[KingfisherUK]

UK Sentinel wrote:

As an update on DSL-AC88U / DSL-AC3100 /DSL-AC3100 Annex B Firmware progress, I spoke with ASUS this morning and unfortunately it appears that no new firmware will be available this side of Xmas.

Why can’t they just be honest and say they are abandoning this model and have no intention of releasing any more updates for it? This pointless dragging things out helps no-one and just devalues the brand further (if that is even possible now).

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[KingfisherUK]

bwj wrote:

Can anyone help with appropriate settings for ipv6? Unlike the previous iteration of the router (AC-68U) this one doesn’t give any options to change the lan prefix length to coordinate with BT as /56 rather than /64 I have it set in native mode and have tried messing around with the other settings (eg Static Ip) to no avail.

 

I fought with IPv6 on this router for months and in the end I gave up – it simply doesn’t work on BT Openreach services, either with the built in modem or an external Openreach one.

Oddly enough, I also have a Billion 8900AX-1600 R2 which has the same chipset and the same IPv6 issues…

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[KingfisherUK]

UK Sentinel wrote:

ASUS DSL team believe the next firmware will be released around Xmas time,

So basically, a whole year since the last update (14/12/2018). For what is a relatively highly priced “premium” piece of kit that is nothing short of disgraceful support.

A year between updates wouldn’t be too bad if it weren’t so riddled with bugs and issues in the first place! For some of these issues to go unfixed for a whole year is scandalous.

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[KingfisherUK]

Well, after some late night tinkering, I can conclusively say that IPv6 on the DSL-AC88U does NOT work AT ALL.

Router supposedly picks up an address with a /64 PD but nothing within my network works on IPv6 – IPv6-test.com completely fails with a score of 4/20.

Worse still, if Router Advertisement is turned on under the IPv6 options, all wireless devices drop and reestablish connection every 30 seconds or so.

Totally, utterly useless.

You’d think these log entries might give them a hint (these were in the logs I sent to Asus last time)

Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: No subnet6 declaration for br0 (fe80::b26e:bfff:fe87:b420).
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: ** Ignoring requests on br0. If this is not what
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: you want, please write a subnet6 declaration
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: in your dhcpd.conf file for the network segment
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: to which interface br0 is attached. **
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd:
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.info dhcpd:
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: Not configured to listen on any interfaces!
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd:
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: If you did not get this software from http://ftp.isc.org, please
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: get the latest from http://ftp.isc.org and install that before
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: requesting help.
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd:
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: If you did get this software from http://ftp.isc.org and have not
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: yet read the README, please read it before requesting help.
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: If you intend to request help from the dhcp-server@isc.org
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: mailing list, please read the section on the README about
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: submitting bug reports and requests for help.
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd:
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: Please do not under any circumstances send requests for
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: help directly to the authors of this software – please
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: send them to the appropriate mailing list as described in
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: the README file.
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd:
Jan 22 00:42:07 DSL-AC88U daemon.err dhcpd: exiting.

This unit has been a total waste of time and money…

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[KingfisherUK]

Going to try and have another play tonight; factory reset, re-apply 591 firmware and factory reset again, but sadly it’ll have to wait until later.

Daren’t risk disrupting a moody teenager playing FIFA…

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[KingfisherUK]

UK Sentinel wrote:

I have eventually had feedback from ASUS and they are looking to implement MU-MIMO in or around June this year and for IPV6 /56 – it is looking very much like this is not achievable. ;-(

That’s disappointing to say the least.

However, a strange turn of events: plugged my BT SmartHub back in (I seem to have a stuck VDSL profile so tested with BT supplied kit), and it reports /64 and IPv6 works, IPv6-test.com scores 19/20 (only ICMP fails). Go back to OpenReach modem and RT-AC66U, it reports /56 and IPv6 works, IPv6-test.com score 20/20.

Need to try again with the DSL-AC88U (probably using the Openreach modem to avoid more re-syncs) but I genuinely can’t make heads or tails of this IPv6 issue any more…

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[KingfisherUK]

That’s great news, thanks for the assist

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[KingfisherUK]

That’s the one.

I’m sure when I ran it with the RT-AC66U (admittedly, running RMerlin) that was 56, and BT definitely use /56.

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[KingfisherUK]

Got a BT SmartHub (v1) and a HG612 Openreach modem which I can use with my old RT-AC66U and both pickup /56 and work perfectly.

Not good news about the Netgear, really does look like it’s a no-go with this chipset. Oh well, guess the one-box solution is out the window then…

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[KingfisherUK]

Same conclusion I came to, which suggests it’s an inherent “feature” of the chipset itself. If so, that basically renders any device based on it useless on BT VDSL services.

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[KingfisherUK]

UK Sentinel wrote:

Billion are usually very good when it comes to DSL related kit.

Which is exactly why I was surprised to find the same issue.

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[KingfisherUK]

Interesting find re: the IPv6 issue I (and others) have been having on BT VDSL; I now think the issue may lie with the chipset itself.

I’ve got my hands on a Billion 8900AX-1600 R2 to play with which is (I believe) based on the same Broadcom chipset as the DSL-AC88U and weirdly enough it seems to have exactly the same issue – either via the build in DSL modem OR external BT Openreach modem, it detects the PD as 64, not 56 as it should be.

Could just be coincidence…

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[KingfisherUK]

That’s what I suspected but nice to have it confirmed it’s not just me being stupid ;-)

Smart Hub works fine with IPv6 as does an Openreach modem with an Asus RT-AC66U running RMerlin. If you haven’t already done so, it might be worth mentioning the IPv6 issue in your feedback as well – the more of us that report it, the better.

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[KingfisherUK]

@KitsuneDave Curious to know if you’ve tried IPv6? I’m also on BT and simply can’t get it to work – it picks up the wrong PD (/64 instead of /56) and when it’s enabled the wifi constantly drops and reconnects on all devices.

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[KingfisherUK]

Got a reply re: my IPv6 feedback and it’s a new low:

Please try configure with following. Thanks.

IPV6 – switch auto-config to disabled (Connection type also DISABLED)

So I tell them IPv6 doesn’t work and makes WiFi crash, send them my logs and their fix is basically “turn off IPv6”. (Bear in mind, in my feedback report I even told them that setting both options to disabled allowed the connection to stabilise but with no IPv6).

Is it any wonder it’s taken so long to get to where we are now?

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