topic Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT in Broadband

Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

AJCrowley — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 13:52:18 GMT

I initially purchased my own router, as I wanted to have full control over my network. At some point in December, Sky changed something, and the way it was authenticating (over IPv6) stopped working, and there was no DHCP Option 61 for IPv4 authentication, so I was forced to switch back to Sky's router, which to be honest hasn't been much of a bother until very recently.

Things I want to do (but can't through Sky for whatever reason, and after extensive discussion with their tech support_

- Set my own WiFi SSID

- Set up a port forward (yes, because I refused to pay for "wifi max", it locked me out of the section of the app that allows port forwards to be set up, because it makes total sense for port forwarding to be under the "wifi" section of the configuration phone app, and not on the router's own config page

- Set up an open DNS service so I always have a URL to access my network from outside the home with a custom URL

-(Potentially) set up a VPN at the router level.

Since this router comes with OpenWRT as the default OS, I know that it supports all of these things. What I am unclear on is the DHCP Option 61. How do I capture the authentication data to put in the Option 61 (sorry for the basic level of the question, I've never worked with DHCP Option 61 before, but I understand it requires some string to identify you and authenticate with Sky's DHCP server on the other side of my ONT box).

I've been working with networking and setting up networks since the days of daisy chained BNC networks, so I have no shortage of networking experience, just this one thing is new territory to me, and I'd like to be armed with the correct knowledge to plug in my new router and go when it arrives on Monday.

Any instructional material or tips that anyone can offer me to make losing the sub-par Sky router and replacing it with a nice OpenWRT one on Monday a simple and easy task rather than hours of research and troubleshooting, I would be extremely grateful. The biggest hurdle I face at this point (from my limited knowledge) is how to determine what the authentication string for Option 61 will need to be, and how I can extract this info from my Sky router. Will I need to set up a WireShark on my Raspberry Pi to capture the traffic as it goes through or something similar, or will it be as simple as cloning the SR213's MAC, and [my account number]@skydsl?

Any and all tips to make this process as simple as possible for me will be most gratefully received.

Cheers!

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

JimM1 — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 14:16:12 GMT

@AJCrowley Used DHCP PD as your opening and do not get hung up on Mer option 61 as you do not even need to with the exchange until you try unless you are copper connected on a old VDSL line and your Router has a modem stage in it!

If you are using/need to use the sky Talk landline, then you need to use your sky Max hub, there is NO choice!

See link post 2 for idea, and connected direct on a OR ONT fully functional NO OPTION 61!

Answered: Replacing sky hub with router | Sky Community

Just realised thought i recognised you from previous posting's forget everything above but will leave it up for other user's!

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

Chrisee — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 16:02:54 GMT

@AJCrowley Sky's network is fully IP6 compliant. Authentication using DHCPv4 Option 61 still works on 100% of Openreach lines bur requires a log-in string of anything@skydsl|anything. The | is a pipe symbol marking the switch from the username from the password abything can literally becreplaced by anything if you want to. This is a standard string and there is no need to identify your account as Sky use the line id to do that.

Roughly 80% of Openreach lines support the alternative DHCPv6 PD method that doesn't use a string. There is no known way of knowing which lines will or won't in advance.

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

TimmyBGood — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 17:31:06 GMT

@AJCrowley wrote:

Will I need to set up a WireShark on my Raspberry Pi to capture the traffic as it goes through or something similar, or will it be as simple as cloning the SR213's MAC, and [my account number]@skydsl?

Neither of those: any information you may find online referring to such things is long out of date and goes back to when Sky insisted on their own routers being used.

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

AJCrowley — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 17:34:18 GMT

Thanks for the replies folks.

I did have another router previously that I was very happy with. However, my Sky broadband went down mid December, and when it came back, the only way I could get my router to authenticate and get a DHCP lease was to set the IPv6 type to MAP-E, which was very unstable, and while it was fine for web browsing, I was unable to play online games with my friends. I ended up returning the router to Amazon who very generously (after having had it for 9 months) refunded me.

I was honestly ok with the Sky router until today. I wanted to set up a port forward. The router admin interface said I had to set it up through the "My Sky" app on my phone. Since I don't pay for "WiFi Max", I don't get the "WiFi Settings" link in the app, and because port forwarding is inherently tied to WiFi for some reason, I was unable to set up a simple port forward (also having to explain what a port forward on a router was to 3 different supposed tech support personnel). I was also minorly bothered that I couldn't change the WiFi SSID, and the annoyances just kept piling up until I decided it's time to get a new router, this time one that supports OpenWRT (and in fact comes with it as the default firmware) so that I don't get tripped up by any weird requirements that my particular router doesn't give me control over.

Any info that will make my setup on Monday just a bog standard setting up of a router rather than trying to solve the riddle of the Sphynx in order to get a connection is very much appreciated.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

JimM1 — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 17:38:27 GMT

@AJCrowley Just buy an Asus!

