A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP • Hacker News Board

Re: A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP

#161

Post by fireattack » Thu, Mar 26, 2020, 11:58 PM UTC

blakesterz wrote: post #3

Interesting read! There's actually 3 parts to this: Part 2: https://0x90.psaux.io/2020/03/19/Taking-Back-What-Is-Already... And 3: https://0x90.psaux.io/2020/03/22/Taking-Back-What-Is-Already... Summary from the end of Part 3: "So we managed to change passwords for both ssh and telnet, gain access to Root user for the web interface, changed that password too. We changed ACS URL to ours and remove the IP restrictions.…

The navigation arrows on top right corner seem to be backward. "Next" goes from 2 to 1, instead of 3.

Re: A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP

#162

Post by NickNameNick » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 12:27 AM UTC

ksec wrote: post #144

philg_jr wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typically, FTTH doesn't require a "modem". In my case, I have VZ Fios in the northeast US. Their termination point at my house has an RJ45 Ethernet connection. It goes directly to my pfSense router.

So they actually have an ONT somewhere and provides you with a RJ45 Ethernet port only? This is brilliant! Why aren't more ISP doing it? I dont want another ONT / Modem / piece of equipment in my flat.

Same in New Zealand.

There's a Huawei ONT fixed to the wall in the cupboard under the stairs, which is owned by the fibre network company.

I have a short length of cat6 connecting that to my own router, and the fibre network company patched the far end to my choice of ISP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-Fast_Broadband#Technolog...

Re: A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP

#163

Post by jacob019 » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 1:27 AM UTC

0xff00ffee wrote: post #147

Tourus wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> PPoE with my credentials which were somehow hardwired because no one ever told me my username/password They make it very hard to use your own "Box B", but I've set this up twice now (most recently last week). Get the username and password from CenturyLink (the tech that installs the service has this, or call them). Then, google search "century link vlan 201 wan tag". The trick is you need a router that has this fun…

Ah I see. My WRT1900AC doesn't have that option. I was running OpenWRT but ran into some issues and panicked back to the default firmware. Now that I have another wireless router I might dare it again.

OpenWRT is fantastic when you get used to it. I prefer the CLI but the GUI works well too.

Re: A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP

#164

Post by jacob019 » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 1:29 AM UTC

JackRabbitSlim wrote: post #133

0xff00ffee wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure my new CenturyLInk fiber router is similar. I tried to create a PPoE connection from my WRT1900 direclty to century link using the same credentials and I couldn't connect to my internet. However, now I am motivated to create a bridge and find out why. For CenturyLink fiber I have two boxes: Box A: the exterior fiber enters this box, the tech said it was a "translator"; and the port 4 ethernet on it go…

I had CL fiber. VLAN tagging; The vlan tagging value was so high, OpenWRT didn't support it so I was left with the useless middle box. Your mileage may very.

OpenWRT does support VLAN tagging, it's Linux. Maybe it's a hardware support issue.

Re: A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP

#165

Post by grecy » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 1:32 AM UTC

LeonM wrote: post #155

msla wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have Spectrum cable Internet. I use their modem, but I supply my own router, and they've never given me any trouble. In fact, they recently upgraded my modem (from a Scientific Atlanta 2203C to a Ubee E31U2V1) and they didn't send me a router. The Ubee E31U2V1, like the Scientific Atlanta 2203C before it, only has one Ethernet port, and their official guide to getting the new modem working involved rebooting an ext…

> I'm not going to be stupid and try to "uncap" my modem to get more speed I think this modem "uncapping" thing has mostly been an urban myth. Maybe there were some really early cable modem systems in the 90s where that would have been possible, but AFAIK with DOCSIS the speed is regulated by the CMTS [0], not the modems. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_modem_termination_system

> I think this modem "uncapping" thing has mostly been an urban myth. Maybe there were some really early cable modem systems in the 90s where that would have been possible, but AFAIK with DOCSIS the speed is regulated by the CMTS [0], not the modems.

It depends in precisely what CMTS is running, what firmware it has and the ISP's willingness to replace/upgrade old hardware at great expense.

At the last telco I worked for we had about 12 CMTS's, and 2 of them were holding up a bunch of upgrades because of their age. One of the things they specifically couldn't do was provision the speed of the individual circuits.

Re: A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP

#166

Post by r1ch » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 1:36 AM UTC

LeonM wrote: post #151

r1ch wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know if this applies to cable modems too? Are they required to allow a 3rd party modem that they normally wouldn't provide to customers?

