Problems with D-Link DWR 978 5G Router

[CampbellM]

I have a D-Link DWR 978 5G Router withan O2 mobile broadband SIM in it.  Exactly 24 hours after it is booted it loses the WAN connection and has to be rebooted.  The DLink R&D team have been investigating the issue running detailed diagnostics and logging and think that O2 requests a disconnection for some reason after 24 hours.  Has anyone met similar issues or got any suggestions?

[madasaf1sh]

@CampbellM 

It sounds like one of 2 things, and these are common across MBB routers. 

1. Check if there is a keep alive option in the settings, as it could be the default is 24hrs and then disconnect if no activity,

2. Check the DHCP Settings, as it could be the DHCP lease you get from o2 is set to expire after 24hours and the router is been forcibly disconnected from the network as the lease has expired. 

[CampbellM]

Thanks @madasaf1sh 

1.  Yes, I have already checked the keep alive option and it is enabled, but doesn't seem to help.

2.  How do I check the DHCP settings for the WAN side?  Won't they be controlled by O2?  See also this post .

[madasaf1sh]

@CampbellM 

I would recommend not cross posting, and might have been easier to keep it all one post.  
If my memory serves correct it is either 24 or 36hours before the lease expires. 

The WAN does set the DHCP lease time, you should be able to see the lease time in the Router Settings under WAN, (I dont know  exactly where they are on your D-Link device). 

The Manual is here https://ftp.dlink.de/dwr/dwr-978/documentation/DWR-978_man_reva_Manual_en.pdf

But there should be reconnect modes in the Router GUI. 

[CampbellM]

Thanks @madasaf1sh 

Yes, the reconnect mode is set to Auto and keep alive is enabled, but it still loses the connection after 24 hours and has to be rebooted.

The GUI doesn't show the DHCP lease time, which is presumably common to all O2 devices, hence my more general question in the other post.

Is anyone out there successfully using a D-LINK DWR-978 with an O2 SIM?

[madasaf1sh]

I would suggest asking on a more niche community such as ISPReview or ThinkBroadband as they will have users using this device. 

[PoppyIT]

Did you ever resolve this?  I am seeing similar issues with a customer's D-Link DWR-921 + o2 SIM but, although it does not drop the connection every day, it usually drops around the same time of day, several times a week.

[pgn]

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@PoppyIT wrote:

Did you ever resolve this?  I am seeing similar issues with a customer's D-Link DWR-921 + o2 SIM but, although it does not drop the connection every day, it usually drops around the same time of day, several times a week.

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Your customer is using an O2 Data SIM, @PoppyIT? The normal mobile SIM from O2 may appear to work for a while, but then becomes erratic.

Check up this post, there is a link to the router user manual. Good luck.

[PoppyIT]

Thanks for your reply... Yes, using an o2 data sim from their VoIP provider.  The APN was set to user mobileweb rather than o2web, which I have now changed, so waiting to see if that helps.  

[CampbellM]

No, I never did solve it properly.  After many remote diagnostic sessions with D-Link I was eventually given a new version of firmware.  This didn't really help: the router still disconnected after 24 hours and all the new firmware did was reconnect, but it took 2 or 3 minutes to do so.  D-Link claim that this is normal behaviour on all routers, be they mobile SIM or ADSL, but I've never had a router before that has done this.

I have now given up and have my router set to reboot automatically at 03:00 every day.  This seems to work OK, except that my IP address changes so I get logged out of websites that check IP addresses and have to log back in.  A mild pain, but I can just about live with it.