T-Mobile Thuis Fiber with EdgeRouter Lite

Update 10-2021: I have updated this post at the end since it is for (some) new customers possible to configure only VLAN300 for both internet and television. So a router with built-in switch is not required. 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.

Robin@vanbruggen:~$ show configuration | no-more
 firewall {
 all-ping enable
 broadcast-ping disable
 ipv6-receive-redirects disable
 ipv6-src-route disable
 ip-src-route disable
 log-martians enable
 name WAN_IN {
 default-action drop
 description "WAN to internal"
 enable-default-log
rule 40 {
 action accept
 description "Allow established/related"
 log enable
 protocol all
 state {
 established enable
 invalid disable
 new disable
 related enable
 }
 }
 rule 50 {
 action drop
 description "Drop invalid state"
 log enable
 protocol all
 state {
 established disable
 invalid enable
 new disable
 related disable
 }
 }
 }
 name WAN_LOCAL {
 default-action drop
 description "WAN to router"
 enable-default-log
 rule 30 {
 action accept
 description "Allow established/related"
 log disable
 protocol all
 state {
 established enable
 invalid disable
 new disable
 related enable
 }
 }
 rule 40 {
 action drop
 description "Drop invalid state"
 log disable
 protocol all
 state {
 established disable
 invalid enable
 new disable
 related disable
 }
 }
 }
 receive-redirects disable
 send-redirects enable
 source-validation disable
 syn-cookies enable
 }
 interfaces {
 bridge br0 {
 aging 300
 bridged-conntrack disable
 hello-time 2
 max-age 20
 multicast enable
 priority 32768
 promiscuous disable
 stp false
 }
 ethernet eth0 {
 address dhcp
 bridge-group {
 }
 duplex auto
 speed auto
 vif 100 {
 description MGT
 mtu 1500
 }
 vif 300 {
 address dhcp
 description Internet
 firewall {
 in {
 name WAN_IN
 }
 local {
 name WAN_LOCAL
 }
 }
 }
 vif 640 {
 bridge-group {
 bridge br0
 }
 description IPTV
 }
 }
 ethernet eth1 {
 address 192.168.1.1/24
 description Local
 duplex auto
 speed auto
 }
 ethernet eth2 {
 bridge-group {
 bridge br0
 }
 description IPTV
 duplex auto
 speed auto
 vif 640 {
 bridge-group {
 bridge br0
 }
 description IPTV
 }
 }
 loopback lo {
 }
 }
 protocols {
 igmp-proxy {
 interface eth0 {
 role disabled
 threshold 1
 }
 interface eth0.300 {
 role disabled
 threshold 1
 }
 interface eth0.640 {
 alt-subnet 0.0.0.0/0
 role upstream
 threshold 1
 }
 interface eth1 {
 role disabled
 threshold 1
 }
 interface eth2 {
 alt-subnet 0.0.0.0/0
 role downstream
 threshold 1
 }
 }
 }
 service {
 dhcp-server {
 disabled false
 hostfile-update disable
 shared-network-name LAN1 {
 authoritative enable
 subnet 192.168.1.0/24 {
 default-router 192.168.1.1
 dns-server 8.8.8.8
 dns-server 8.8.4.4
 domain-name vanbruggen
 lease 86400
 start 192.168.1.100 {
 stop 192.168.1.250
 }
}

}
 use-dnsmasq disable
 }
 dns {
 forwarding {
 cache-size 150
 listen-on eth1
 listen-on eth2
 }
 }
 gui {
 http-port 80
 https-port 443
 older-ciphers enable
 }

 inbound-interface eth0.300
 inside-address {
 address 192.168.1.200
 port 32400
 }
 log disable
 protocol tcp
 type destination
 }
 rule 5010 {
 description "masquerade for WAN"
 log disable
 outbound-interface eth0.300
 protocol all
 type masquerade
 }
 }
 ssh {
 port 22
 protocol-version v2
 }
 unms {
 disable
 }
 }
 system {
 host-name vanbruggen
 login {
 user Robin {
 authentication {
 encrypted-password ****************
 }
 level admin
 }
 }
 ntp {
 server 0.ubnt.pool.ntp.org {
 }
 server 1.ubnt.pool.ntp.org {
 }
 server 2.ubnt.pool.ntp.org {
 }
 server 3.ubnt.pool.ntp.org {
 }
 }
 offload {
 hwnat disable
 ipv4 {
 forwarding enable
 pppoe enable
 vlan enable
 }
 }
 syslog {
 file dhcpd {
 archive {
 files 5
 size 5000
 }
 facility local2 {
 level debug
 }
 }
 global {
 facility all {
 level notice
 }
 facility protocols {
 level debug
 }
 }
 }
 time-zone Europe/Amsterdam
 }

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’.

Update: Television without seperate VLAN

It has been a while since I did something with the T-Mobile fiber network. My household has stopped using the T-Mobile television and switched to streaming services only so we have cancelled that subscription and only use the 1000mbit internet connection. I am using the EdgeRouter 6P now. Last week I was asked to setup a T-Mobile fiber network at someone’s house. I have set it up with the EdgeRouter X SFP.  It is also possible with the Edgerouter 6P or another router without the switching chip. I learned that (some?) new customers will get their fiber to the home using a GPON splitter. You will not attach the fiber cable to the router and will have an ethernet cable coming out of the splitter to your router. I only had to configure VLAN300 and the TV signal was available without having to configure VLAN640. This made the setup very easy. Just a basic router setup, WAN on one of the ethernet ports using VLAN300. You can do this using the basic Edgerouter setup wizard.