Sagemcom 5366 TN and DHCP problems

[Pan_D]

Anybody else having DHCP problems with the new F@ST 5366 TN ('tower') wifi router?

Symptoms:

1. After a while of operation the DHCP server will stop giving out IP addresses to new devices. e.g. a mobile phone that was previously connected will fail to get an ip address when returning home. I've been monitoring this one at it fails during the DHCP handshake - all looks normal until the router fails to send a final 'DHCPACK' message to confirm allocation of the address.

2. DHCP settings aren't persisted after the device is rebooted, e.g. disable DHCP and reboot the router, DHCP is set to enabled again. Which is a pain when I'm trying to set up an alternative DHCP server that actually works.

Both of these look like firmware issues to me. Optus support are sending out a replacement device, will try that out, but wondering if others have had similar problems?

Cheers

[YetAnotherAcc]

I've only come across this other report of a DHCP problem and that was this morning. What  firmware version do you have on your 5366 ?

You should include your findings in that thread as its on Optus/firmware developers radar.

[hvorrath]

Hello there! I'm not sure how thrilled I should be to find that someone else is having exactly the same problems.  I'm not a network expert so it's taken me a while to deduce exactly what the problem was, but your description matches our experience exactly.

Maybe it increases our chances of Optus doing something to fix it. It's clearly a problem with the modem - our network was working fine until they swapped out our old cable modem for the Sagemcom 5366 when we connected to the NBN

[PeterPuddle]

Hi,
I have the same problem both with wifi and Ethernet connected devices. Spoke to Optus today and, after much running around, they are sending me a new modem. As it looks to be an inherent issue, I’m not confident that the issue will be resolved.

[hvorrath]

AFter more than an hour on the Optus chat line, I've been given the following information:

"Modem could assign only 16 IP address by the DHCP server including repeater. "

If this is true, then the 5366 is a piece of garbage. But it could explain our problems, as everything was OK until a friend came to stay, bringing two phones, a tablet and a notebook. It means we now have about 12 devices trying to connect, not 8.

If a device tries to get an IP address each time it connects, and the modem won't give it back the one it has already "leased", then you could exhaust the limit of 16 addresses even though you have less than 16 devices. Our modem is set to a 1 day lease for IP addresses, so when the leases expire, the devices can get an IP address and login again. So the problem is intermittent. And a pain in the posterior, especially as the only solution is to turn the modem off and on again, and when you do it does a factory reset and you lose all settings, including the SSID names and passwords, if you've changed them from the factory settings (as anyonr would that wants a recognisable name and a password they can remember).

[YetAnotherAcc]

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"Modem could assign only 16 IP address by the DHCP server including repeater. "

I can't believe this is true. It must be some miscommunication.

[hvorrath]

I find it incredible, but I cut and pasted that sentence directly from the Live chat. So either the person on the other end is ill-informed, or an idiot, or it's true.

One of the other failings of Optus is there is no opportunity when you finish a live chat session to get a record of the session by email (as most other chat facilities do). So you'll have to take my word for it. I did spend an hour and a half on the line, trying to convince the person on the other end that I simply could not do what was suggested, which was to connect all devices via the modem, not the repeaters. If we could do that, we wouldn't need the repeaters, as I kept pointing out. 

After an hour and a half I think I convinced the person on the chat line that I wasn't the only one having problems, and they should refer the issue to their Sagemcom support team. We will see what happens next. I'm seriously thinking that I should either change providers, or go buy a new router, preferably one that doesn't lose all settings when you turn it off and on again.

[YetAnotherAcc]

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I find it incredible, but I cut and pasted that sentence directly from the Live chat. So either the person on the other end is ill-informed, or an idiot, or it's true.

I think its a combination of ill-informed and severe comprehension problem (not just language difficulties).

I don't think I'm over exaggerating when I say just about ever conversation I've had with Optus they've had problems understanding something simple. 

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One of the other failings of Optus is there is no opportunity when you finish a live chat session to get a record of the session by email (as most other chat facilities do).

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And when you do manage to get them to send you one it is censored, anything with numbers in it has a high chance of the digits being replaced with x's . Its unbelievable. 

So you'll have to take my word for it.

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Don't doubt you for a second.

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I did spend an hour and a half on the line

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My record is about 4 hours I think.

After an hour and a half I think I convinced the person on the chat line that I wasn't the only one having problems, and they should refer the issue to their Sagemcom support team. We will see what happens next. 

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Their record of actually following through on actions is abysmal, and when they do I found it to be usually half-arsed .

The last chat I had with them I was organising to have the old overhead coax and roof pole removed. I was supposed to get a callback to arrange a time, get no response for two business days but had the tech rock up unannounced.

[hvorrath]

I could tell you all the problems we had getting the switch to NBN done, but it's just too boring.

[hvorrath]

Several devices wouldn't connect today. Turned the modemoff and on again. An hour or so later, the computer that connects via wifi is showing twice in the connected devices list with two different IP addresses. Interesting. It looks as though IP addresses are dropped if there is a period of inactivity. If this happens and there is a limit to the number that the DHCP can allocate, you could exhaust the limit more quickly.