How to tell if an Airtel XStream Genexis Titanium 2122A has bridge mode enabled ?

[networkwhisperer]

Apologies in advance for the dumb question:

I recently got an Airtel Xstream broadband connection. This came with a Genexis Titanium 2122A ONT-cum-router device. I wanted to use my own router instead of the Genexis so I requested bridge mode to be enabled and after some back and forth and chasing up with customer support I have been informed that bridge mode has indeed been enabled in the device (they also gave me the usual spiel about having to get a static IP too and after some argument I decided it was easier to just go along and get one, so I have a static IP assigned as well now).

The dumb question is this: After being told that bridge mode has been enabled, I logged in to the device's admin interface and I can't see anything different. All the screens look the same, no checkboxes or options are now available that were not earlier (including the check box for bridge mode specifically on the PPPoE config screen section). Everything looks exactly as it was before bridge mode was supposedly enabled. So either bridge mode has NOT been enabled after all, or I'm doing something wrong and don't know what to look for....I assume I would need to do some configuration changes on the device before I could use my own router to do whatever the Airtel device does at the moment, but I can't figure out what or how.

Anyone know what is the right thing to do here?

 

[rohitks]

When I had that router, enabling bridge was easy as the router was unlocked and it was matter of changing settings.
Things might have changed now.

Generally airtel NOC team from backend enables bridge mode on one of the LAN ports. Generally the last one. That's what they have done on my F670L.
All you need to do take out LAN cable from that port and plug it into the WAN In of your own router.
You will have to replicate the applicable settings like PPPoE on your own router. No change in config on airtel ont is required. You may turn off the wifi on it though. And disable firewall on airtel ONT else it will continue to work in addition to your own router and may take precedence.

 

[networkwhisperer]

@rohitks: Thanks for replying; After reading your message, I tried what you suggested:

1. I took an ethernet patch cable and connected the LAN port of the Airtel ONT to my router's WAN port.

2. I tried configuring my router's WAN with the PPPoE username and password (I'm not sure what the password is, as it's masked in the ONT's admin interface, but based on what I read elsewhere, I tried it with the Airtel account number as password). This did not work, the PPPoE connection could not be established, and other devices connected to my router could not access the internet.

3. Thinking that this might be because the connection wasn't supposed to be PPPoE at all (because Airtel had insisted on a static IP, and the bridge mode option in the admin interface read "IP_Bridged") I then tried configuring the WAN with the static IP and gateway etc that Airtel had given me. This also did not work.

4. One thing that I noticed: If I take the patch cable from the ONT's LAN port and connect it to say my laptop, it does get an IP address supplied via DHCP, and is able to access the internet. This leads me to think the ONT's LAN ports are not actually in bridge mode after all. I have tried this with both available LAN ports on the ONT.

Any further ideas on how to diagnose this?

 

[rohitks]

I have PPPoE and the bridge mode works correctly as per the steps I mentioned. However when I had asked NOC to enable it, I got a phonecall from a field engg who said it's enabled. Then and there I asked on what port, and he said LAN#4.
So now when I connect from ONT's LAN4 to WAN of my router, the config works just fine. However in this mode the original ONT still works as router. So optionally you can turn off DHCP & WiFi on it.

However if it's not working consider reopening the SR or raising another one asking for specific assistance on bridge config with Airtel.
Expect useless responses by incompetent airtel field engineers in the beginning but ask them to connect with NOC or senior members.

I don't have that router anymore, but is it unlocked or all settings greyed out?

 

[networkwhisperer]

The one they gave me is all greyed out (You can edit the LAN settings and some DMZ/NAT stuff but can't touch the basic Internet connection setup or any of their options); If I could get at those options I'd probably be able to get it to work having done it before for others IPS... :-(