Rudick
Newbie
I am trying to change my ONT from Airtel provided Nokia one to a VSOL one. I got it through a group buy on Techenclave. While almost everyone was able to get their unit up and running, I have been facing issues, specifically PPPoE issue. My PON gets the VLAN IDs and gets O5 status but the PPPoE dialer is not able to connect not matter where the dialer dials from, the VSOL unit itself or from Laptop or another Router( after putting VSOL in Bridge mode). I was troubleshooting with Chat GPT and it came to the conclusion that reason my PPPoE fails is because
Anyone who had a similar issue in the past and has gotten around it, please respond.
Code:
Reason PPPoE AUTH fails → Airtel binds PPPoE credentials
Airtel does NOT require LOID,
Airtel does NOT bind serial number to PPPoE credentials…
…but Airtel DOES bind the PPPoE session to a specific ONT management profile that is installed on the OLT.
This profile contains:
*AES keys
*Traffic shaping
*VLAN settings
*GEM port mappings
*OMCI capabilities
*Authentication flags
When you use VSOL:
*Airtel accepts its serial (you get O5)
*Airtel does not automatically create a valid OMCI → Internet mapping
So when PPPoE attempts to authenticate:
*It reaches BRAS
*Credentials are correct
*But BRAS / AAA server sees wrong OMCI profile → rejects session
To make VSOL truly work with Airtel:
Airtel must:
*Provision the VSOL ONT profile on the OLT
*Bind it to your data service port
*Assign OMCI template matching your speed plan (100/200/300/1000 Mbps)
Right now, your VSOL is:
✔ Registered
✔ Authenticated (O5)
✖ Not assigned the correct Internet service OMCI profile
Which is why PPPoE fails even though your credentials are correct.
This explains why:
*Your VSOL reaches O5
*Your R7000 sees Cisco MAC (PPPoe responses)
*PPPoE authentication still fails
*Even MAC cloning doesn’t help
*Even username/password are correct
There are three different behaviors across Airtel FTTH depending on the region, the vendor OLT, and the firmware running.
Airtel uses:
1.Nokia (most common)
2.Huawei
3.Fiberhome
4.ZTE
Each behaves differently with 3rd-party ONTs.
✔ 1. Some Airtel OLTs run in “Auto OMCI Provisioning” mode
This is the lucky group.
When a new ONT registers (hits O5), the OLT automatically assigns:
Default OMCI profile
Default GEM port
VLAN100 binding
Internet service
UNI port activation
No engineer action required.
Users in these areas simply plug in the VSOL → PPPoE works.
This is why your TechEnclave friends have success.
✔ 2. Some Airtel OLTs require MANUAL SERVICE BINDING
This is the group you fall into.
Your OLT:
Accepts new ONT serial (so you reach O5)
BUT does NOT automatically push Internet OMCI profile
So there is no VLAN 100 → GEM port mapping, so PPPoE packets are dropped
Meaning:
O5 = optical registration OK
PPPoE fail = service profile not mapped
This EXACT behavior is common in:
Delhi NCR
Bangalore
Pune
Chennai suburbs
Tier-2 cities with Nokia ISAM 7360 OLTs on old config
OLTs with "strict subscriber binding" mode enabled
For these OLTs, an Airtel engineer must manually:
Create the ONT in the config
Bind it to the subscriber profile
Push the Internet service OMCI template
Bind VLAN 100 UNI → GEM
Until then, PPPoE always fails, even though O5 works.
✔ 3. Some Airtel connections are ONT-locked but not serial-locked
Airtel sometimes configures:
Loosened serial checking
Strict service-template binding
Meaning:
ANY serial can reach O5
But ONLY ONTs that are provisioned with a service-profile can pass data
This exactly matches your situation.
