Change Nokia Router/ONT to bridge mode

I got myself a TSBB connection as a trial. It was installed last week and I am reasonably happy with this. TSBB have supplied me the Nokia G140W-c ONT. Can anybody guide me on how to change this router to bridge mode? Thanks in advance!

login using 192.168.18.1 and enter username as admin and password as blank or admin and explore your self thanks

Now, that was helpful! ;-)

Can someone with some tech knowledge help here, please?

Right, so these guys have locked the WAN mode (IPoE/PPPoE) settings and resetting the router doesn't solve the issue. I have emailed their support for help. Let's see.

So, after receiving no response to my email (deliberately I think) I called up the helpline where the CSR booked a complaint and gave me a ticket #. She said the engineer would come to residence and configure the modem the way I want it. When reminded I can be guided over the phone and can make the changes she said this info cannot be provided over the phone and only a TSBB engineer can configure it in person.

Give me a break TSBB. So not only do you lock your ONT configuration but refuse to give me the settings required to reconfigure it in bridge mode?! WTF! Not good if you want to retain me as a customer.

PS - can any of you suggest a good GPON ONT? I don't mind spending extra for a CPE that I control. The Nokia was provided FOC.

So, after 10 days TSBB's engineer came home and I explained to him what needs to be done and why. The main reason being the router is underpowered and its Wi-Fi signal is weak (even 2.4 GHz) or cannot be accessed once I move away into another room.

He said this Nokia ONT cannot be reconfigured for bridge mode. <roll eyes> He made me speak to his boss and I had to explain the same thing all over again to him. The 'Boss' finally agreed to give me a plain ONT instead of the Nokia router.

I also told the engineer how Airtel and YBB have far better technical support than Tata Sky BB and are cheaper to boot. Airtel in particular is very responsive and professional. He was informed at the rate TSBB support works I will in all likely hood not recommend their service to others (first connection in my residential area) AND not renew the subscription once it expires in November.

Yeah, so my honest feedback is - check out Airtel or ACT FTTH instead of these guys. If I find an improvement in their service while my subscription is active.

Right, so a TSBB engineer came over and swapped my Nokia G-140 ONT + router for a Nokia G-010G-Q ONT/CPE. So once that was configured I fired up my laptop and created a PPPoE connection to check. All worked well. The final task was to configure PFSense for the 3rd WAN connection for failover/failback and load balancing. And it was done in 5 minutes. Here's the result of all 3 WAN connections humming with my PfSense box doing all the hard work. 🙂

PS - Any of you guys wanting a ONU/ONT, just ask your FTTH provider for one. Don't waste time trying to reconfigure an router ONT. Most of these router ONTs are locked by the ISP and the tech staff aren't able to do anything except "follow rules and policies".

Mods please delete this message, the contents are moved to my previous message.

Thanks for the update @C3PO Good that finally you were able to get it working.

Curious, what's the hardware config of your pfsense router?

@varkey this is the hardware config - Netgate SG-2440

It was purchased early 2016...and way better i.e. powerful and flexible than consumer grade routers like my Asus RT AC-3200 which can handle a max of 2 WANs. I also run pfBlocker NG and Snort IPS/IDS on it.

pfSense runs on the FreeBSD OS and is light on hardware. Right now, with all the packages, it is running with just 16% RAM utilisation.

Thanks @C3PO How much did you pay for that device? The base variant seems to 160 USD or so. Is it available in India directly?

Yep, I agree, although if you run OpenWRT or something, you can have any number of WAN interface. A Mikrotik also would let you add any number of WAN interfaces. But yeah with OpenWRT, the WAN throughput would be limited, but then it isn't a problem unless we are talking gigabit speeds.

Yeah the IPS/IDS things would be bit resource intensive.

I had looked at pfSense earlier, but then I felt it was overkill at least for my use cases. So stuck with OpenWRT and MikroTik for now.