I'm not completely sure about this, as I don't have a cable connection to my house (only fiber) so I never paid attention. But AFIAK the major cable providers here allow you to configure the supplied modem-router into passthrough mode (thus, only acting as a modem) so you can install your own router behind it. I have never met someone who attempted to install their own cable modem. I do know that the cable modulation…

I know some cable ISPs outside NL will allow it if your modem is from a reputable brand without any known issues (and compatible with whatever DOCSIS version they're using of course). Ziggo's "connectbox" modem/router even in bridge mode has quite poor latency stability so I was hoping I could use this law to persuade them to activate an Arris SURFboard or some other decent brand modem.

Re: A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP

#167

Post by jcrawfordor » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 2:40 AM UTC

0xff00ffee wrote: post #126

jason0597 wrote: post #27

It's funny to think that if you were to report all of your findings to your local newspaper (Turkish newspaper in this case), as to how Turkish ISPs have complete access to your router or how Huawei (China) has an SSH key for your router, people would go absolutely ballistic. But for us it's just another day of expected craziness and we're tired of talking about it

I'm pretty sure my new CenturyLInk fiber router is similar. I tried to create a PPoE connection from my WRT1900 direclty to century link using the same credentials and I couldn't connect to my internet. However, now I am motivated to create a bridge and find out why. For CenturyLink fiber I have two boxes: Box A: the exterior fiber enters this box, the tech said it was a "translator"; and the port 4 ethernet on it go…

"Box A" is an ONT or optical network terminal, which is really just a media converter with some additional intelligence related to how GPON schedules use of the media. It's more or less the same thing as an ADSL modem (actual modem only) except that GPON usually uses Ethernet while ADSL usually uses ATM. But both are used the other way sometimes.

For "Box B" you can use anything you wish as long as it supports PPPoE. Contact CenturyLink by phone or chat to tell them you need your PPP credentials, they'll have no trouble giving them to you. The only trick besides PPP is that CenturyLink usually uses a VLAN for customer equipment on their GPON, but that's pretty common with ethernet over ADSL as well so routers made for use with a DSL modem should have it in their UIs alongside the PPP info. Unfortunately most newer routers are made without this use case in mind so there may not be support, in which case you can always upgrade to something a little more configurable or use a computer as a router. You can ask the CSR for the VLAN ID but in every case I've seen it's 201.

I've done this a number of times and never had the CSR give me any trouble. They also don't seem to keep very good track of who has CL-owned CPE, I've ended up with "free" CenturyLink routers a couple of times because they fell through the cracks when switching to my own.

Re: A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP

#168

Post by grawlinson » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 3:14 AM UTC

LeonM wrote: post #30

In the Netherlands we now have a law where ISPs must allow your own choice of network equipment. This means they must give you the required information on how to connect your own device with their network. I have a fiber connection, which I connected directly to a Ubiquity router through a suitable SFP module. My ISP supplied the information on the fiber type and which VLAN ID's to setup for internet, TV and telephon…

It's the same in New Zealand, my particular ISP offers IPoE[0]. I have a repurposed PowerEdge R210II connected as a firewall/router.

[0]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPoE

Re: A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP

#169

Post by greatjack613 » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 4:25 AM UTC

Finally some proof that Huawei does have back doors in their network equipment.

In part 3 https://0x90.psaux.io/2020/03/22/Taking-Back-What-Is-Already... the author rights that a Huawei engineer has an authorized ssh key that would allow them to access your router.

Just Wow!

Re: A detailed look at the router provided by my ISP

#170

Post by PhantomGremlin » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 6:08 AM UTC

ksec wrote: post #144

philg_jr wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typically, FTTH doesn't require a "modem". In my case, I have VZ Fios in the northeast US. Their termination point at my house has an RJ45 Ethernet connection. It goes directly to my pfSense router.

So they actually have an ONT somewhere and provides you with a RJ45 Ethernet port only? This is brilliant! Why aren't more ISP doing it? I dont want another ONT / Modem / piece of equipment in my flat.

Usually (always?) the way FiOS works is that every subscriber gets his own ONT. That ONT can be configured to output network bits on either an RJ45 port or using MoCA.

For many people MoCA is more convenient because most houses and apartments are already wired for "cable", ie RG-6 for television purposes. FiOS is offered as a "triple play" service: internet, TV, and phone. Cable is the TV part of that.

There usually isn't an existing Cat 6 connection from the ONT to the living area of the "flat". (Except we don't have "flats" here in the USA). So Verizon will use MoCA to send bits to a more conveniently located wireless access point that they can also supply.

When Verizon installed my FiOS I didn't want to deal with MoCA or their access point, so I had them run Ethernet from the ONT to my den.

I'm not clear on your objection to an ONT. They way GPON works is that the ONT has to be somewhere nearby; if it's not in your flat it still has to be elsewhere in the apartment building.