Modem not sensing CenturyLink signal

[slanerj]

We have CenturyLink VDSL service and bought a Nighthawk AC1900 modem router to replace an older modem router that, although it worked, often dropped signal.

I have setup the Nighthawk per the instructions and have plugged in the phone cord (including DSL filter) as directed. However, after restarting the modem twice, it still does not pick up the DSL signal — the twisted pair light on modem is unlit and the NETGEAR router setup utility does not detect a signal. We used to have Qwest (pre-CenturyLink) and I tried that setting as well, but the result is the same. 

Also, to be clear, the problem is not that I cannot log in; the problem is that the modem does not detect a DSL signal.

I know that we have a good VDSL signal because our old modem picks it up immediately. Any thoughts as to why the Nighthawk cannot connect?

[slanerj · Accepted solution]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

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@slanerj wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I called CenturyLink and was told that our VDSL is not bonded

That's not what this user found:

Solved: Re: How to set up D7000 modem router to CenturyLin... - NETGEAR Communities

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I have had two CenturyLink technical personnel tell me that our line is not bonded, but I am perfectly willing to accept that they are either wrong or don't really know. In any case, my D7000 certainly is acting like our VDSL line is bonded. In the meantime, our old modem remains a modem and the D7000 is a router, and this configuration works well. And the broadcast strength of the D7000 has been a vast improvement over our previous system. I am going to leave well enough alone and consider this problem resolved.

Thanks to all for the feedback.

[ErnestTheGreat]

@slanerj Do you happen to know what type of VDSL service you have with CenturyLink? Also what was the model of the previous CenturyLink modem router you were using?

There is couple of reasons why your D7000 may not be picking up the signal. Issues with VDSL line, your connection could be a bonded VDSL connection or CenturyLink is using vectoring DSLAM setup. We already ruled out issue with VDSL signal and wiring as you mentioned your previous modem works just fine. So you need to contact CenturyLink and get more info on the connection type they are providing you.

If your connection with CenturyLink is a bonded VDSL connection the D7000 modem router will not work for you as Netgear xDSL modem routers do not support bonded VDSL connections.

Bonded VDSL connection means that 2 standard VDSL lines are used to create a single virtual connection to increase performance. You can find out more info about it in this KB written by Netgear https://kb.netgear.com/30296/What-is-VDSL-Bonding

If your connection is a standard VDSL connection but CenturyLink has enabled vectoring DSLAM feature the D7000 should support vectoring but CenturyLink may have their own way of implementing it that could cause issue. In this case your best bet is to reach out to tech support and let them know what is going on exactly. If you are faced with issues in contacting support you can also reach out to one of the Netgear moderators

[antinode]

> I have setup the Nighthawk per the instructions and have plugged
> in the phone cord (including DSL filter) as directed. [...]

   What, exactly, are you doing with the DSL filter?  Are you doing the
same thing with it when you test the "our old modem"?  A DSL filter is
required for equipment other than a DSL modem (like, say, a telephone).

[slanerj]

Thanks for the reply. I called CenturyLink and was told that our VDSL is not bonded and does not use vectoring DSLAM. They also tested our line and confirmed that service was OK, which I knew because older modem works.

I will call NETGEAR tech support and see what they can do.

[slanerj]

Filter setup is the same for both modems and reflects the configuration recommended by NETGEAR documents.

[ErnestTheGreat]

@slanerj I know this may be a dumb question but are you using the filter that came with D7000 or your old filter?  If you are using the D7000 filter can you try your old filter if you have it handy and see if anything changes. Also what happens if you plug in the D7000 directly to the phone port does the DSL sync led light up?

If the D7000 is still not working after all the suggestions I would call Netgear support and have the case escalted to L2 so they can provide you with debug FW to debug the issue further at the DSL driver level and see why the sync is not happening.

[slanerj]

I know this may be a dumb question but are you using the filter that came with D7000 or your old filter?  If you are using the D7000 filter can you try your old filter if you have it handy and see if anything changes. Also what happens if you plug in the D7000 directly to the phone port does the DSL sync led light up?

If the D7000 is still not working after all the suggestions I would call Netgear support and have the case escalted to L2 so they can provide you with debug FW to debug the issue further at the DSL driver level and see why the sync is not happening.

After spending 45 minutes on the phone with NETGEAR, and after trying new filter, old filter and no filter, the tech I was working with agreed that I had a defective modem. Replacement is on order. As a temporary workaround, I plugged DSL line into old modem, and connected old modem to D7000 via Ethernet. That works.

[w3wilkes]

It seems like Netgear had a problem with the original D7000 and Centurylink VDSL. I think one of the main goals behind the release of the D7000v2 modem/router was to address the centurylink VDSL problem. The v2 does work with Centurylink VDSL, but still does not support bonded VDSL. Don't know if it supports Centurylink vectoring though.

[slanerj]

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@w3wilkes wrote:

It seems like Netgear had a problem with the original D7000 and Centurylink VDSL. I think one of the main goals behind the release of the D7000v2 modem/router was to address the centurylink VDSL problem. The v2 does work with Centurylink VDSL, but still does not support bonded VDSL. Don't know if it supports Centurylink vectoring though.

