Stay clear of Vodafone

[easyhostmedia]

I just purchased a mobile wifi R207 and the reminder card says to change settings i goto http://vodafonemobile.wifi which all i get is 'The server at vodafonemobile.wifi can't be found because the DNS look-up failed. DNS is the network service that translates a website's name to its Internet address. This error is most often caused by having no connection to the Internet or a misconfigured network. It can also be caused by an unresponsive DNS server or a firewall preventing Google Chrome from accessing the network.' so i found this '1.3 The Vodafone Mobile Wi-Fi browser login screen

Enter http://VodafoneMobile.WiFi or http://192.168.0.1 into the address window of your web browser, and press the Enter or Return key. The Vodafone Mobile Wi-Fi web browser User Interface (UI) will be displayed.' but even http://192.168.0.1 gives out this'This web page is not available' so i have a mobile wifi that i cant change settings on as Vodafone has taken down all the settings pages'

i went onto live chat and the first chat was cut off and the second chat told me to call 191 from my vodafone mobile or vist a vodfone store

1) how would i call 191 for tech support from a mobile wifi.

2) how is me going 20 miles to my nearest Vodafone shop by public transport going to help apart from costing me £7 in bus fares.

3) why still offer and sell mobile wifi which tell users they can change their settings at http://VodafoneMobile.WiFi or http://192.168.0.1 when neither of these work as lead to ‘page not found ‘ notices.

4) why should i have to start using the 2GB included when i cant access the wifi setting to change passwords etc. Vodafone may not take security seriously, but i do and wont use this with the default password.

The retailer Argos wont take this back as i have opened the sim card, so i have wasted £25 on a piece of rubbish, that has false details in the literature.

the thing is you email Vodafone and they thing the best customer service to be IGNORANT and not reply.  

well both Vodafone and Argos will be reprted for selling goods with FALSE instructions.

[grolschuk]

Hi there easyhostmedia.

Ok, so the settings page that you are trying to access are local to the device itself, not a page hosted in the internet.

The message you see are normally down to your computer not being connected to the network that the R207 is providing, and some basic troubleshooting should be a quick fix to get you back on track...

A couple of initial questions...

How are you connected to the unit?

Over WiFi with the password on the inside of the back cover? Or using the USB cable?

If you are trying to connect using USB, turn wifi off so that it is not trying to connect to any other network.

You can then use the icon that was created on the desktop to try and launch the management page.

If using WiFI, check you have been given an IP address in the 192.168.0.x range.

Assuming you are doing this from a windows computer

You can check this by going to Start and typing in CMD into the search box... Hit Enter.

then in the black window that appears, type IPCONFIG and hit enter.

you may need to scroll up, but there should be a section that relates to a wireless adaptor, and an IPv4 address showing, as well as a Default Gateway.

The Default Gateway should be 192.168.0.1, and the IPv4 something similar.

If you are using a phone or tablet to connect, you should be able to see the IP address from the wireless network settings on the device.

Let us know what the answers to the above are, and we can go from there.

[easyhostmedia]

tried all that, and nothing.

I know my way round a PC etc. as it is my business, clicking the icon on the desktop does nothing and it does not show anything the the process directory

[grolschuk]

I think the link is best left ignored if you know your way around a computer, I have a feeling it just tries to launch a browser to the web address.

Also best to use WiFi rather than USB to rule out any initial device driver installation hiccups

So you have connected via wifi and have an address showing as issued by the dhcp server from the R207?

Is the server then pingable at all?

What happens if you set a manual address on the same subnet for your computer? Will it then connect via IP?

I've not used a R207, but the R201 seems to work in the same way, and as long as it's charged up, turned on, and had chance to boot up, the page should be available to connect to if it is working.

[easyhostmedia]

not connected via wifi as i wont until i can change the password etc.

Vodafone may not take security seriously, but i do.

I have relative who use the o2 pocket wifi and the poassword and SSID can be changed before ever using it to make a connection

[grolschuk]

That is fair enough

Do you have a Valid IP issued when connecting over USB then, or could the virtual network card drivers not have been installed properly?

If your machine is so locked down, it may have stopped the installation from completing.

Also, I'm finding it hard to see how using a WPA2 passphrase to connect and configure a unit, is going to be any less secure than using a cable, for the 30 seconds it will take you to change all the settings, and chances are you will be using the same WPA2 strength, with maybe some MAC filtering added on top as the end result.

Don't want to be connected to the internet at that point? take the sim card out, so it's just a dumb wifi router you are linked to.

[easyhostmedia]

so tried it without cable and both on iphone and PC i get to limited settings that wont let me change the SSID or WIFI KEY/Password.

it keeps saying i need to enter the password to read the SMS messages, which i take is the WIFI Key, but this is invalid.

so i assume Vodaphone monitors this forum, well if they do maybe they can get the employee that can read and reply to my emails before i report this to Trading Standards

[grolschuk]

Depending on where it asks for a password... (i'm guessing you have managed to get to a web page now?) as it could be a PIN on the sim card. Have you tried without the SIM? Or entering 0000?

If the same size, what happens if you put the sim into the iPhone?

The only time you would need the wifi key, is to connect to the wireless network.

Considering this kind of thing is your business, I'd have thought you would be used to having to scratch the surface of problems a little before getting to an answer, especally if progress has been made from the original situation of the device being totally broken because the website wouldn't load.

The Vodafone staff on here are mainly moderators for the forum, and generally won't get involved if it is a question that can go down a normal customer services route, or if the community seem to be able to answer it.

You never know, they may pick this one up, but it won't be before 48 hours after the intial post.

[easyhostmedia]

well my business is a web host, so in know my way round a PC and have tried all things on this, but it is Vodafone that placed info in the wifi that gives URLs that dont work and just gives out a 'not found' warning.

Under UK law this make the item NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE as it prevents the user to access the wifi settings using the given instructions.

The fact vodafone have chosen to be ignorant and ignore my emails only proves they are well aware of this and think being ignorant will make me go away, well they are wrong on that point as Trading Standards are already aware of this and are considering a closure notice against vodafone

[grolschuk]

As vodafone don't have an inbound email queue, and this is a community forum, I can't see how they have ignored you.

I'm trying to help you get it up and running, as you have said, it's been paid for so you'd want it to work.

Unless it is indeed faulty, but we've not got enough info to decide that, I really want to say that the device is working as intended, but your are putting restrictions into the connection process that make it harder to connect than it should be.

So following this, at what point does it stop/not work/fall over

• Take the SIM out
• Turn the device on, and allow to boot
• Connect via WiFi using the WPA2 key provided
• What IP address does your laptop get?
• What Default Gateway is shown?
• Connect to the IP address of the Default Gateway, which should be http://192.168.0.1
• Does the web portal load?
• In the web portal, type 'admin' into the password box in the top right, and hit login
• Does the advanced settings area launch?
• WiFi -> Security will then open the security configuration pages, can you set your desired settings?

As I said, let us know what you see at each stage, and at what point it does not do as expected, and that should help narrow down what is actually up. As you know, browsing by name is only as good as the DNS records, so to take them out of the equation, only browsing by IP is best for testing.