Third party router with FTTP

[AHubbert]

Hi

Just wondering if anyone has had any success in connecting a third party router to sky FTTP? 

I've just tried every setting under the sun with a D-Link DIR-X1860 and no joy

[TimmyBGood]

@AHubbert 

Assuming you are in the UK, as with other forms of Sky broadband any non-Sky router has to present generic Sky credentials using MER, not the more usual PPPoE.  Many models cannot do this.

[AHubbert]

Can you recommend a good router that will do this? The hub just isn't working for us at all in terms of wireless performance and video calling performance too

[Chrisee]

@TimmyBGood fortunately Sky use PPOE on FTTP routers not MER.

@AHubbert FTTP is very new with Sky and so far there have been few people reporting experiences. In theory a third party router with an Ethernet WAN port should work if it can authenticate the connection. Unfortunately Sky give no technical information so we simply dont know the answer.

It should be poosible to extract the user account detaiils from the Sky Hub with a utility like Wireshark. Really interested to learn if you can sort this.

[AHubbert]

@Chrisee  I've never used wireshark before but I will give it a go. What am I looking for in the data? Do I connect my computer with wireshark to a LAN port or the WAN port on the router?

thanks!

[Chrisee]

@AHubbert never had to do get the password myself but if you search there are various You Tube guides and walk throughs.

I would just try without a log in at all to start with then with a user name like anything@skydsl (which is the one that works with FTTC) as the BT system just needs a default user name and I suspect Sky maybe the same. Really only guessing as I don't have fibre myself. 

[CyberFriday]

@AHubbert  I'm not sure with the fttp service what capability sky provide in the  way of a modem or modem/router.

If they have provided a modem/router and their device has an Ethernet  port on it then you could connect that to one of Draytek's routers (any with have a WAN Ethernet port) and then configure the draytek for static or dynaic ip for that wan port. Your sky modem/router should handle the authentication. 

The Draytek devices may be overkill and other brands may be cheaper. But, my 2860 fixes the soundropouts being discussed over here.  I didn't buy the the router just to solve this problem I have had it for several years now. 

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Q/Sound-cutting-out/m-p/3542005#M385422

[TimmyBGood]

@Chrisee 

Do they? The physical connection is the WANoE port on the Hub, but that's not the same thing.  Authentication is against Sky as with other broadband, despite the presence of the Openreach ONT.

[TimmyBGood]

@CyberFriday 

FTTP uses an Openreach ONT as modem, with output to the ISP or third party router over ethernet.  This is standard for all wholesale FTTP on the Openreach network no matter who the ISP is.

[Chrisee]

@TimmyBGood I am going by the hub stats that have been posted not that they tell you much of course. 

[AHubbert]

Right some progress!!

I can confirm after some wireshark snooping that we do have a option 61 string and therefore looks like they are still using this for authentication as I have a  skydsl username and password there. 

The router from d-link still doesn't work despite these settings but it doesn't have an option for option 61 support therefore I reckon this is the problem?

[CyberFriday]

@TimmyBGood  So, with Sky's fttp what is the sky hub device they provide ? I know the Sky q hub that came with my package, fttc, has no provision to connect the fttp ONT modem to it. So, presumably Sky's fttp hub has an Ethernet WAN port and the hub does MER for the authentication ?  If that's the case then @AHubbert could simply connect the ONT modem to the Draytek's wan port and configure mer as we do on the fttc service.  Or configure the 3rd party router with whichever authentication method is required. 

[AHubbert]

@CyberFriday 

They provide the new sky hub (SR203) which does have a WAN port. 

I think I've found out that it does do MER for authentication therefore will need a router that supports this. The current router I was trying is D-Link DIR-X1860 but can't seem to set that up so I presume it doesn't support option 61 ('MER')

[CyberFriday]

@AHubbert  You should be able to connect one of the sky hub's Ethernet ports to your dlink's wan Ethernet port then configure the dlink for static/dynamic ip. If you do switch to a mer compatible 3rd party router then remember sky won't support 3rd party devices. So, for troubleshooting with sky you will have to switch back to the sky hub.

[AHubbert]

@CyberFriday I don't want to double router as double NAT will not play well with my Xbox one. I'm looking into a MER compatible router. I'm aware of the no support for third party devices and that doesn't bother me. The Wi-Fi drop off meaning from 100mb/s at the hub I get about 10mb/s upstairs does bother me haha