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Author Topic: Vodafone broadband  (Read 44911 times)

burakkucat

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #15 on: February 13, 2016, 11:14:55 PM »

I don't think any of us actually recognise, for sure, the device to which you refer.  :-\

A clear picture of the label or a manual transcription of the details shown thereupon would be a good starting point.
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bisty

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #16 on: February 13, 2016, 11:19:06 PM »

Posting this picture of the back of my router is proving too difficult, picture size too big, and not sure how to reduce the quality...epic fail, sorry.  I'll try later.
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Chunkers

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #17 on: February 14, 2016, 05:10:24 AM »

Posting this picture of the back of my router is proving too difficult, picture size too big, and not sure how to reduce the quality...epic fail, sorry.  I'll try later.
You could just create a free photobucket account and drag it in there and post a link :)

Chunks
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parkdale

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #18 on: February 14, 2016, 11:07:42 AM »

If you have Windows 7, you should have ... Paint
Select 'Edit' by right clicking on your picture, then Resize it.
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bonzer

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #19 on: February 14, 2016, 08:51:12 PM »

I too have just had Vodafone broadband installed and I'm really unhappy about not being able to use my own router because frankly, theirs is useless. If it turns out to be a dead end then I plan to cancel during the 14-day cooling off period, but in the meantime I'm trying to harvest whatever details I can from the device so figured I'd pitch in :)

Before tinkering with anything I wanted to confirm the company's official line on the subject. Vodafone has been putting out very conflicting information about its policy and stance on this situation so I rang its broadband support line and asked them outright. As is seemingly everyone else's experience, the rep refused to give out the credentials required to connect, however he did state categorically that they don't mind me using my own router. Verbatim: "If you want to use your own equipment and can get it working on our broadband then fair play to you". He agreed that the policy seemed at odds with itself and was ridiculous. It's like they've sold me a car without the keys but don't mind if I successfully hot-wire it!

The device Vodafone provides is a Huawei HHG2500; a combined router and VDSL2 modem branded up as a "Vodafone Connect" here in the UK and a "Vodafone Station Revolution" in Italy. It has a completely crippled web interface that only allows the most basic of configuration and exposes very little information about the connection (seriously - you can't even disable its DHCP server, which assumes the entire private network range as its address pool). As can be seen in the photograph on WikiDevi, the device has three RJ11 ports and five RJ45 ports, but Vodafone has placed hard plastic stickers over the light grey ports, marking them as "not in use". Your DSL line goes into the red socket and your PCs go into the yellow sockets. Firmware appears to be based on OpenRG.

One function that is exposed through the web interface is a configuration export, yielding a surprisingly large (~100 KiB) XML file. Within that file I found two distinct usernames: autoconfig@broadband.vodafone.co.uk and dsl000******@broadband.vodafone.co.uk (the latter seemed unique to me so I've starred out the digits). There did not appear to be any corresponding passwords to these usernames, plaintext or otherwise.

I tried swapping out the Vodafone device for an Openreach modem (EchoLife HG612) I had lying around, hooked up a laptop and attempted to make the PPPoE connection. It connected successfully using the generic autoconfig@broadband.vodafone.co.uk username as above with the password password (which seemed to be the only accepted combination) Unfortunately I didn't have Internet access at this point, though I had been automatically provisioned an IP address and two DNS servers which resolved all queries to a Vodafone IP address. Trying to browse to any website consequently took me to a Vodafone web page saying something to the effect of "Your router is just connecting now", so it's as if there is some further negotiation the official router performs after bringing up the PPPoE interface.

Appreciating the default settings on the Openreach modem, I updated it accordingly and removed its VLAN tagging, so all frames are now passed as-is through the Openreach modem's LAN1 interface. Sniffing packets on here showed its usual traffic on VLANs 101 and 301.

Frustratingly this is as far as I've got - close, but no cigar (yet). I don't claim to be an expert on any of this stuff, and this is my first experience of consumer VDSL broadband. Maybe someone here knows what steps the official router is likely to take after establishing the PPPoE link?
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Dray

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #20 on: February 14, 2016, 08:57:33 PM »

So dsl000******@broadband.vodafone.co.uk doesn't authenticate?
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bonzer

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #21 on: February 14, 2016, 08:58:55 PM »

So dsl000******@broadband.vodafone.co.uk doesn't authenticate?

I've tried "password", "vodafone", "broadband" and the unit's serial number to no avail. :(
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Dray

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #22 on: February 14, 2016, 09:01:33 PM »

Can you plug the WAN port into the HG612 and connect that way?
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bonzer

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #23 on: February 14, 2016, 09:11:13 PM »

Can you plug the WAN port into the HG612 and connect that way?

Interesting, I hadn't thought to try that. I made the connections and powered on the VF router - the port activity lights on the Openreach came on for about 50 seconds then went off, as if the interface was administratively downed once the VF had fully booted up. I'll try a packet capture on the off chance...
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Dray

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #24 on: February 14, 2016, 09:14:42 PM »

You need VLAN 101 specified on the HG612....
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bonzer

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #25 on: February 14, 2016, 09:42:25 PM »

Same story, the HG612 has its original configuration, tagging VLAN 101. I'm curious about this brief window where the HHG2500's WAN port is up, I wonder if that's its bootloader giving an opportunity to interrupt (for copying a new firmware image etc.).

Another avenue I plan to explore is the fact that the unit has two USB ports, intended for sharing printers and hard drives with the local network. I remember an exploit with some older soho routers that ran an old version of Samba, where one could craft a USB pen drive with a symlink to / and explore the router's filesystem. No doubt that particular exploit would be patched out now, but to do something in a similar vein would be rather nice.
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Dray

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #26 on: February 14, 2016, 09:51:33 PM »

Well good luck. I can't understand these ISPs where you have to use their crappy router.
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burakkucat

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #27 on: February 14, 2016, 10:49:21 PM »

My suspicion is that the "autoconfig@broadband.vodafone.co.uk" string is related to Vodafone's implementation of TR-069.  :-\

Suggestion -- Try making an nmap scan for every physical port on the device. Who knows what might be seen?  ;)
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bisty

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #28 on: February 15, 2016, 12:08:06 AM »

Thanks for your input, Bonzer.  I would really appreciate it if you could update the Forum if you manage to figure out how to use your own router, cheers. :fingers:

Save me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!  ;D
« Last Edit: February 15, 2016, 05:34:26 AM by bisty »
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c6em

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Re: Vodafone broadband
« Reply #29 on: February 15, 2016, 08:38:26 AM »

Well good luck. I can't understand these ISPs where you have to use their crappy router.

I presume it is because
1  It is OK for 99% of their subscriber base
2. It enables them to have a endpoint under their control and they can set up diagnostic tests for that precise endpoint.
3. They can buy a few million of them at a hugely reduced price and also get customised firmware on them.
4. Reduced customer support time dealing with (even if they don't want to) other routers.
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