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

Chrisee — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 08:35:47 GMT

@AJCrowley nomidea why your previous router failed to connect after the outage but Sky have made no significant changes to their set up in the last 12 months.

The white Sky Max hub uses the My Sky app to control its settings. You do not need to have bought the WiFi Max add-on to access these. Simply select the WiFi settings link uner broadband on the first screen there is a pencil icon which will enable you to edit both the SSID and password. Click on the Advanced Settings page and select port forwarding on the next page and follow the on screen instructions.

From your post you dont need a new router as the Sky hub should be able to meet your needs.

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

AJCrowley — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:14:17 GMT

Well the new router is here, and of course nothing comes easy. Enabling IPv6 leaves me able to access some of the internet, but I have no IPv4 connectivity.

My IPv6 settings are:
Mode: Native
DNS acquisition method: Automatic

IPv6 enabled sites and traffic are no problem.

IPv4 is just set to vanilla DHCP with nothing much going on beside that. I do seem to be able to get a real IP, but for some reason I can't have any traffic over it.

I'll probably fight with this for another hour or two before going back to the awful Sky router and saving this battle for another day.

The router by the way is a GL-iNet Flint 2 (GL-MT6000 AX6000 Wireless Router). It's running OpenWRT as the default firmware, but if I go into the luci mode, I feel even more lost, and just end up trying every option and getting nowhere.

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

JimM1 — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:20:29 GMT

@AJCrowley Below for you!

IPv6 - GL.iNet Router Docs 4

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

AJCrowley — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 17:01:49 GMT

Well, I figured out how to do the DHCP Option 61, which got IPv4 working, and from there it was pretty easy to get IPv6 up and running. Everything seems to be running perfectly so far, fingers crossed!

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

DocBoti — Tue, 05 May 2026 11:57:10 GMT

Hi @AJCrowley, I am glad you got this sorted. I have a similar problem at the moment and am despairing. My router is a Banana Pi openWRT one. It appears that it requires a hex string for the option 61 DHCP connection. I am trying with me@skydsl|pass1245 and have tried this in various ways (all in /etc/config/network):

option clientid '6D6540736B7964736C7C7061737331323435'
option clientid '016D6540736B7964736C7C7061737331323435'
option sendopts '6D6540736B7964736C7C7061737331323435'
option sendopts '0x31:6D6540736B7964736C7C7061737331323435'

The whole block in the config files reads and I have tried this with and without VLAN 101 as well as with and without MAC address cloning:
config interface 'wan'
option device 'eth0.101'
option proto 'dhcp'
option clientid '6d6540736b7964736c7c31323435'
option macaddr '3c:45:7a:e4:e1:63'
option multipath 'off'

Could you share how you succeeded?

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

Chrisee — Tue, 05 May 2026 14:33:56 GMT

@DocBoti are you aware that 80% of Openreach linescand 100% of City Fibre lines support the,alternative `DHCPv6 PD method which does not useca log in string? That could help,younside step,your current issue.

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

DocBoti — Wed, 06 May 2026 08:48:47 GMT

Hi Chrisee,

Yes I was aware of that but was still having problems. I have now found a configuration that works and have an IPv4 address assigned. There is still no IPv6 address, the reply from Sky was that no prefix was available but I am expecting that as the lease for the IPv6 address for the Sky router runs out, I will get one for the new router. Of course I could power down the ONT for 20 minutes but then that stops me from continuing to work.

Re: Replacing SR213 Router w/ OpenWRT

DocBoti — Wed, 06 May 2026 13:19:28 GMT

This is the /etc/config/network file for the Banana Pi openWRT one router that finally got me connected.

config globals 'globals'
option dhcp_default_duid '000402917a719f0b442784b394911a1c138e'
option ula_prefix 'fd5a:10b5:b6ce::/48'
option packet_steering '1'

config device
option name 'br-lan'
option type 'bridge'
list ports 'eth1'

config interface 'lan'
option device 'br-lan'
option proto 'static'
list ipaddr '192.168.0.1/24'
option ip6assign '60'

config interface 'wan'
option device 'eth0'
option proto 'dhcp'
option macaddr 'ab:cd:12:34:56:78'
option clientid '6d6540736b7964736c7c7061737331323334'
option multipath 'off'

config interface 'wan6'
option device 'eth0'
option proto 'dhcpv6'
option reqprefix '56'
option reqaddress 'try'
option norelease '1'
option force_link '1'
option sourcefilter '0'
option multipath 'off'
option clientid '0004523c9b1a7d'

Apparently the VLAN 101 is handled by my ONT so removing that from my setup got me connected and an IPv4 address assigned. IPv6 prooved more difficult. Without spoofing the MAC address of my old router and supplying a random 16 character hex string as the clientid, Sky was not giving me an IPv6 address. So far everything appears to be working really well and my problem with buffer bloat is a thing of the past.