IPv6 configuration settings?

[stonehorse]

Short version, I have purchased own wireless router to replace the router functions of the Telus Gateway (T3200M). The gateway is currently being used as a modem only. Everything is working great (better) except I no longer have any IPv6 connections like I had in the past. IPv4 not a problem. The documentation on my new router states to contact my ISP for settings information. I'm asking here before I spend the next two+ hours on the phone waiting for tech support from Telus. I'm pretty good at figuring out things for myself and I thought I had copied the IPv6 settings from theT3200M over to my new router but I'm missing something, somewhere.

My new router is a TP-Link Archer AX55CA v1.0 (AX3000) and I am or was using custom IPv6 DNS settings. The strange part is I'm showing IPv6 addresses and DNS addresses in my wireless network adapter properties. Any suggestions?  

[DrPacman]

@stonehorse Wrote: My new router is a TP-Link Archer AX55CA v1.0 (AX3000) and I am or was using custom IPv6 DNS settings.

Doing a very fast Google search I found this article. it may help solve your problem... Cheers

https://www.tp-link.com/ca/support/faq/852/

If you find this post useful, please give the author a "Solution", or mark as "Kudo", if it solves your problem, thank you very much.

[stonehorse]

Thanks for the link dgstevenson. I also found that early on but its a different GUI on the AX55 and has additional settings not shown there. Also the user manual falls short 😒. Anyways, I did call Telus support to confirm the connection type and then was basically told anything beyond the bridge was my problem. Which I already knew but he did try to help out a little then asked my why I wanted a IPv6 addresses anyways.

The TP-Link forum doesn't seem to be very active so I will give TP-Link Canada a phone call in the morning. I'm sure the 'fix' is going to be simple, I just don't know what it is yet. Except for this minor annoyance the router has been working great and one of the best parts is DFS channel selection.    

[stonehorse · Accepted solution]

Just a quick update. TP-Link technical support reached out to me via TP-Link Community (Web Forum). My lack of IPv6 connection was resolved in two mouse clicks on the IPv6 configuration page.  Kudos to TP-Link for the follow up email asking me was everything working okay and if there was anything else they could help me out with. 😊       

[YYCchick]

So what was the fix if you don't mind posting?

[stonehorse]

I don't mind at all.
"Get IPv6 Address" in WAN settings was changed to "DHCPv6"

An IPv6 connection was established but it turns out its transient. Disappears after a few hours. IPv6 Release/Renew causes a reconnection but again it doesn't last more than a few hours. I'm at a loss. I have TP-Link Canada chewing on it and I should receive word from them today or tomorrow. No sense contacting Telus again; they are not interested. The thing is, I don't know which end the problem is. With Telus or TP-Link. The TP-Link IPv6 router settings are a carbon copy of the Telus Gateway.

The only exception I can see is the LAN setting prefix length. its 56 in the Telus router and 64 in the TP-LINK. I have no idea if that makes any difference or not 😕.

S.H.

[YYCchick]

Thanks, I have been setting up and tinkering with my new router, TP-Link AXE16000, and this has had me stumped. I've been able to get it working using the process you mentioned above but am having the exact same issue of it dropping. I have read that it should be 56 but I do not see a way of changing it from 64?

[YYCchick]

Otherwise I am perfectly happy with this beast of a machine, it is quite amazing (except for the price). I was having far too many problems with the supplied equipment from Telus, all of my important devices are hardwired and they worked just fine but my IoT devices would not stayed connected no matter what I did and the speeds were quite brutal even one room away. I can't believe that in this day and age such terrible equipment is still being supplied by ISP's. The quality of the internet speeds itself just can't be beat though.

[stonehorse]

The Telus Gateway has worked well for me so I have no real complaints. Two reasons I purchased my own router was I wanted a stronger, cleaner signal along with DFS channel selection. Getting the Telus gateway to select a DFS channel was convoluted and never stayed on a DFS frequency for more than a few days at a time.

[stonehorse]

All through my ordeal, I've been attempting to break it down and look at may be going wrong one piece at a time. The prefix length has to do with the total number of subnets which as far as I can determine has nothing to do with connection issues. So another dead end. So moving on...at this moment in time, this is the longest time span IPv6 connection been alive. I came across a tiny bit of information that may have solved my problem. There is a windows service call "IP Helper" that can interfere with some aspects of IPv6 connections. It was one thing to look at if experiencing problems and was recommended to disable the service as a trouble shooting step. So I went ahead and disabled that service. Easy to turn off and turn back on again if one feels the need. Hold down the Windows key and press R (Windows + R) Type in Services.msc in the box and click OK. Scroll down to IP Helper, right click, select properties. In the drop-down menu in Startup Type, select Disabled click Apply then click Okay. You still have to stop the service so either restart your computer or just click on IP Helper Status and then click Stop. That will stop the service right away without a reboot. It sounds somewhat complicated but its easy when you can see it in front of you. If I still have IPv6 in the morning, that was it. 

[stonehorse]

PS: Until today it never occurred to me it could be a WINDOWS 10 problem and not a router issue. 🤔

[stonehorse]

Update:

It has been three days now with a stable IPv6 connectivity. I'm not absolutely sure if disabling "IP Helper" on its own did the trick. I also had removed the custom DNS addresses at the same time in the router settings and enabled "Get Dynamically from ISP". I elected to input custom DNS addresses in my computers and android phones. Maybe Telus wasn't playing nice with my router or vice versa. Or that change in conduction with disabling IP Helper did it. Everything is working and staple so I'm not about to go back and mess with configuration settings at this point. I've spent way too much time on this problem already. So to possibly help out someone with a TP-Link router and/or IPv6 connection issues, these are my router settings and a link to a troubleshooting site that may help solve your problem.

TP-Link Archer AX55 and probably other TP-Link router as well.

(WAN)

IPv6: Enable

Internet Connection Type: Dynamic IP (SLAAC/DHCPv6)

(Advance Settings)

Get IPv6 Address: DHCPv6

Prefix Delegation: Enable

DNS Address: Get Dynamically from ISP

(IPv6 LAN)

Assigned Type: SLAAC+Stateless DHCP

(Click SAVE)

(Click REBOOT)

Probably not a bad idea to reboot your Telus modem as well.

Here is a link to a IPv6 troubleshooting guide for no IPv6 connection or a like my problem, connection dropping after a few hours. If all this doesn't work for you, hire a professional.

https://techcult.com/fix-ipv6-connectivity-no-internet-access-on-windows-10/