netgear dgnd3700 and sky fibre broadband

[jjsmith72]

Hi All,

i've got a netgear dgnd3700 and can't get it working with the sky fibre optic broadband that was installed today. it worked fine when i was on the old sky broadband but not the fibre one, i have the user/password from the sky router in the config the dngnd3700 but no luck just.


thanks in advanced

[jmizoguchi]

you need to buy new router that is NOT DGNxxx models (non dsl modem built-in )

[ggift_1029]

Is sky fibre optic broadband an adsl connection or a vdsl?? if vdsl, then it will surely not work!

[jjsmith72]

the router has a gigabit/fibre connection on it plus my fibre optic broadband goes thought a openreach fibre modem before it connects to to my dgnd3700 so no need to buy a new router. what i need is the dgnd3700 to support mer.

[theTechman05]

Why shoild the dgnd need to support if your modem is taking care of it? I'd think depending which dhcp device your using that you plug into the wan port or other gigabit port to use the dhcp on the router(disabled on dgnd if not in wan port)

Thats my thought for now...tbc

[jmizoguchi]

I will NOT work. BUY NEW ROUTER

Fiber is NOT DSL therefore you will NEED to BUY NEW ROUTER unless ISP provided you with new modem/router unit them you can SALVAGE the DGNxx as an acess point

[theTechman05]

I thought OP was already using it as an access pont. Are the packets that different that he can't use it as a router? As long as your not trying to put a fiber cable into the dgnd 3700 though it being an expencive use of it.

[theTechman05]

jmizoguchi wrote:
Fiber is NOT DSL therefore you will NEED to BUY NEW ROUTER unless ISP provided you with new modem/router unit them you can SALVAGE the DGNxx as an acess point

You do remember this modem/router has a phone port and a gigabit WAN port right?

[Scubbie]

There are two ways to use the DGND3700 on the Sky Fibre Unlimited package.

You can piggyback the router to the Sky router, leaving the Sky router to manage the LAN, with the DGND3700 as a WiFi access point. However you won't get the full benefits of the DGND3700:

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/asking-help/41883-how-connect-two-routers-together.html

The alternative would be to to allow the DGND3700 to control your LAN and to place it's Ethernet WAN port's IP Address in the Sagem 2504N's (Sky router) DMZ Server settings.

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/asking-help/42110-using-dlink-dir613.html

Some members have been successful in connecting the DGND3700 directly to BT Infinity. This is because the can put in the log in details in the DGND3700 and it is recognised by the BT Infinity servers. Sadly Sky uses a non-standard MER system. Billion has just released a Beta firmware for some of their Cable routers and people are now able to use these without the Sagem 2504N.

I know a few people who have successfully connected the DGND3700 using the 2nd method described above. It does mean that you need to have the BTO Modem, Sagem 2504N and DGND3700 all connected though.

[jjsmith72]

Thanks for all your replys and thankyou scubbie for helping me configure my router properly.

I just hope that one day i could connect directly to the netgear dgnd3700 without the need of going though the sagem router.

maybe some filmware update that would allow the netgear router to work the same as sky router. 🙂

[theTechman05]

Probably won't happen but we can wish. I tried to do a search for a router that takes in fiber and it seems even the netgear 4500 still needs a modem to plug into, though the funny thing its advertised as a fiber router.

Maybe fibers again something different in the U.K since I keep thinking that mean they'll run the fiber to my home and then out with Ethernet or wireless though the U.K site I tripped over had a dsl/vdsl connection on them.

heres a quoter at the bottom of their page

"broadbandbuyer.co.uk" www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.asp?ProductID=13682]A

BT Infinity Router can only be used via an Openreach Modem (supplied by BT). A BT Infinity Router (Fibre Router) does not have a built-in modem and is primarily used with the Openreach Modem, the Ethernet Fibre modem that is supplied by BT. The BT Infinity Router must be fed the Fibre broadband connection via an Ethernet cable. Should you need to expand the number of ports to add additional devices to the BT Infinity Router you'll need to use an Ethernet Switch.

[Scubbie]

Apologies for the misunderstanding.

You are correct in stating that none of the Netgear routers will replace the BTO FTTC Modem, or the BTO FTTP Modem.

