Few questions

[uselesseeeeeeee]

Hello all, so I have been with this company for broadband for a short period of time and sorry to be so blunt but the simple truth is that it is already the worst ISP I have ever encountered, I wont even go into the "engineer" they sent out and  I will try not to ramble too much and stick to the reasons that bring me here.

1: Is it always such a monumental task to access any vodafone webiste?

-It has taken me  roughly 5 weeks, about 13 hours in phone queues and 2 different people in live chat just to be able to register my account.

- I constantly get the error "

The requested URL was rejected. Please consult with your administrator.

Your support ID is: <11629670413511819736>" on any vodafone web page

- The handful of times I have not had the above error it says "error -403" anytime I click any button on any vodafone web page.

-On live chat today the only heplful person I have yet to reach in this company set up the account for me and had a one time password emailed to me. I clicked the link, it asked me to set a new password and would not let me click ok until my password suited all the criteria, length, special characters, mix of capital and lower case etc. Yet when I then tried to log in with my new password it said that there are unrecognized characters forcing me to have to go back and reset the account back to square 1 all over again.

-The above error I quoted "requested URL was rejected" I am still getting that, this one tab that I was able to log in while talking to the person on live chat remains the one and only time I have been able to interact with any vodafone web page since paying vodafone to provide my internet.

2: Are there no security settings at all in the router? I am in the "expert mode" and there appear to be no security, filter, access control settings at all meaning no way to block domains and control ads.. Am I blind or are there no security options except for the ability to enable or disable it's own firewall,?

[MillerJones]

The engineer has nothing to do with Voda it will be someone contracted by either Openreach or the likes of CityFibre.

1. Is this is via other devices and using other internet not just Voda?

A lot of these issues sound like they are your device which is the problem.

While I agree the phone support/chat etc are awful not sure why you are having problems with registering an account when you should already have one if you have the service.

Maybe you need someone to help you out not online but to go through it in person.

2. why do you need security settings and you control that stuff on your system. (install adblocker & if you have Win10/11 you have built in antivirus etc)

[uselesseeeeeeee]

Ofcourse the engineers are to do with vodafone, they may not be purely isntalling vodafone but in instances like this vodafone paid the wrongly titled "engineer" to do the work needed for their service, a job done so poorly I ended up doing a lot of the work myself and to this day the cable outside my house hangs so low across the street that it goes below street light level which I am pretty sure isn't even legal.

 It is on everything, multiple browsers, firefox, waterfox, chrome,. brave,librewolf, puffin. Happens on all devices, pc's, laptops, phones, tablets, every internet capable device I own, also like I said, this problem has only started happening since swapping to vodafone as my provider, so no, the fault is not on specific to a device of mine.

It also only happens on vodafone web pages, never had that error on any other site and no site, game, service, app, program, literally nothing else involving the internet has any connection issues or gives any "403" errors.

Exactly, hence the frustration. I had my order number which is what is required to register a "my vodafone account" but it took until today to get that process complete due to the listed and never ending web problems.

2:a: Because it is nice to have some degree of control over the security in your own home network,  if you think that windows built in tools are all you need well then I hope luck is on your side.

2b, blocking domains in the router settings blocks ads (to a certain extent) on all your connected devices including smart tvs. Adblock/ublock etc work for 1 browser on 1 device, so a simple "security" tab in your router can save you the hassle of having to set up a raspberry pi or pay for something like adguard dns .

2c: Also may as well throw this one out there, security settings are a weird thing not to have in a router.  It shouldn't be necessary but I could go to amazon, buy the cheapest piece of plastic rubbish router on there and even it would have some form of settings for the end user, this vodafone router is the first one I have encountered that doesn't appear to have any

[MillerJones]

[Removed]

Voda is a provider they do not do installs this is contracted out to numerous people who may contract it out again.

If your install was not done correctly why would you accept the work you tell them that is unacceptable at the time and the other which makes no sense is you put the effort in to resolve it why that is not for you to do.

Post pictures

You may have a faulty line or equipment but why not use mobile internet for example or go round another persons to do the account side of things if you keep having issues from your internet at home.

So you believe that a router provided by ISP will have lots more control compared to each device [Removed]

If you want total control you would purchase own router you cant expect to be handed a high end one for free for home network it has basic required ones.

[MOD EDIT: This post has been edited to remove inappropriate content please see Community Guidelines]

[uselesseeeeeeee]

So your insulting, wrong message gets to stay yet some mod here keeps deleting every reply I try to type, thats fun.

