'Internet Cable Unplugged' Issue on ASUS Router When Using Bt Fibre

[ropjon]

Hi There,

Wondering if someone can give me some advice.

About 2 months ago, the internet to our office randomly stopped working. The ASUS DSL-AC68U router that had worked without issue for many years, started showing the error 'The Internet Cable Is Unplugged' even though it wasn't which I posted about previously here https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-setup-Wi-Fi-network/Setup-BT-Fibre-With-Asus-DSL-AC68U/m-p/2101633#.... We tried new filters at the wall sockets, changing WAN cable, downgrading and upgrading firmware. Eventually we called BT and they reported no issues on our line, as a last ditch solution they scheduled an engineer to come round and sent us a new Home Hub.

When the new Home Hub arrived, I connected this as a test and it worked first time... no issues at all.

At this point, I had assumed the ASUS router had simply failed and was now broken. All was ok and we went back to normality

Fast forward to now, I've just bought a new ASUS RT-AX88U to replace the broken one, the Home Hub is good but lacks some features that the third party routers provide. I receive the new ASUS and set it up, only to get the same error of 'The Internet Cable Is Unplugged' - I have again tried everything I can think of, including a factory reset, updating firmware etc but to no avail.

Is there some issue with BT Fibre connections working on ASUS routers? Has anyone seen this type of error before? Its possible that both units are defective, but this would seem unlikely. I am now wondering if my older router is broken at all, or if its just an issue with it connecting to the ISP.

Anyone got any bright ideas for how I might go about remedying this?

[Keith_Beddoe]

@ropjon 

The ASUS RT-AX88U is only a wireless router, you cannot use it without a separate modem

You need a DSL version as before ASUS DSL-AC68U

If you have plugged the WAN socket into your phone socket, there is a very good chance you have now damaged the WAN input circuitry, with the 50V DC from the exchange. Lets hope nobody checks it if you have to return it.

[ropjon]

I see.

From looking online, while I could clearly see that there is an RT version of the AC68U which then doesn't support DSL, I can't seem to find a DSL version of the AX88U.

Do you know if there is an equivalent? The RT-AX88U did also seem to have a lot of features that suggested that it did have a modem so I was just slightly unsure if this was an exception.

Thanks for your help

[Keith_Beddoe]

You need to look at the specification of any device you choose, to make sure it includes VDSL/ADSL.

See https://www.asus.com/uk/Networking/xDSL-Modem-Routers-Products/

[pumpkinlongshanks]

I had exactly the same issue with my DSL-AC68U, it's worked solid since 2017/18. Recently, I kept having issues where I had constant disconnections reconnections. Then one night about a month ago after months of working ok, whilst on a Teams call, the connection just went. I have since tried everything from , resetting to factory default, flashing the latest firmware, performing a system recovery on the unit.

For the time being I am back to the BT Hub 2 and to be honest it works well. Not sure I fancy forking out on another router. I spoke to Asus and they have just put it down to a hardware failure. 

[TimCurtis]

@pumpkinlongshanks 

I've the same Asus as you as has my son.

He had an issue a little while ago with the connection dropping & not reconnecting so switched over to his SH2 and it was fine.

I used his Asus to test it and for me it was perfectly fine running for maybe 2 weeks. So no hardware issue with the Asus.

Turned out that he had an intermittent line fault which the SH2 would quickly recover from whereas the Asus wouldn't. He asked a few neighbours - BT & Sky users - and they were getting issues so he pushed BT - Openreach really - and they eventually found & fixed the fault.

I thought it worth explaining this as it could be something similar for you.

[pumpkinlongshanks]

Thanks for your reply Tim, that sounds more than credible. I forgot to mention that I had 6 BT engineer visits over a 4 month period, in the end they did a 'lift and shift' and I was told to reintroduce the hub. It was solid with the hub, I left it a few months before reintroducing the ASUS and it worked for about 3 months before totally failing. Strangely since it just doesn't detect a DSL connection!