DNS issue with new Vodafone Broadband routers

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CYaBro

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#101035 23-Apr-2012 20:18

Hey, got a client who has just changed over to Vodafone, from Orcon where they were having no issues, and is having DNS issues with the supplied Vodafone routers.
Vodafone thought it was a router problem so have sent another one but it does the exact same thing.

The problem is that DNS seems to stop working in the router.
All devices on the network (desktop, 2 laptops, tablet and iphone) are set to DHCP and they all have the same issue.
The internet seems to work fine for a random amount of time, this has varied from a few minutes to a day, then suddenly stops working.
You can still ping, and access websites by, IP addresses when this happens.
The router status says it is still connected, which it is, and to get the desktop working I manually put in the Vodafone DNS servers and the internet works again on it.
Normally, with DHCP, the DNS servers are set to 192.168.1.1, the IP of the router.

A reboot of the router usually fixes the issue but not always.

What's going on?

It's not a problem setting the DNS manually on the desktop but the other devices are used on other wifi networks so setting the DNS servers manually is not really a good option, besides we shouldn't have to do this.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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#613911 23-Apr-2012 20:25

What DNS servers are you using?

Preferred DNS server: 203.109.129.67
Alternate DNS server: 203.109.129.68

CYaBro

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#613925 23-Apr-2012 20:49

johnr: What DNS servers are you using?

Preferred DNS server: 203.109.129.67
Alternate DNS server: 203.109.129.68

Yes those are what I've put into the desktop to get it working in the mean time.
THe router was set to get the DNS servers automatically from Vodafone so I assume it uses those as well.
But to test I logged into the router and set the router's DNS servers manually also, using the above IPs, but that also stopped working.

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johnr

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#613928 23-Apr-2012 20:53

Have you got another router you can try? I don't think this is a DNS issue

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#613951 23-Apr-2012 21:17

ill second that there could be an issue here, we are using a dlink G604T. given it is a old router and can do with replacing (in the process of ordering a draytek DV2710NE to replace it)

using the .67 dns server, .68 is active in it as well i think however for whatever reason it isn't listed.

often it goes down for us at a random time between 7pm and about 4am but its not very common really, maybe 5 times a month, normally all in the same week.

i personally have put it down to that vodafone have been up to some changes at non peak times, a quick reboot of the modem and its all good.

only has been happening in the last 2 months or so however.

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paulspain

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#613959 23-Apr-2012 21:27

I have seen a similar issue with a resential Vodafone ADSL2+ connection at two different addresses using the both supplied Vodafone router and a replacement router sent out by Vodafone.

Interestingly when the main Vodafone connection seems to go offline the US VPN router stays up (it connects directly via an IP address and has different DNS servers). After robooting the Vodafone router the main home network starts working again.

I wonder if this is a related issue...

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hio77

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#613962 23-Apr-2012 21:31

paulspain: I have seen a similar issue with a resential Vodafone ADSL2+ connection at two different addresses using the both supplied Vodafone router and a replacement router sent out by Vodafone.

Interestingly when the main Vodafone connection seems to go offline the US VPN router stays up (it connects directly via an IP address and has different DNS servers). After robooting the Vodafone router the main home network starts working again.

I wonder if this is a related issue...

sounds like it, can bypass the drop in dns severs with setting manual dns servers client side rather than on the router, thats alota hassle for tablets etc though..

active connections are normally all good, along with direct ips.

normally ill be in a voice chat and on games with friends without noticing till someone asks "Y youtube no load!" :L

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insane

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#613972 23-Apr-2012 21:43

While it may simply be a case of a a few dud routers, I've seen this behavior on others ISPs too when using residential grade routers such as netcomms / dynalinks etc, the poor things run out of memory and one of the first processes to get killed is the dns proxy.

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hio77

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#613992 23-Apr-2012 21:56

insane: While it may simply be a case of a a few dud routers, I've seen this behavior on others ISPs too when using residential grade routers such as netcomms / dynalinks etc, the poor things run out of memory and one of the first processes to get killed is the dns proxy.

pretty sure the first thing to be killed on my router is bits of http server, consider that tends to send random corrupted files but as i said, we are replacing it. couldn't say it likes spending on average 8 hours a day of being maxed out on the wifi interface with streaming content from media servers.

hopefully this is just the case and in-which, it will be sorted when the new router comes :)

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CYaBro

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#614022 23-Apr-2012 22:29

johnr: Have you got another router you can try? I don't think this is a DNS issue

As I said they have tried two Vodafone routers and had the same problem with both on all devices.
They were with Orcon before, using a Netgear router, and never had an issue using DHCP.
I could try with their original Netgear.

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CYaBro

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#614025 23-Apr-2012 22:35

paulspain:

Interestingly when the main Vodafone connection seems to go offline the US VPN router stays up (it connects directly via an IP address and has different DNS servers). After robooting the Vodafone router the main home network starts working again.

I wonder if this is a related issue...

Sounds like it could be.

As I said, when the devices are not able to access the internet, I can set the DNS manually using Vodafone's DNS Servers and then carry on using the internet without a problem as long as you use IP addresses directly rather than web addresses.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

CYaBro

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#614234 24-Apr-2012 11:20

OK just been onsite at another client, who has just had a broadband connection enabled in their new office, and they seem to be having the same issue.
They only have on desktop so I've set the Vodafone DNS servers manually in the PC's network card settings to work around the issue.

So something weird going on here and it can only be the Vodafone routers as that is the only thing in common between the clients.

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hio77

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Lizard Networks

#614243 24-Apr-2012 11:32

CYaBro: OK just been onsite at another client, who has just had a broadband connection enabled in their new office, and they seem to be having the same issue.
They only have on desktop so I've set the Vodafone DNS servers manually in the PC's network card settings to work around the issue.

So something weird going on here and it can only be the Vodafone routers as that is the only thing in common between the clients.

as i said before, got the same issue on my dlink G604T which isnt a vodafone supplied one at all.

given back in ihug days they did also provide these, however it has never been an issue up until now.

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hairy1

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#614254 24-Apr-2012 11:54

OK. So I will just add my issue in here as well. I have just swapped to Vodafone from Orcon and am using a Vodafone complete modem. Every now again it will drop a webpage request. I try again 2 seconds later and the webpage loads. It appears to be a DNS problem also. VOIP is working rock solid at all times.

Cheers.

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trig42

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#614266 24-Apr-2012 12:12

I have seen this exact issue at more than one location. All using the Vodafone supplied modem. I fixed it by inputting manual DNS entries on the PCs/Iphones and all fixed.

Never seen it on another ISP.

Genfres

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#614717 25-Apr-2012 02:12

I will add myself that I have experienced problems loading webpages first time, requiring me to refresh and then they usually work. I have always thought it was a DNS problem, it only occurred using vodafone's DNS servers.
Since changing providers the issue with loading webpages has stopped.

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