So lets try touching on just a few ways you are wrong.

In regards to the install :

Why was the engineer at my house? Because vodafone paid him to set things up for their service, obviously he is reflective of them and they are responsible for the work carried out.

"If your install was not done correctly why would you accept the work you tell them that is unacceptable at the time and the other which makes no sense is you put the effort in to resolve it why that is not for you to do."

Who says I didnt?

He talked to me about the work needing done, told me where he would run the cables outside and asked my permission to proceed. Few minutes later I go out instead of running the cable neatly, he has zig zagged around windows and already secured it to the wall, wouldn't even entertain the idea of re-doing it.

He talked to me about a "tree line", which is a single tree in one garden across the street from me, but said it shouldnt be an issue, yet when he next walked through the door I could see the cable from the house dangling below street light level, again he wasnt interested.

He did not bother to consult me or check for studs/pipes before deciding where to put the open reach box, so it was only after securing the cable outside the house he realized that like I said it cant go in that corner because there are water pipes there, but again, instead of doing things properly the best he offered was to squeeze the box into that corner but high up on the wall and in a very awkward place.

He had no cables with him whatsoever, so once he had set things up and ignored me telling him it wasnt good enough, he plugge the router in, in a corner, on the floor, under a radiator and expected that to be ok.

Then he was ready to walk out the door without even seeing if the connection was working and when I brought that up he said that sometimes the router can take until the following midnight to start working, this install took place about 2pm, he said I should reconnect my old ISP equipment and hope they have not yet cut off my service.

Quick comparison to my last ISP installation. Engineer came round, checked the wall for a suitable place to fit the box, consulted me about running the cable otuside the house. Then asked me where I needed the router inside, used cat 6 cable that he had, ran it from the box to the router, while attaching it neatly to the skirting board and around door frames, waited for me to test the connection was working and I was getting the advertised speed and then left. But as far as you are concerned the engineer whose bill vodafone paid is no concern of vodafone even if the outside cabling is low enough to be technically illegal and as for the "effort" thing first you think it is the customers job to correct an inproperly executed job by a professional. Secondly you again ignored the fact that I have pointed out about setting time aside to sit in phone queues for hours over the course of weeks intentionally trying to open communicaiton with vodafone about things. Nice reading comprehension

In regards to mobile internet/other means:

I did try mobile internet, but I am also on vodafone mobile so no joy there. Also who said I didnt try other means? I said in my first post I have been on the phone for countless hours and it took multiple live chat attempts with multiple staff members  before getting through to one who actually helped.

In regards to the router:

The fact that you think the presence of any form of "security" panel or tab is "high end" and gives "lots more control" is evidence that you should not be talking here because you clearly have zero comprehension of security, networking or routers.  How is it "high end" when I already said about even the cheapest possible router on the market as well as routers provided by all other UK ISP;'s have some form of security?

The fact you think security in itself is "high end" and that being able to access a base level domain block list is "lots more control".... yeah, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about

[Jayach]

@uselesseeeeeeee 

From what you say, you were presumably on an Openreach supplied FTTP connection.

From the description of the poor installation, you are now on CityFibre, 

Unfortunately, both companies use contractors for some of the installs, and they can be distinctly variable.

I don't think it is at all usual for a basic ISP router to not have the ability the block URL's. They are built to be as "fool-proof" as possible.

[CrimsonLiar]

The minimum legal height for that cable is 16 ft 6 inches according to HSE guidelines, any lower and you need signage up!

"The requested URL was rejected. Please consult with your administrator", is not a normal error it suggests you are connecting via another device that is working as a proxy.  You might want to check the connection settings on your devices - it's possible that your network may previously have been compromised!  This could also be the cause of your 403 errors!

Vodafone does offer a degree of additional protection if you use the VF DNS servers, and you also get some degree of user control.  Obviously that requires that you are able to log into your account either using the web or the Vodafone (UK) app.  *Be aware that your WiFI Un/Pass, internet Un/Pass, and account Un/Pass will all be different!

The default windows firewall, in combination with a stateful firewall on the router is actually pretty robust, provided users don't do anything silly! 

[Cynric]

.@uselesseeeeeeee If you want a touch more security put a Pi-hole on your LAN to provide DHCP and DNS.

https://pi-hole.net/

[uselesseeeeeeee]

Thanks, I know, just hoped that wouldn't be necessary so far with providers it's been a 30 second job to go to a security tab, add a handful of domains to a block list and job done. So I thought maybe there is some setting or panel or different wording in the vodafone router that I have been overlooking