Broadband only connects to limited number of devices

[radweeks]

Issue:

Since October 2021 my Vodaphone broadband has only been able to connect to about 6 devices and any further devices give an error "connected without internet. The speed is fine on the devices which do connect to internet. When I restart the router; different devices are able to connect but still only up to about 6 devices. 

Obviously this is extremely frustrating and I have spoken to circa 50 different members of Vodaphone technical team (they never give you the same person twice) to try and resolve this and have changed everything from the router to the fibre going into the house. 

Resolution:

Switching to an alternative broadband provider is the only solution. This has another challenge in that Vodaphone would not admit to their technical fault and I would have been stuck in an 18 month contract. However the way around this is to upgrade to another plan within vodaphone (doesn't matter what) and then that new contract will have a 14 day cooldown period. This cooldown period in the new contract allows me to avoid massive painful and unfair early exit fees. 

I hope this helps anyone else who has the same problem.

[Gerry_Atric]

That's a very strange fault.

I have over 20 devices using the VF supplied router, both wifi and ethernet, that work without issue. It's a shame it was never resolved but glad you got the outcome you wanted in the end. 

[Jayach]

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@radweeks wrote:

Issue:

Since October 2021 my Vodaphone broadband has only been able to connect to about 6 devices and any further devices give an error "connected without internet.

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That is definitely not a problem that has ever (AFAIK) been reported on here, and I run far more than that. I can understand why they were unable to find a resolution to it.

However your solution to getting around paying an ETF is really quite inventive. (if a little immoral, taking out a contract just so you can cancel it. )

Did you check if the problem still existed after the upgrade?

[VFbroadbanduser]

Have you logged into the router's GUI and checked there is no Mac filtering setup for devices connected to it?

My guess is you have switched Mac filtering on, allowing only the current configured devices to connect. To login to your router look at the Admin details on the bottom of your router.

The next step would be to factory resetting your router completely and reconfigure it.

[Jayach]

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@VFbroadbanduser wrote:

My guess is you have switched Mac filtering on, allowing only the current configured devices to connect. 

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Unlikely as @radweeks says they were a different 6 devices each time.

They also say Vodafone replaced the router.

I really can't think of a scenario where that could happen.

[VFbroadbanduser]

A scenario where this could happen would be by having some sort of parental control on it, limiting the time they use the internet.

The other thing to check is to see if the devices that are not connecting to the internet, have been setup with a manual IP address instead and have the wrong Gateway address in it.

What is happening is they are getting an IP address and connection to the WLAN or LAN but not finding the Gateway address.

Make sure all your devices are reconfigured to use DHCP.

[Jayach]

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@VFbroadbanduser wrote:

A scenario where this could happen would be by having some sort of parental control on it, limiting the time they use the internet.

The other thing to check is to see if the devices that are not connecting to the internet, have been setup with a manual IP address instead and have the wrong Gateway address in it.

What is happening is they are getting an IP address and connection to the WLAN or LAN but not finding the Gateway address.

Make sure all your devices are reconfigured to use DHCP.

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The thing is that it is different devices each time, if that were the case it would be the same devices each time.

[Ripshod]

Is it a certain group or groups of devices that won't connect? I'm thinking the WiFi band has been fixed at either channel 12 or 13 and those devices can't connect to those channels. Just a thought. 

[Jayach]

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@Ripshod wrote:

Is it a certain group or groups of devices that won't connect? I'm thinking the WiFi band has been fixed at either channel 12 or 13 and those devices can't connect to those channels. Just a thought. 

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But apparently the devices say "connected no internet"

@radweeks wrote:

Since October 2021 my Vodaphone broadband has only been able to connect to about 6 devices and any further devices give an error "connected without internet. T

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If it was a channel problem they wouldn't connect.

[Ripshod]

Less of a "thought", more a "brain-fart". This really is a puzzler.