Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[tiffy]

Have just migrated my FTTP BB & LL service from BT to Vodafone, went live on 26/03, 4 days ago.
Actual migration of BB & LL was faultless, retained existing LL number.
The VF THG3000 Hub is a bit "quirky" to configure, my setup is likely more complex than average due to my Home Assistant integration with quite a lot of associated devices, eventually got everything connected.

However, in the few days of operation have experienced that I'am getting frequent and seemingly random short periods where (most) web sites can't be reached, not a local internet disconnect as such, both hub and ONT LED's indicate normal status.
This condition usually lasts for about 15 to 20 min's then everything just returns to normal, appears from the local perspective to be completely random!

Just in case, have disabled PiHole and browser ad blockers although have never had any previous issues with either.
Running Win 10 Pro on desktop PC, browsers are Firefox and Google Chrome.
Have any forum Vodafone ISP users ever experienced similar issues?
Have not yet tried to contact Vodafone support but likely will have to soon, from reputation not looking forward to that experience.

[spaace]

DNS server issues?

trying pinging by IP next time it goes down to check.

[broadstairs]

I have not experienced anything like this since migrating last January. I do not use Vodafone DNS servers but do periodically check mine using DNS Benchmark from Gibson Research to make sure the ones I have set are still the best. the only thing both my wife and I have occasional issue with on a phone or tablet is the BBC News app which refuses to load data but I suspect that maybe the app.

Stuart

[tiffy]

Did try contacting Vodafone support for guidance and can unfortunately confirm that they did indeed live up to their very poor reputation!
First experience was on the chat line where the support agent was obsessed with it being a Wi-Fi issue despite repeatedly stating that my desktop PC was directly ethernet connected to the hub, gave up eventually when he agreed that the issue should be escalated to level 2 support at my request.

VF level 2 support did actually make contact by phone within the promised 48 hour scale.
The agent had very poor english, had great difficulty understanding, sounded like a Filipino but of course could have been anywhere, I felt embarrased repeatedly asking to say again, he must have thought I was deaf.
Unfortunately, he was equally obsessed with perceived Wi-Fi issues, concluding that I would need to disconnect some of my Home Assistant Wi-Fi devices, too many on the system??
Tried to steer him towards a possible DNS issue, he stated that the hub must be left on "auto DNS server" selection in order to use the VF DNS resolver.

So, gave up on Vodafone support.
Having consulted with a number of very helpful and knowledgable patrons on the Vodafone members forum took their advice and set the hub DNS server selection to manual selecting 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare) as primary and 8.8.8.8 (Google) as secondary, this appeared to cure the issue completely.

I run PiHole/Unbound on a RPi-3B as a recursive server, had taken this out of the system as process of elimination with the issue in hand.
The Pi was running on Debian "Buster" OS which was becoming troublesome to update, re-installed PiHole/Unbound on a fresh install of Debian "Bullseye" OS.
When happy that system was stable, reset the hub DNS server selection primary to the Pi IP address, secondary to 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare), left Windows PC IPv4 DNS server selection at auto (default).
All stable so far    

[broadstairs]

Justifies my decision to always set my own DNS servers, I've never used any of my ISPs DNS servers.

Stuart

[Alex Atkin UK]

I honestly thought it would be normal procedure with a PiHole to use custom DNS servers, or full resolution.

[tiffy]

With my previous BT FTTP service I implemented PiHole on my Win 10 desktop PC IPv4 server DNS setup, de-selecting the default "auto" and entering the PiHole RPi static IP address there, this of course meant PiHole service was only active on that PC which was all I wanted.
Don't claim to be very knowledgable on the subject, that was just the method advised on the particular PiHole/Unbound installation and setup guide I followed at the time and it worked for me.

However, after getting more involved in PiHole implementation methods last week while researching my perceived BB issue found that it is more common practice to set the RPi/PiHole IP address as the router primary DNS server selection, obviously this should now be active on any device on the LAN requesting internet access.

