec
FEC: 0 21442
CRC: 5599 194
ES: 170 322
SES: 11 0
UAS: 1588 61586
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
Previous 1 day time = 0 sec
FEC: 0 0
CRC: 0 0
ES: 0 0
SES: 0 0
UAS: 0 0
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
Since Link time = 20 min 49 sec
FEC: 0 10721
CRC: 5 194
ES: 3 161
SES: 0 0
UAS: 0 30015
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
NTR: mipsCntAtNtr=0 ncoCntAtNtr=0
Ignore upstream error counters as the modem initially gets the all-time error counters on sync.
I'll increase the downstream sync rate to 67Mbps tomorrow assuming DLM doesn't intervene. If it still appears normal then I'll try 74Mbps after another day or two.
QLN and Hlog: https://imgur.com/a/DgYMI
The point I was making was, that whilst above may have been your immediate requirement, there might evolve later some other requirement for fast data movement around your home, quite apart from (or in addition to) access to the Internet.
I had nothing specific in mind as I have no functioning crystal ball, merely a general suggestion that data cabling is future-proofing. :)
I see, yeah no worries :), thanks for the suggestion.
EDIT: Switched over to DrayTek, seems to be handling the line much better as previously experienced at the old address. Very mysterious but oh well.
Synced at 70.8Mbps / 19.4Mbps, downstream target SNRM is default at 6dB (offset set on DrayTek to 0). Once the line has settled I'll try reducing it to see if I can squeeze more speed out of the line.
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QLN and Hlog: https://imgur.com/a/DgYMI
The Hlog plot is looking good. Just a slight evidence of "tail end droop" (sudden decrease at the highest frequencies) that can occasionally be seen for any circuit connected to an ECI Hi-FOCuS Mini-Shelf M41.
The QLN shows significant RFI in DS1, probably from the usual broadcast transmitters. That may be due to the topology of the area and nothing can be done. The two or three close together spikes present in DS3 are a puzzle.