Vodafone Fibre router - very slow/buggy interface

[60six]

Hi

Been a vodafone fibre customer for 6 months and very happy with the service, however the router supplied - although giving a reliable and stable output, is very difficult near impossible to change the settings. Even a simple static DHCP device addition can take nearly a minute to add after clicking apply, and sometimes it times out and sends me back to login page. The interface does not display all the pages correctly and instead views a blank page. Only clicking refresh wakes it up but then it times out and sends me back to the login page. Very frustrating as I can't turn off uPNP or add firewall rules.

I have reset to defaults multiple times but the interface still refuses to respond to any settings change in a suitable amount of time until it times out and back to login.

Another larger issue is the router insistance on placing the word 'broadband' as my internal DNS suffix which is too long and cumbersome for me to use. Can this be changed?

I understand you have released another router for newer broadband customers. Is this something I can upgrade to?

[Cynric]

@60six Have you tried alternative browsers and connect to the router via an ethernet cable? DNS, you could get a Raspberry Pi SoC and run the PiHole software which would then to the DNS and DHCP work instead of the router. Not knowing which of the VF routers you have I can't really point you how to change the local suffix, but I would have thought it should be possible from the network page/tab. Be sure you are in "expert" mode to see more of the settings.

[60six]

Direct cabled or wifi makes no difference - alternative browsers no joy either. cache cleared etc. I have used pi-hole before for a few years but they always seem to kill SD cards after 6 months, even with branded ones.

There does not seem to be any option to change the login timeout which I think is around 2-3 minutes, which the router takes longer to apply it's settings so gets logged out before the settings are made.

May try another. The router details are

Firmware-Version: 19.4.0551-3261103

Productname: Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub

There isn't any option to change the DNS suffix to something 'normal'. 

[Jayach]

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@60six wrote:
The router details are

Firmware-Version: 19.4.0551-3261103

Productname: Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub

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Yes, that is the THG3000, but your firmware is old, there have been 2 releases since then. The latest is 3261126 19.4.0551-3261143. A factory reset whilst connected to the net may force an update. (however the latest firmware has added some restriction, such as length of passwords, you may not like)

I have no problems using the GUI on mine, but it does seem to slow when the network is very busy, so try with just the one device connected to it.

[Cynric]

@60six Touching wood, my Pi 3+ hasn't eaten any sd cards. But if you got a new mk5 you can boot USB and M.2 memory and forget about sd cards. Correct me if I am wrong, but that is the THG3000 router. My one, while not wonderful, never behaved slowly like you are describing. Have you tried with absolutely everything else disconnected so that the PC is the only thing on the LAN? The only other thing I can think of right now is to do a factory reset.

[60six]

I have installed pi-hole and thought I would use it's dhcp server instead.
The router I currently use from vodafone refuses to let me switch the dhcp server off. Usual timeout nonsense.
I guess these routers are not for people who want control over their network?
I guess the only alternative I have is to get the fibre login details and then get a router capable of vlan 911 on wan?

[Cynric]

@60six It's a while since I used VF's THG3000, so my question may be off-the-mark, but you are in "expert mode" using the browser interface? 

[60six]

yes, in advanced mode. I finally managed to get DHCP turned off but had to do this multiple times for it to work. This router definitely is just about adequate, although it does provide a reliable connection. Possibly the worst interface I have experienced of any router.

[Jayach]

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@60six wrote:
The router I currently use from vodafone refuses to let me switch the dhcp server off. Usual timeout nonsense.

 Which router do you have, I would expect it to be possible with all the routers, it certainly is with the THG3000.

Edit: Sorry I hadn't read the rest of the thread, you have the THG3000, does it now have the latest firmware?

Can you explain what "Usual timeout nonsense" means, I don't have that problem with mine.

[Jrqp1111]

The new Power hub router is even worse than the Intelligent hub you have.

Nothing can be changed due to the addition of Compatibility Mode which is supposed to allow everything to connect, but it does not it is basically crappie.

On my old hub the Intelligent hub I separated the 2.4 and 5 ghz channels and then everything connected , printers, extenders etc and it displays the correct ID in your wifi choices.

The new Power Hub does have wifi6 with wep3 but I suspect this is the root of the firmware problem, and most household wifi does not need it anyway.

Serious updates are needed the new router is just the worst piece of kit I have ever witnessed