Using my own router instead of Sky supplied

[AJCrowley]

Hey everyone,

I am currently using my own router for my Sky connection. I am able to hold on to the IP issued to my Sky router my cloning the MAC address on my own router. However, since Sky only issues a DHCP lease with a 24 hour TTL, I have to connect my Sky router for a minute every day to get a fresh IP. It's not the end of the world, and I am using my own router without having to deal with the issues of a NAT behind a NAT, but it would be a whole lot more convenient if I didn't have to plug in the Sky router every day.

My router is a Cudy BE11000, which is not currently listed as officially supported by OpenWRT firmware, and it has no settings for DHCP Option 60 or Option 61. I'd be fine running the connection through the Sky router if I could put it in bridge mode so that my Cudy had a real internet IP instead of a NAT IP from the Sky router, but I can't seem to find a way to do that.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I could work my way around this? ChatGPT had me messing with a Raspberry Pi 5 to act as a bridge, but the USB 3 ethernet dongle does not support the speeds I need, and I couldn't get it to work anyway, despite using tcpdump to get the exact comms between the Sky router and their fibre hub to try to clone the DHCP lease request. It turned into a bit of a dead end for me, despite ChatGPT's constant assurance that I was "almost there" every step of the way.

Any and all help appreciated. As I've said, it's not the end of the world to have to connect my Sky router to the ONT box every 24 hours, but it would be preferable to avoid the song and dance. Any solution with the aforementioned combination of equipment that doesn't exact a speed penalty on my internet connection would be preferable to the current situation, so I'd be extremely grateful to anyone who is able to help me get this working so that I can put Sky's router back in its box for good.

Thanks for any help, and thanks to anyone that bothered to even read this far.

Cheers,

AJ

[AJCrowley]

Just as a point of interest and possible way in, my router does expose configuration for TR069, which search engines inform me will allow me to send the Option 61 credentials payload with the DHCP request, but I cannot find any guide for how to actually accomplish this.

[JimM1]

@AJCrowley You may just wish to say how you have the wan setup on that router, using my Asus connected direct on the ONT, NO mac fudging and NO Option 60/61 either, ipv6 working fine ipv4 also working fine. wan ip renewall taken care off by the Asus. Need to go look at your second question!

TR069 sky's method off checking speed to the hub, irrelevant you are not using there gear so who cares, you just need to make sure your hub is working correctly and at all times, address any issues that crop up if any.

[JimM1]

@AJCrowley Asus wan setup incase it sparks something against what ever you have.

Asus wan setup direct to ONT.

[AJCrowley]

Thanks for the answer. I ended up ordering a GL.iNet GL-MT3000 router from Amazon. It's low power, will handle the Option 61 request, and run as a transparent bridge, giving my Cudy a proper public IP (avoiding the NAT in a NAT situation). I'd have loved to resolve the issue with just the hardware I've got, and without having to plug the Sky router in every 24 hours, but this will do the job just fine. The firmware should natively support everything that I want, but even if not, it's OpenWRT compatible, so that should fix all of my problems.

Cheers.

[Chrisee · Accepted solution]

@AJCrowley there are 2 different methods of authentication Sky uses. the DHcP v4 Option 61 method you mention and the alternative DHCPv6 PD which around 80% of Openreach lines support, its down to who made the exchange kit. Online sources indicate Cudy routers offer support for DHCPv6 PD which requires no logon string so it is worth checking out.

[AJCrowley]

Thank you. I've enabled this in my router and rebooted, but Sky isn't giving me an IP. I think the bridge router is probably going to be the answer for me. Suggestion is much appreciated though, doesn't hurt to give it a shot!

[JimM1]

@AJCrowley You know if you were to post your wan and ip6 screen's from the router something may just be spotted, working in the dark just is too hard! 

If you did not get it the screen capture unless you cannot view it has Zero/nada/ of any the options turned on!

[AJCrowley]

Note: I've changed the IPv6 method from DHCP V6 to relay and it's working again. Whether it will hold or not we'll see, but I'll keep playing with it and see if I can get anywhere. Thanks again!

[JimM1]

@AJCrowley Asus ip6 control.

Asus ip6 settings

[AJCrowley]

Just so you're not working blind, here's the config available to me for IPv4 and IPv6, hopefully this helps. I've currently set the IPv6 to Dynamic IP DHCPv6 and cloned the MAC address of my Sky router. It's working for now, but I haven't had my latest IP lease expire yet, we'll see what happens when that rolls around. Hope that this is helpful, and if you need any more info, just let me know what you need.

Thanks again for the help, I'm really impressed with how quickly people are responding with helpful suggestions, it's very much appreciated. I don't have permission to upload images, and when linking to a free hosting service, it won't let me post with "invalid HTML", even though I'm using the image button from the toolbar, so you can view the images here:

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Moderator notes: Removed 3rd party links

[AJCrowley]

It appears to have deleted my last reply, hopefully I'm not double posting here, but here's my IPv6 config, currently using Dynamic IP (DHCPv6) with MAC address cloned from Sky router, we'll see what happens when DHCP lease expires next tomorrow.

My IPv6 options:

 And a general view of the options available to me in the advanced config screen:

Under "General Settings" where the WAN config lives, the only options available to me are protocol (DHCP,  PPPoE, Static IP,  L2TP, and PPTP), and under DHCP I have the option to clone the MAC address and set a value for MTU. For such a pricey router it lacks a lot of advanced configuration options, and doesn't openly support OpenWRT, though I must say that I'm very happy with the overall performance of the unit.

If there's anything else you want to see what options I have available to me, just let me know and I'll post the info as quickly as I'm able.

Hopefully the IPv6 setting will allow my router to grab an IP when the time comes. If not, I'll have that second router tomorrow which I can use as a bridge between the ONT box and my router, which is a pricier solution, but will at least save me the hassle of switching the ONT box cable every day and powering on the Sky router while it assigns me a fresh IP.

Again, I'm really impressed with how quick to help the people on this board are, and I'm really grateful for all of the tips, hopefully one of them pans out.

[AJCrowley]

Oh, and just for reference, the OpenReach connection (FTTP) was installed in February of this year if that makes any difference, so I would imagine it's running whatever the latest version of their firmware/software is. I've really got my fingers crossed for the IPv6 solution coming through for me, Amazon are going to hate me for the amount of stuff I return if that turns out to be the case!

[2muchTV]

@AJCrowley from reading the threads I am not sure if you have tried running the Cudy BE11000 in AP mode? Might be worth a try.

While I am not using Sky for my internet, the set I am suggesting would be similar to yours viz.  Sky router connected to Cudy via ethernet lead. You should be able to disable the WiFi on the Sky hub and leave the Cudy to send the WiFi signal.

Like @JimM1  I had originally connected my Asus XT9 directly to the ONT which gives me the full features of the Asus systtem. However, I prefer using my XT9s in  AP mode. AP mode does mean I have lost use of a number of Asus mesh features, and I have an extra router hub (Zyxel DX3301)  to power and hide.

However, I like the fact that  my home network is now behind 2 firewalls, the workload of the network is shared between the Zyxel and Asus.

I

[2muchTV]

@AJCrowley Forgot to add the following link in case you are not aware https://www.cudy.com/blogs/faq/how-to-configure-cudy-wi-fi-router-as-an-access-point