On a positive note, my internet latency with BT was always close to 30ms, with Vodafone it's now 8ms.
Not a gamer so it never really was a big concern, good to get something positive from the migration    

[Dwight]

This is almost a good reason not to use the proprietary router & DNS.
Plusnet had an outage some time back and it caused an absolute who ha!
Didn't notice myself, as I was using a TP link and google. But it's always sensible to have a backup if you are a heavy user/home worker.
Regards
Dwight

[tiffy]

This is almost a good reason not to use the proprietary router & DNS.
Plusnet had an outage some time back and it caused an absolute who ha!
Didn't notice myself, as I was using a TP link and google. But it's always sensible to have a backup if you are a heavy user/home worker.
Regards
Dwight

Yes, the Vodafone THG3000 hub (router) is pretty basic but probably not the cause of my issue, more the way the default DNS server selection is set to auto and "appeared" to be causing my issues.
Have got quite used to the hubs quirky interface now and it's currently fulfilling all my requirements.

To be honest, I would likely change to a 3rd party router if my digital LL was not integrated, can be made to work with a 3rd party router but with a lot of effort to configure and obtain the porting details from Vodafone.

I was with Plusnet for many years on ADSL/VDSL, had horrendous billing issues when they changed their accounting system, went on for a couple of years, they just could not sort it, gave up eventually and went to Zen, would never go near them again.
I never used the Plusnet supplied router, always used ZyXEL products which gave best results on my rather long FTTC VDSL-2 connection.

[broadstairs]

The Vodafone router is OK as long as you tell it what you need like DNS etc. I don't use it for wifi which upsets their broadband app but that is useless anyway. I have a mesh wifi system so it thinks everything is lan connected. I have thecsame issue re house phone so keeping the router.

Stuart

[Alex Atkin UK]

It does seem to be possible to get the information though.

https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Other-broadband-queries/VOIP-SIP-Settings/m-p/2730610

[tiffy]

It does seem to be possible to get the information though.

https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Other-broadband-queries/VOIP-SIP-Settings/m-p/2730610

Yes, I have consulted the Vodafone members forum quite extensively, thank goodness it's there considering my very poor esperience with VF support to date, as I said earlier, most of the forum patrons are very knowledgable and willing to offer support to VF new users like myself.

Setting up a 3rd party router is likely quite easy once the relevant details are obtained from VF, however, re-porting the digital LL number seems more complex and error prone, as my existing LL phone number migration was seamless, the main reasons apart from cost I chose FV, don't wish to upset the apple cart    

[Alex Atkin UK]

Not sure what you mean by re-porting.  From what that says its plain SIP, nothing about the configuration changes you are just connecting via a different device.

I guess its kinda problematic losing your phone line while trying to get the configuration to work, but if they give you the right login details it shouldn't be particularly hard.

[j0hn]

Vodafone will happily provide the SIP details for the VOIP (digital voice) allowing you to use your own router and your own VOIP handset, or even a router with built in VOIP like a fritzbox.

Credit to Vodafone for that. Very few of the big players will give those details.

[tiffy]

@Alex Atkin UK:
Q: Not sure what you mean by re-porting.  From what that says its plain SIP, nothing about the configuration changes you are just connecting via a different device.
There's some hidden "porting" information relating to the digital LL which has to be obtained from Vodafone in order to get the LL working on anything other than the VF supplied hub, there are quite a few long and detailed posts relating to this on the VF members forum.
Similar to the BT SH-2 & Digital phone setup I believe except that they won't disclose the details for alternative hardware usage.
I'am certainly no expert on the subject but know it is possible with VF.

@j0hn:
Q:Vodafone will happily provide the SIP details for the VOIP (digital voice) allowing you to use your own router and your own VOIP handset, or even a router with built in VOIP like a fritzbox.
Now there's a thought, I have an unused FritzBox 7530, from my time on FTTC with Zen which I never connected, they never requested back at end of contract, perhaps I'll have a go some time when I feel brave enough