After 10 years DSL suddenly stopped working, Verizon tech support worthless?

[Chris74656]

I really need some help,  one of my friends who has DSL because neither FIOS or cable has been available in their area for the last 10 years has had their internet stop working. I helped him set it up originally with the Verizon modem / router set to bridge mode and he has a static IP address; I set him up with an Asus router which we swapped out a year or two ago with an Asus RT-AX86S. Everything has been working fine since then and as of the end of the day on 08/26 everything was working then the morning of the 27th he noticed the internet light on the router was red and he had no internet. Repeated calls to Verizon did nothing as they said "the line tests good and the modem tests fine the problem must be with your equipment"; they finally sent a repair person with a new modem / router who knew next to nothing and he didn't even know that he had to set the modem to bridge mode and he left with the modem / router misconfigured which I found out when I went to look at it. I got the modem / router properly configured with the help of a Verizon support person but the internet is still not working and the router still has a red light.

This is a complete list of the Asus router options when Wan Connection type is PPoE can anyone tell me if these are correct or if there's an incorrect setting:

WAN Connection Type: PPPoE
Enable Wan: Yes
Enable NAT: Yes
Nat Type: Symetric
Enable UPnP: Yes
Get the WAN IP automatically: No
IP Address: <Static entered>
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: <Entered>
Forward local domain queries to upstream DNS: Yes
Enable DNS Rebind protection: No
Enable DNSSEC support: No
Prevent client auto DoH: Auto
DNS Privacy Protocol: None
Username: <Random Name>
Password: <Random Password> Verizon claims that anything in these fields will work
PPP Authentication: Auto
Disconnect after time of inactivity: 0
MTU: 1492
MRU: 1492
Service Name: Blank
Access Concentrator Name: Blank
Host-Uniq (Hexadecimal): Blank
Internet Detection: PPP Echo
PPP Echo Interval: 6
Additional pppd options: Blank
Enable VPN + DHCP Connection: No
Host Name: Blank
MAC Address: Blank
Extend the TTL value: No
Spoof LAN

TTL value: No

Does anyone have any ideas what the problem is or what happened overnight between the 26th and 27th that would cause the current internet setup to stop working?

Thanks!

[jzchen]

I usually set the "Disconnect after time of inactivity" to a value that matches DHCP lease (non-static IP).  For AT&T fiber it is 24 hours, for Frontier fiber it is 1 hr if I recall correctly.  In the past a router would disconnect immediately if there was a bug with that setting, with similar issue as you are noting.  I know "0" is defined as never disconnect, but it is worth a shot....

[Chris74656]

I'll try it but this setup has a static IP address so it should never disconnect and the settings on the router didn't change between the 26th and 27th. Just in case it was outdated firmware I took a flash drive with the latest firmware 3.0.0.4.388_24243 and flashed it when I was there; rebooted the Asus router and the Verizon modem / router multiple times.

Verizon did send a tech out and they replaced the Verizon modem / router but it was completely misconfigured i.e. it was not set to bridge mode but it was programmed with the static IP address and if you attached a computer to it you would get an IP address from the Verizon modem / routers dhcp server and you had internet. When I was able to log in to the Verizon modem / router I did change the mode to bridge / disable the dhcp server (the local network has it's own) and set the Verizon modem / routers IP local address to the correct address for the local network i.e. 10.0.0.1 the Asus Router is set to 10.0.0.3. But that just took me back to the beginning, the Asus router continues to say on the network map that the internet is "Disconnected".

[jzchen]

Yes I've run DSL a long long time ago.  That rule is the router's own rule, but 0 is supposed to mean never.  What I suggest is copying that setting over from the Version gateway.  You should probably verify that the login credentials match what is used by the Verizon gateway, or set up the RT-AX86S as an Access Point....

[Chris74656]

Verizon gave up on logins for DSL more than 10 years ago, if I could find the webpage on Verizon's website it would say just put in any name and password and as log as it's not blank it'll work.