RT-AX88U pppoe dropouts

[John8oy]

Hello. Been using this router solid on Virgin Media for about a year. I’ve now switched to CityFibre on Vondafone Gigafast plan using my RT-AX88U. Had to manually configure the pppoe with supplied username and password, and also have to add an IPTV value to make it work, unsure why but then authenticates and get good speeds. HOWEVER, the router drops out on average once a day, get red light on front of router and the pppoe has deauthed. The separate fibre modem is always healthy green lights. The only way to restore internet service is to reboot the ASUs router.
Vodafone have check the line and all is good, internet service remains constant if I use their supplier router. It’s driving me nuts!
I’m running the latest Merlin firmware 386.5 and have done a full factory reset before applying the new firmware. I read some old posts suggesting to spoof MAC address, tried that be didn’t work
Any help or advise welcome, Here’s what I get in the logs
Deauth_ind macaddress, status: 0, reason: Unspecified reason (1)



Deauth_ind macaddress, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3)



Disassoc macaddress, status: 0, reason: Disassociated because sending station is leaving (or has left) BSS (8)



Deauth_ind macaddress, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3)

 

[Spartan]

same here, been like this since the day I got it despite trying all firmware. So what I ended up doing is to use it as a router extender and connecting my IP phone to is solely and setting it up my VPN in it so the phone would work and I an using a cheap but good Netgear AX6 (RAX50) router as the main router, not one disconnection ever. This experience has left a sour taste in my mouth for ASUS router.

If you search this forum you will find a big thread about disconnections with the AX88

 

[John8oy]

Thanks for the reply mate. I feared this might be the case. I might try ASUs support to see if it could be covered on warranty as it’s not fit for purpose. Shame really as on paper it’s a cracking router, and handles VPN really well - reason I got it. Was maybe hoping Merlin himself might have a magical solution

 

[John8oy]

What’s often notable when the connection drops is the Wi-Fi ssid auth also fails, so it’s as thought part of the system is crashing

 

[John8oy]

@Spartan I have a ASUs TUF router which I could make the primary and move to 88u to the AImesh node. But then I lose the VPN performance is there a way to use the 88U as the VPN when it’s not doing the core routing?

 

[L&LD]

You need to first flash the firmware you want to use, then do a full reset afterward.

 

[Spartan]

@Spartan I have a ASUs TUF router which I could make the primary and move to 88u to the AImesh node. But then I lose the VPN performance is there a way to use the 88U as the VPN when it’s not doing the core routing?

no. I set up my VPN in the ASUS router and set its mode as an access point and connected my IP Phone to it. This way, when it does drop the connection, only my phone goes offline for sometime but at least I am using my laptop just fine with internet as it is connected to the Netgear AX6 router. This is the best setup for me for now.

 

[John8oy]

Ok, so my only use case for VPN is my Apple TV. If I were to us my ASUs TUF as the core router, and make my AX88u an AP, it could still run a VPN client and my Apple TV would go down the tunnel if connected to it?

 

[Spartan]

Ok, so my only use case for VPN is my Apple TV. If I were to us my ASUs TUF as the core router, and make my AX88u an AP, it could still run a VPN client and my Apple TV would go down the tunnel if connected to it?

correct, and that way, when it disconnects, at least it's only for a brief moment but your main internet is still there.

 

[John8oy]

So, I logged it with Asus and they just told me to RMA the device, so it's going back to Amazon as faulty. No way am I getting another 88u.
I do like the Asus and AIMesh stuff tho running Merlin. Considering the RT-AX86U as an alternative. Would be interested to know if anyone has good experience of this router on City Fibre over PPPoe. Need something that will keep a solid connection without these dropouts. Cheers