Speed issues PPPoE

Lieven

@Lieven
(Why didn't I think about this sooner...?)

if you look, I have already suggested this above...

"You may want to try connecting directly to your ISP device with a laptop or other option and measure the speed for PPPoE and DHCP."

Yeah, for some reason I did't connect the correct dots in my head... Maybe to busy with working...?
I'll try this evening!!

JKnott

@Lieven said in Speed issues PPPoE:

So theoretically it should be the same connecting straight to the ISP. (right?)

Not necessarily. I have set up ADSL modems in pass through, but they still did PPPoE back to the ISP. It's been many, many years since the last time I had to configure PPPoE on a computer. If you get a working Internet connection when using DHCP on the LAN side, you can be certain the modem is already using PPPoE. Your performance issue is proof of that.

stephenw10

PPPoE WAN connections in pfSense are very common. Both of mine are that. Both are connected to an upstream DSL modem in pass-through mode.

However modems configured like that may or may not apply the required VLAN settings. In my case here in the UK most DSL providers require VLAN 101 and the modems do that by default so pfSense just uses PPPoE untagged.

Yes, try connecting a laptop to the modem directly and establishing a PPPoE session form there. If you still get limited speed then you are probably missing some connection parameter. Who is your ISP.

Steve

Lieven

@stephenw10
I tried following setups:

modem connects to ISP by PPPoE and pfSense to modem by DHCP/fixed IP = 50Mbps
modem connects to ISP by PPPoE and PC to modem by DHCP/fixed IP = 50Mbps
PC connects to ISP by PPPoE (physically with modem in between) = 50Mbps
pfSense connects to ISP by PPPoE (physically with modem in between) = 16Mbps

So it is only with pfSense in combination with PPPoE that I experience slow speeds.

I'm located in Belgium
ISP is Proximus

stephenw10

Hmm, that's fun!

Is it actually linked to the modem correctly? What does ifconfig -a show about the PPPoE parent interface when it's connected?
It could be something simple like a bad cable.
Try putting a switch in between the modem and pfSense as a test if you can.

Steve

kiokoman

funny indeed,
I have pppoe on my pfsense, connected to an upstream DSL modem in pass-through mode.
In my case here in Italy, we have vpi 8 vci 35 vlan none, so I have PPPoE untagged.
speed is 70Mbps with or without pfsense
found this on a search idk if it apply to you.
https://www.reddit.com/r/belgium/comments/9pj6sd/diy_vdsl2_modem_with_proximus_xdsl_network/

but again in other discussions I recall that something similar was caused if the correct vlan was not used

stephenw10

Mmm, if the modem in question was not playing nicely then, sure I could believe it. But here we have the same modem that gives correct speeds when establishing the PPP directly from a PC. Windows?
It could still be a bad link 16Mbps is about what you might get if the modem is linked at 100Mb half duplex.

Steve

Lieven

@stephenw10

Is it actually linked to the modem correctly? What does ifconfig -a show about the PPPoE parent interface when it's connected?

re1: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
options=8209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,LINKSTATE>
	ether 00:30:18:xx:xx:xx
	hwaddr 00:30:18:xx:xx:xx
	inet6 fe80::230:18xx:xxxx:xxxx%re1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
	nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
	status: active

It could still be a bad link 16Mbps is about what you might get if the modem is linked at 100Mb half duplex.

So it looks like the connection is OK? There is full-duplex on the interface.

It could be something simple like a bad cable.

I tried with the same cable from the laptop test. No change.

Try putting a switch in between the modem and pfSense as a test if you can.

something for this evening

@kiokoman

but again in other discussions I recall that something similar was caused if the correct vlan was not used

I already tried to use vlan10 on the pfSense WAN, but then the connection failed. (Don't know if I set it correctly, never done it before)

stephenw10

If it worked from a laptop directly and got full speed then you can assume the modem is applying any VLAN tags required.
Was that a Windows laptop?

Steve

Lieven

Yes -> Windows 10 Pro v1903

AKEGEC

@Lieven, I think that has to do with manufacturing id, some are whitelisted and others not.
I suggest not to use ISP’s modem/router as they can sniff, remote and manipulate. Even if you bought those modem/router, it is still property of ISP and if something happens, you can not sue them.

JKnott

@AKEGEC said in Speed issues PPPoE:

Even if you bought those modem/router, it is still property of ISP and if something happens, you can not sue them.

On the other hand, they can't blame your equipment if there are problems. I ran into that with my ISP, because I run pfsense. Also, if you bought it, it is not their property, though they may have access to it.

AKEGEC

@JKnott said in Speed issues PPPoE:

On the other hand, they can't blame your equipment if there are problems. I ran into that with my ISP, because I run pfsense. Also, if you bought it, it is not their property, though they may have access to it.

Well you may think like that but the truth is still their property. These corporations want to adapt the government system, you pay for borrowing their property like your passport.

Rob Vercouteren

If you have PPPoE then your MTU is not 1500. It is as said 1492. So then you have to use a fixed MSS (in the WAN config) of 1452.

stephenw10

If the PPPoE session is assigned as an interface it should be MTU 1492 anyway since we can see the parent re1 interface is 1500 (as you'd expect).

You could try assigning re1 and spoofing the MAC address just to see if they have somehow flagged that.

Steve

Lieven

Well guys, thanks for the help!!
But at the moment none of the ideas works.

I found a dirty solution now...
I use re1 as PPPoE Connection. So I can connect to it with everything I want.
And I used re2 as an DHCP connection to the modem for the high speed.

But since I want to know why this is happening I will continue to test the ideas
So here I go:

@Rob-Vercouteren

If you have PPPoE then your MTU is not 1500. It is as said 1492. So then you have to use a fixed MSS (in the WAN config) of 1452.

I set these values, but still slow speed.

@stephenw10

Try putting a switch in between the modem and pfSense as a test if you can.

I tried this, but no effect.

You could try assigning re1 and spoofing the MAC address just to see if they have somehow flagged that.

What MAC address whould I use then? I tried one with the first 6 bytes the same as the one from the modem, but that results in a connectionloss.
When I used the original MAC-address as spoofed address, also no connection... So it looks like spoofing MAC-addresses is detected and not allowed (?).

stephenw10

I would try the MAC from your laptop since you know that worked.

It would be unusual to see the MAC being an issue on a PPPoE connection though.

Steve

Rob Vercouteren

@Lieven i've re read the topic; my statement is not true.
If you have a modem in front of your pfsense box on the WAN side; the MTU is default 1500.
Do you get a public ip on the WAN interface via PPPOE (on your pfsense box)? and to the DHCP interface?

stephenw10

Yes the Ethernet link to the modem should still be 1500B but the assigned PPPoE connection will be 1492B.

Lieven

@Rob-Vercouteren

Do you get a public ip on the WAN interface via PPPOE (on your pfsense box)? and to the DHCP interface?

The WAN interface with PPPoE gets a public IP.
The WAN interface with DHCP gets a local IP address from the modem.

So even with PPPoE connection I set the MTU to 1500? (or as default)