T-Mobile Thuis Fiber with EdgeRouter Lite

Robin Networking, Personal

The amount of configuration information on T-Mobile Thuis fiber connections with EdgeRouter equiptment is a bit scarce. The configuration looks a lot like the KPN Fiber and Vodafone configuration, but is slightly different.

I have chosen to use a fiber to ethernet converter, the TP-Link MC220L. But I think that I will buy the new EdgeRouter 4 when it comes to the Netherlands. Which is roughly the EdgeRouter X with fiber port and the EdgeRouter Lite combined. But for now, this configuration is based on the EdgeRouter Lite 3.

T-Mobile and their VLAN’s

At first, we need to know that T-Mobile seperates the internet and IPTV connection using VLAN’s. VLAN300 is used for the internet traffic and VLAN640 is used for the IPTV traffic. T-Mobile seperates this traffic in their own router. We will have to do the same in our configuration. Later on, we will devide our connection using a bridge in to two seperate VLAN’s. These VLAN’s will be made available in the switches.

My set-up

My set-up is fairly basic. In the diagram below, I have drawn out my setup. Let me talk you through it; The fiber connection comes in at the fiber converter and is attached to the ETH0 interface of the EdgeRouter-Lite (ER-L). The LAN connection is on ETH1 and is connected to an managed ethernet switch. The ETH2 is (in my case) directly attached to the IPTV box.
The switch has (multiple) Ubiquiti UniFi access points attached, a few wired devices (laptop, Ikea Tradfri gateway, a computer) and a (trunk) connection to another managed switch in the living room for my Playstation, TV and HTPC.

 

The configuration of the EdgeRouter Lite

Below here is a copy of my configuration, with a few details cleared. These are port mappings, static IP assignments and passwords. What this configuration does is the following:

  1. Create ETH0 for the WAN connection, with DHCP enabled so it receives it’s (external) IP from T-Mobile
  2. Split ETH0 in to ETH0.300 for the VLAN300 and ETH0.640 for the VLAN640 traffic (internet and iptv)
  3. Creathe ETH1 with local IP adresses in the 192.168.0.0/24 range. ETH1 has VLAN300 attached for the internet traffic.
  4. Creathe ETH2 without an IP adres (T-Mobile will handle that itself) with VLAN640 attached for IPTV.
  5. Create a few default firewall rules to block harmful traffic.
  6. Allow NAT for VLAN300 for the internet traffic
  7. Enable an IGMP proxy for IPTV

These configurations can be done using the Config Tree in the console, from top to bottom.

 

A screenshot from the EdgeRouter Dashboard after the configuration:

Switch configuration

In order to correctly browse the internet using the wireless access point (which has a very basic default configuration, nothing special) and/or use the internet on any other wired device, you will have to assign each port to the correct VLAN. If you have extra switches behind the first switch, you will need to configure a trunked VLAN port and transmit both VLAN’s (300 and 640) on that port.

I have done the following in my switch, a TP-Link TL-SG1016DE. Which is a managed switch. Create VLAN300 and attach it to the correct ports where your (internet) devices are on. Do this in the ‘802.1Q VLAN’ configuration and the ‘802.1Q PVID setting’.

My ToDo list/problems left to fix

The only problem left to fix for me, is the ability to attach ETH2 for IPTV into the switch and watch TV. When I do this, the EPG/Guide is visible and working, audio is (sometimes) OK, but the screen freezes or stays black. Which looks like a problem related to the switch or maybe a multicast/igmp problem in combination with the switch i’m using.

I will get back on that! For now, everything is working fine. I have a 100/100mbit fiber connection and I receive around 120/120mbit, so I’m happy with that 😉

10 thoughts to “T-Mobile Thuis Fiber with EdgeRouter Lite”

  1. Thanks for your blog post.

    I’m actually not sure whether igmp proxy is required for T-Mobile. It definitely is for the routed IPTV solution from KPN, but I think that T-Mobile has a simpler approach which just works with the VLANs. Have you managed to get TV to work with your config above?

    Reply

    1. Hi T. Tanos, I have posted a new article with my new setup. I did not get a fully working scenario woth the EdgeRouter Lite and IPTV. I have replaced the router with the X SFP. I have a perfectly working scenario with both IPTV and internet since then.

      Reply

    1. Hi Jaap, I’ve used the SFP module that comes with the default T-Mobile router. This one works fine with the TP-Link converter or a router with SFP port.

      Reply

  3. So your internal internet vlan (192.168.x.x/24) is 300 with no IGMP snooping and your tv is in 640 with IGMP snooping?

    Reply

    1. Hi Dre, Yes I have enabled IGMP Snooping only for VLAN 640. But I need to tell you that I did not get IPTV to run perfectly smooth here.

      Reply

  4. Hi Robin,

    Im currently using KPN and want to go to Tmobile. So now I have the routed IPTV, but with bridged I don’t want to pull an extra wire just for the tv upstairs.

    Cant I simply use a managed switch (TL-SG108e) to combine internet and iptv vlans onto one port and send that upstairs to a router so I have the similar bridged setup I now have with KPN?

    Or do I need another managed switch upstairs to split the combined vlans to separate ports?

    Reply

    1. Hi Michiel,
      I think that would work, depending on the configurability of the router. You will still need to configure the right VLAN(s) on the port where you connect your IPTV and configure a trunk port on the switch where the router is connected to so that you have both internet and iptv vlan’s available.
      I would recommend you to set up a managed switch upstairs and configure a trunk between them. You can add more devices to it, maybe an access point or multiple tv’s as it probably has more ports available than a router. You have to configure the port for your IPTV upstairs with the right VLAN.
      With a router you will have somewhat the same setup and will use the internal switch of the router and do the same. You can maybe use the router as an extra access point for your wireless internet clients upstairs.

      Reply

  5. Thanks Robin for this write up.

    I got it working on the edgerouter lite with your guide. Including IPTV through a Zyxel GS1900HP-24 as a switch. Getting the VLAN settings right on the Zyxel was trial and error, but that was also due to my own lack of knoop.

    On tweakers.net I did find some additional config which was necessary for the IPTV to work.

    configure
    set interfaces bridge br0 multicast enable
    echo -n 0 | sudo tee /sys/devices/virtual/net/br0/bridge/multicast_snooping
    echo -n 1 | sudo tee /sys/devices/virtual/net/br0/bridge/multicast_querier
    commit
    save

    Reply

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