NETGEAR tech support decided that I had a defective D7000 modem, so I ordered a replacment, which arrived over the weekend. I installed it and got the same result: Modem did not pick up VDSL signal and DSL light on modem never activated. CenturyLink says that our VDSL line is not bonded and does not use DSLAM vectoring. It is possible that CenturyLink is wrong, or there is some other incompatibility at work here. In any case, I have hardwired our old TP-Link modem to the D7000, and use the D7000 wireless system to broadcast to the house (D7000 wifi is better than TP-Link wifi). This is not ideal, but it works.  

[ErnestTheGreat]

The D7000, D7000v2 and other netgear xDSL gateways support G993.5 Vectoring from the factory as majority  of xDSL ISPs in Europe and Australia have been utilizing vectoring DSLAM technology for quiet sometime now CenturyLink is only playing catch up now with rest of the world. It might be possible that CenturyLink is implementing vectoring in a different way that could be cause of the issue. 

@slanerj What is the speed of the service you are subscribed to with CenturyLink? Do you know which VDSL2 profile your connection is using? Is it 35b?

[slanerj]

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ErnestTheGreat wrote: 

@slanerj What is the speed of the service you are subscribed to with CenturyLink? Do you know which VDSL2 profile your connection is using? Is it 35b?

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Thanks for the reply. Maximum speed of our DSL is supposed to be 12 mbps down and 1 mbps up. Of course, actual speeds are rarely that high. Your question about VDSL2 profile is getting into territory I don't know well. I can tell you that when I configured the TP-Link modem that we currently use, I had to manually change the VID to 201 in order to get the modem to sync with CenturyLink. The default is 8/35 or 0/32, neither of which work. Beyond that, I don't have too much other information.

[slanerj]

Update:

I decided to give D7000 configuration another try, but opted to do so manually. I discovered that the default settings are for ADSL, not VDSL. I changed it to VDSL and the modem immediately detected the VDSL signal (light turned on white). I then changed the VLANID to 201, per CenturyLink instructions. I also entered login and password information for our CenturyLink account, and then restarted the modem. Altlhough the modem continued to detect the VDSL signal (white DSL light), it was unable to log in and connect to the Internet (Internet light orange). There may be other settings I need to change/adjust to get it working. Not sure yet what those might be.

[antinode]

> [...] There may be other settings I need to change/adjust to get it
> working. [...]

   With my weak psychic powers, I can't see if you set everything on
your modem page to agree with the CenturyLink instructions, but a good
"DSL" indicator is a good sign that the low-level DSL stuff is right.

   Assuming that that's true, one more possibility would be that
bug-ridden firmware in the modem+router is corrupting your PPP
user/password credentials.  If these contain any non-alphanumeric
characters ("<", "$", ";", and so on), then you may need to employ a
work-around:

      https://community.netgear.com/t5/x/x/m-p/1370397

   Since that time, I got a private message from a fellow with a D7000v2
(1.0.0.40), who claimed that he observed the problem (but adding five
backslashes to his PPP password did the job), so the bug appears to be
wide-spread.

[slanerj]

Assuming that that's true, one more possibility would be that
bug-ridden firmware in the modem+router is corrupting your PPP
user/password credentials.  If these contain any non-alphanumeric
characters ("<", "$", ";", and so on), then you may need to employ a
work-around:

My CenturyLink login is an email address, so non-alphanumeric characters there are "@" and "." CenturyLink password is all-alphanumeric. I did notice, after I entered CenturyLink login and password, and reset the modem, that the password disappeared from the password field in the NETGEAR modem utility. I am not sure if this is a default action of the modem to maintain password security, or if it is a sign that the password is somehow being corrupted, as has been suggested. 

[michaelkenward]

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I did notice, after I entered CenturyLink login and password, and reset the modem, that the password disappeared from the password field in the NETGEAR modem utility.

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Which password field in the NETGEAR modem utility? There are several.

[slanerj]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

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Which password field in the NETGEAR modem utility? There are several.

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See attached. 

[michaelkenward]

OK. That's the ISP login password.

[michaelkenward]

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@slanerj wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I called CenturyLink and was told that our VDSL is not bonded

That's not what this user found:

Solved: Re: How to set up D7000 modem router to CenturyLin... - NETGEAR Communities

[slanerj · Accepted solution]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

---

@slanerj wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I called CenturyLink and was told that our VDSL is not bonded

That's not what this user found:

Solved: Re: How to set up D7000 modem router to CenturyLin... - NETGEAR Communities

---

I have had two CenturyLink technical personnel tell me that our line is not bonded, but I am perfectly willing to accept that they are either wrong or don't really know. In any case, my D7000 certainly is acting like our VDSL line is bonded. In the meantime, our old modem remains a modem and the D7000 is a router, and this configuration works well. And the broadcast strength of the D7000 has been a vast improvement over our previous system. I am going to leave well enough alone and consider this problem resolved.

Thanks to all for the feedback.