NH20A Bridged = random dropped connection on wired

[mikejf]

Hello,

I saw the r/telus and searched as much as I could online, Telus forum, and in Reddit for possible solutions.

Long and short, moved from Shaw to Telus on the 9th of May.

I have a homelab setup with a Pfsense router managing everything.

Shaw was setup bridged, so swapping out the Shaw modem with the NH20A in bridged mode should be easy peasy.

However, when it is in bridged mode, the connection drops randomly. Multiple times per hour, sometimes for seconds, sometimes for minutes. Longest run was 2.5 hours.

Phone support tried a variety of basic troubleshooting steps over multiple phone calls. Factory reset with bridge mode turned off works without any dropped connection.

Telus tech has come out after the install, and he didn't have any idea. He just verified everything was installed fine and checked the modem settings on the dashboard.

To clarify, all devices, throughout my network, all have cat5e connections. When directly connected to the modem with a laptop, and any PC on the other side of my firewall, and devices connected to the wifi thing, all forms of connections drop at the same time.

The lights on the modem and wifi thing stay solid green.

Any ideas?

Thank you for your help.

-Mike

[El-Eric]

I don't use bridge mode as I don't have the need for it so I am going to invoke our Community Power Users to see if they have any ideas.

@Nighthawk @NFtoBC @WestCoasterBC 

[NFtoBC]

Sorry, can't offer any suggestions, as I don't have the NH20A.
What happens to connected devices on the non-bridged ports?

[mikejf]

Right now port 1 is bridged, wifi is on the 10G port, and I have a laptop directly connected to port 3.

Only port 1 is set as bridged.  All devices experience the same connection drop at the same time, including the laptop on the non-bridged port 3.  Hopefully that makes sense.

[WestCoasterBC]

Have you tried not setting up port 1 in bridge mode, generally we never set it up as it's not needing to be in bridge mode. How often are the drop outs?

[mikejf]

I asked the Telus tech installer set up bridge mode since my Shaw setup was also in bridge mode.  I have my own network set up with Pfsense as the router to manage everything. 

I also have a few web apps I run for my family's use only when we are away, and remote systems and VPNs for when I am working away from home. 

So, I expected swapping out coax for fiber with bridge mode set up to be a simple exchange. 

That all being said, if there is a better way to do this with Telus, where the modem's firewall allows all traffic through on every port I use, then I can still have the access I need for my work and my family and the level of security I prefer, under my control, I'll gladly accommodate. 

I appreciate the suggestions and questions you guys have thrown at me. 

[WestCoasterBC]

Have you removed the telus modem from bridge mode and tried port one without it active? Just to see if the issue persists?

[mikejf · Accepted solution]

I was recently reminded to come back here and update anyone who stumbles on this...

Turns out ntop in pfsense was the culprit.

I ran through a ton of trial-and-error, turning things off, testing, then on, and a bazillion forums trying to figure this out.

One helpful little app in pfsense I hoped to use to filter and monitor web traffic, sometimes causes something to break exactly every 15 minutes.  I completely removed this, and it worked instantly - no more dropped connection.