However connecting the DGND3700 via the WAN Port to the Modem does allow you to connect using directly to BT's Servers if you happen to have BT Infinity or BT Infinity 2. It is the router that connects to the servers and confirms the authentication.

However with Sky they use a non-standard version or MER on both their ADSL and FTTC products. On ADSL it is possible to use PPPoA in many cases, but a few lines are now locked and you can't use PPPoA any more.

With their FTTC product it is only possible to connect using MER which the DGND3700 doesn't support.

Billion has recently included Sky's MER in their ADSL firmware for a few routers. They are now Beta testing Sky's MER for FTTC connections. This would still require the BTO Modem to be used in order to connect to the local exchange.

As for routers that have built in Modems for an FTTC connection, there is one that is compatible with BTO's FTTC connection. I can't recall which it is but personally I wouldn't recommend it as BTO are responsible for everything from the exchange to the Modem.

[ProjectVRD]

jmizoguchi wrote:
I will NOT work. BUY NEW ROUTER Fiber is NOT DSL therefore you will NEED to BUY NEW ROUTER unless ISP provided you with new modem/router unit them you can SALVAGE the DGNxx as an acess point

Actually that is not the reason at all why the DGND3700 will not work with Sky Fibre lines. Whilst you may know a bit about Netgear products it appears you have a long way to go before understanding ISPs.

Sky uses Fibre to the cabinet only, the remaining mile as they call it is good old fashion copper and the DGND3700 is in theory more than capable of being compatible, the only problem is that whilst other manufacturers are busy updating their firmwares to make their product range work with Sky Fibre's MER encap,... Netgear have shown little interest in doing serious work to update the DGND3700 (and others in the DGND series) at any point in it's shelf life.

Netgear would be the ones to fix the issue, but getting them to do that is much easier said than done. Shame, because they make nice kit and probably the best layout as far as the built in setting menu is concerned.

[jmizoguchi]

Someone probably didn't explain well....

[Scubbie]

To cut a log story short, the issue of using non-Sky routers on Sky's FTTC connections has been resolved and there is no hope of getting the DGND3700 or DGND3700v2 to work.

MER is only present on the ADSL network, but the Sky routers report MER when on Sky's Fibre network.

You need to be able to use "Option #60" or "Option #61" to carry the password. The other is the vendor information and isn't required.

This is available on a handful on routers with their respective native firmware, but not any from Netgear.

However...

If you were to install a customer firmware such are DD-WRT, OpenWRT or Tomato on the router, then you can put in the correct details and get a non-Sky router to work on their Fibre network.

Sadly at the time of me posting this none of the custom firmwares are available for the DGND3700 or DGND3700v2 so we are back to square one: The DGND3700 will not connect directly to the telephone socket for Sky Fibre or via the BTO Modem.

The good news is that is you have a Netgear cable router (i.e. WNDR3700, WNDR3800) you can connect via the BTO Modem.

There are various guides here:

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-broadband-fibre-help/

The good news is that someday this may all change. After the Sky takeover of Be & O2 broadband there have been some promises to allow people to use their own routers. I don't know if this will remain exclusively on the ADSL connections or whether it will include both. At the present time I have no further information (i.e. when, how, what with, etc.).

[richud]

Can anyone using my firmware please let me know if they can get it working? (I can add a function for it if so.)
I think the relevant things are ;
It already has udhcpc for mer (dhcp options 60/61 ?)
The WAN port is eth0. The MAC can be changed (i.e. cloned) like 'ip link set dev eth0 address XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX'.

I don't have fibre to try & I may be missing something about requirements as have no experience of it - so apologies if this post is misguided.

[Scubbie]

Well done for this.

For the record you only need to use Option 61 to pass the login name and password.

You do not need to use option 60 which passes the Sky router's firmware version, nor do you need to spoof the MAC address.

There will be a delay of up to 60 minutes if you swap between routers on Sky's Fibre network. This is to do with the IP lease set up which Sky uses. Spoofing the MAC Address may eliminate this issue, but it isn't a reason to force it.

As for MER, this is a red herring on the Fibre network. Sky uses PPPoE for the Fibre connection. Yes I know that their routers report MER on Fibre connections, but it is irrelevant.

Please feel free to post a link to your firmware on the SkyUser forum. If you have an issue doing this, let me know.