There's also pfSense supported mini pcs available on AliExpress with 4 Intel NICs etc for around 150 USD or so, can try that approach too, if anyone else is interested in going the pfSense path. 😉

Thanks @C3PO How much did you pay for that device? The base variant seems to 160 USD or so. Is it available in India directly?

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No, this was ordered directly from the US for about $550 including shipping.

Yep, I agree, although if you run OpenWRT or something, you can have any number of WAN interface. A Mikrotik also would let you add any number of WAN interfaces. But yeah with OpenWRT, the WAN throughput would be limited, but then it isn't a problem unless we are talking gigabit speeds.

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I am glad to see options like this. The only reason why i went with pfSense is because it is open source and I didn't want to shell out money for an annual subscription plan for the router/firewall maintenance updates.

Yeah the IPS/IDS things would be bit resource intensive.

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It can be, hence they advise you to run it only on the main LAN port, not on all interfaces.

I had looked at pfSense earlier, but then I felt it was overkill at least for my use cases. So stuck with OpenWRT and MikroTik for now. There's also pfSense supported mini pcs available on AliExpress with 4 Intel NICs etc for around 150 USD or so, can try that approach too, if anyone else is interested in going the pfSense path.

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Yes, it would be better if you bought a Chinese low power PC with min 4 GB RAM, 4 Intel NICs (important to have only Intel not Realtek) an an AES-NI capable CPU. MMC or SSD storage is up to you. These are avaialble on AliExpress. I use a Transcend 128 GB MSata SSD on my Netgate box. It dual boots OPNSense, another open source firewall, which is installed on the built in and non removable MMC.

My router isn't capable of 1 Gbps on PPPoE but when I bought it in early 2016 these speeds were just a dream. Now with Jio maybe it will push the market to offer faster services though they will be expensive to start. It may be time for an upgrade.

To its credit the Netgate appliance has performed faultlessly.

I am glad to see options like this. The only reason why i went with pfSense is because it is open source and I didn't want to shell out money for an annual subscription plan for the router/firewall maintenance updates.

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The Mikrotik hAP ac² is a pretty decent device, you can get it for about 5k or so. Continous maintenance updates, supports multiple WAN interfaces and pretty much anything you want. The hardware is decent too, can do Gigabit WAN with basic IP filters and queues if you need it.

Wireless performance is pretty good too.

MikroTik

Yeah, you'll not get any other IPS/IDS and the flexibility of pfSense though, but as a router it does a great job.

Yes, it would be better if you bought a Chinese low power PC with min 4 GB RAM, 4 Intel NICs (important to have only Intel not Realtek) an an AES-NI capable CPU. MMC or SSD storage is up to you. These are avaialble on AliExpress. I use a Transcend 128 GB MSata SSD on my Netgate box. It dual boots OPNSense, another open source firewall, which is installed on the built in and non removable MMC.

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Yep, I spent some time researching and then decided against it at least for now. But yeah, if I need to go for something more powerful in the future, will definitely go for a minipc + pfsense.

The Mikrotik hAP ac² is a pretty decent device, you can get it for about 5k or so. Continous maintenance updates, supports multiple WAN interfaces and pretty much anything you want. The hardware is decent too, can do Gigabit WAN with basic IP filters and queues if you need it. Wireless performance is pretty good too.

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Sounds like a very good deal for the price.

Yep, I spent some time researching and then decided against it at least for now. But yeah, if I need to go for something more powerful in the future, will definitely go for a minipc + pfsense.

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Other than being free, the thing with pfSense/OPNSense is both provide not just power but flexibility. They can scale up to an enterprise level solution if required given the right hardware. It's a bit complex to set up compared to home routers but once done it just hums along for years on end. And both solutions get regular updates in form of bug fixes, feature additions, applicable to FreeBSD OS updates too.

@C3PO do you have any sort of special configuration on the ONT? I am on Airtel with the same router and they are simply refusing to give me any sort of ONT, I bought a Tenda one from Amazon but I am unable to get it to work.