Just moved from the UK to China - problems

@marjohn56:

Ok, you should now be able to browse into pfsense. Connect the wan port after you have browsed to the control panel.

I have connected my WAN cable (same one that goes into the old tp link router which allows me internet access), but all I get is a orange flashing led with no green led.

That could mean that all you have is 100Mbps connection or even 10Mbps ( yuk ).

I think I am now understanding that the WAN cable as it comes in is currently connected to the old TP-Link router, for which you have been given the SSID and password.

OK, let's see how close I am to the truth, connect the WAN cable to pfSense, go to the pfSense control panel and what does it say about the interfaces, they should both be up ( if your laptop is connected to the LAN port that is! ). Does the WAN show it is connected at all ( Speed wise )?

Ideally, you would need to log into the old TP-Link and see how the WAN connection is set-up, it may be a static IP for all you know on the WAN side.

Grimson

@marjohn56:

Ideally, you would need to log into the old TP-Link and see how the WAN connection is set-up, it may be a static IP for all you know on the WAN side.

Could also be a MAC filter on the other side, trying to prevent the use of different hardware. So it could help to use the WAN MAC of the TP-Link for the WAN interface in pfSense.

belt9

If it's just Mac filtering then can set pfSense to spoof the tplink.

Waqar.UK

@belt9:

This has been super entertaining!

How certain are you that this WAN cable you are connecting to has a live WAN connection?

Turn the wifi adapter on your laptop completely off, then plug the ethernet cable you think is WAN into you laptop or desktop.

Can you access the internet?

If not, restart the computer and try again.

If you still can't access the internet, see if you can ping something ubiquitous.

Try```
ping www.baidu.com
If that doesn't work, then the cable you think is WAN, is actually not WAN at all.

I have tried that, by directly connecting the Ethernet cable coming from the wall to my pfsense box, no WAN connection.

Waqar.UK

@Grimson:

@marjohn56:

Ideally, you would need to log into the old TP-Link and see how the WAN connection is set-up, it may be a static IP for all you know on the WAN side.

Could also be a MAC filter on the other side, trying to prevent the use of different hardware. So it could help to use the WAN MAC of the TP-Link for the WAN interface in pfSense.

I think so too. So how do I by pass this?

Waqar.UK

@marjohn56:

@Waqar.UK:

@marjohn56:

Ok, you should now be able to browse into pfsense. Connect the wan port after you have browsed to the control panel.

I have connected my WAN cable (same one that goes into the old tp link router which allows me internet access), but all I get is a orange flashing led with no green led.

That could mean that all you have is 100Mbps connection or even 10Mbps ( yuk ).

I think I am now understanding that the WAN cable as it comes in is currently connected to the old TP-Link router, for which you have been given the SSID and password.

OK, let's see how close I am to the truth, connect the WAN cable to pfSense, go to the pfSense control panel and what does it say about the interfaces, they should both be up ( if your laptop is connected to the LAN port that is! ). Does the WAN show it is connected at all ( Speed wise )?

Ideally, you would need to log into the old TP-Link and see how the WAN connection is set-up, it may be a static IP for all you know on the WAN side.

I have no WAN connection if I look at Interface drop down in web gui.

Waqar.UK

@marjohn56:

@Waqar.UK:

@marjohn56:

Ok, you should now be able to browse into pfsense. Connect the wan port after you have browsed to the control panel.

I have connected my WAN cable (same one that goes into the old tp link router which allows me internet access), but all I get is a orange flashing led with no green led.

That could mean that all you have is 100Mbps connection or even 10Mbps ( yuk ).

I think I am now understanding that the WAN cable as it comes in is currently connected to the old TP-Link router, for which you have been given the SSID and password.

OK, let's see how close I am to the truth, connect the WAN cable to pfSense, go to the pfSense control panel and what does it say about the interfaces, they should both be up ( if your laptop is connected to the LAN port that is! ). Does the WAN show it is connected at all ( Speed wise )?

Ideally, you would need to log into the old TP-Link and see how the WAN connection is set-up, it may be a static IP for all you know on the WAN side.

Sadly, I do not have access to the old TP-Link router, Only have SSID and WPA2- AES password.

belt9

well if it is MAC filtering and you no longer have access to the NIC it's assigned to then I would think your best bet would be to find the network manager and request that your NIC's MAC be added to the list.

Waqar.UK

Sadly it looks like that. Attached is a picture of what is connected to the TP -Link wireless router.
Yellow Ethernet is connected to TP -link
Grey Ethernet comes in from wall.
I do not know what that blue thing is.

IMG_20171010_094121.jpg_thumb

That is a modem by the look of it. What model is it?

There are ways to crack this nut. For instance I would start by sniffing the packets coming from the TP-Link to the modem using wireshark, but if you don't know how to use that then you are lost.

DaHai8

The Blue thing is Fiber.
That Huawei box is a fiber modem/router. Most likely a EchoLife model of some kind.
Some simlar models:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/huawei-fiber-optic-router_60667383784.html?s=p

If it is like other Chinese Fiber routers, it will be serving up 192.168.1.x local IP addresses, and handles all the PPPOE login credentials to your ISP (China Telecom/China Unicom)

Your issue may be that you've assigned the 192.168.1.x subnet to your pfSense LAN and the Huawei box is trying to assign that address to your WAN connection.
Try setting another subnet to LAN1 and see if that allows you WAN to get assigned from the Huawei box.

The model might be listed underneath and that might help finding the specs on that and a user manual - which could help further in troubleshooting this.

But more than likely, you'll be double-nat'd, which sucks, but it should still ultimately work.

@LianYu4:

The Blue thing is Fiber.
That Huawei box is a fiber modem/router. Most likely a PowerLink model of some kind.
Some simlar models:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/huawei-fiber-optic-router_60667383784.html?s=p

If it is like other Chinese Fiber routers, it will be serving up 192.168.1.x local IP addresses, and handles all the PPPOE login credentials to your ISP (China Telecom/China Unicom)

And if that is the case, getting to the login credentials is probably very unlikely. :)

Good advice you have given and a double NAT is probably the only solution.

Waqar.UK

I looked at the model: echo hg8120f made by huwei.

Just had a quick look at the web site, authentication is carried out inside that fibre gateway. You can always try taking the cable that goes to the TP-Link from the fibre gateway and plugging that into the WAN port of the pfSense box. You should at least get a solid ethernet connection LED indicator.

Try that and see what you get.

doktornotor

Yeah, ditching the craptastic TP-Link would be a good start.

Waqar.UK

@marjohn56:

Just had a quick look at the web site, authentication is carried out inside that fibre gateway. You can always try taking the cable that goes to the TP-Link from the fibre gateway and plugging that into the WAN port of the pfSense box. You should at least get a solid ethernet connection LED indicator.

Try that and see what you get.

I have tried that, no luck. Just in case the Ethernet cable could be faulty (I checked before leaving the UK), I tried at least three other cables. No WAN lights (green and orange). I only get orange.

DaHai8

Did you try setting your LAN to a different subnet?
The Huawei router is probably using 192.168.1.x

Waqar.UK

@LianYu4:

Did you try setting your LAN to a different subnet?
The Huawei router is probably using 192.168.1.x

How do I do that please?

:o

belt9

@Waqar.UK:

@LianYu4:

Did you try setting your LAN to a different subnet?
The Huawei router is probably using 192.168.1.x

How do I do that please?

It's in the interface settings.

Change "192.168.1.1" to "192.168.22.1" You can replace 22 with any number between 2 and 254.