WORKING: Own Modem - Draytek VSDL2 Modem/Router with Dynamic DNS

[richardhuish]

Jan 2017: I just thought that I would share my experiences with setting up my own modem router with Vodafone fibre home broadband so others may save time and stress when setting up their own system.

I recently moved from another ISP for fibre broadband (FTTC) to Vodafone fibre home broadband. As I have a fairly complex home network with separate subnets, VLAN's and isolated networks I was unable to take advantage of the provided Vodafone modem (what a shame 😛 ) so a week before my broadband was due to go live I went on the instant chat with Vodafone and explained I wish to use my own equipment, after a few moments and without debate I had my username and password 😊

For those who also wish to use their own equipment, you may find using the following key sentences may help:

“I'm after some details to help me to connect to your network. I have read the forums and see that I need to request PPPoE credentials to allow me to connect my third party existing network infrastructure. Is this something that you could help me with today?”

“For reference the third party equipment is approved for use on BT network and is BT SIN 498 MCT Approved.”

“I'm happy to accept all liability by using my own router and understand that I won't be able to raise technical support queries by doing so.”

The transition to Vodafone was simply a matter of adding in the login credentials to my Draytek Vigor 2860ac WAN interface, no other changes were required as the modem was already setup for PPPoE with the correct VLAN Tag, etc.

Everything was fine for the first day, however a day after I started to experience problems with my router failing to update my Dynamic DNS settings. After many wasted hours it turned out that because I'm using statically assigned DNS settings on the LAN (routed to my own LAN side DNS server, then to PiHole for ad blocking, then to Google DNS) at no point had a device inside my network ever connected to Vodafone’s own DNS system (E.G. 90.255.255.90). I temporarily set my PC’s DNS to point at Vodafone’s DNS and up popped Vodafones content controls settings, (http://www.vodafone.co.uk/contentcontrolpage/vfb-force-choice-page.html) which by default is set to Safe. Which by default seemed to blocks all dynamic DNS update queries, possibly Vodafone are just automatically blocking all redirect services which could be used to bypass their own DNS filtering by setting up redirects to those blocked websites.

Once I had clicked through the link everything was absolutely fine and the DDNS updated without issue. I thought it was worth posting this to save others the pain and anguish of my experience.

Setup photos to help others.

[MSV]

Many thanks Richard for the quick reply and also for pointing out where the logout settings are. Doh - I was going round in circles in the menus and no mention in the small quick start guide booklet. I've now downloaded the full user guide 874 pages! 

[bertiem]

Followed your advice and it has all worked perfectly. 

Faster transfer speeds and proper network management. Now my room mate cant access my NAS. Thanks for the help. 

[Baldfox]

Just used this thread as a basis for getting my draytek 2682 online. Had the voda router less than 24 hours!!

Thank you for the detailed post. The screens have changed a little from what you've posted at least on the 2682. If anyone needs help matching I can show you what I've done and go from there. I'm not convinced I entered this screen correctly but it's working for now!

 

[Gemma]

@Baldfox - thanks for providing this feedback on the solution you've seen here. I'm glad to hear the Community members post has helped you 😊