Repeated DNS issues with Fibre broadband.

[#1]

Hi @mattwainwright,

I'm sorry to hear that this issue returned within a few days of you having the new router. I've tested your line and the test isn't picking up any underlying connection problems so I'd recommend that as the next port of call we rule out any issues between the router's firmware and your devices.

Please can you confirm whether you have any Amazon devices connected via WiFi?

[#2]

Sure, no trouble! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

No Amazon devices at all. We have the following all connected and all experience issues:

LG Smart TV (OLED55B7 if model number is needed)

PS4

Xbox One

Google Pixel 2

Apple iPhone 7

Any Windows laptop / desktop

All the above devices are up to date with the software/firmware versions too.

The DNS entry that's given by the router is the default gateway IP of 192.168.1.254. Change this to resolve externally to 8.8.8.8 or the PlusNet ones and it works perfectly. A reboot resolves it temporarily which is strange. Could it be something internal to the router (resources?) that struggles after a few days of being on?

Thanks again for the help!

Matt

[#3]

Thanks for the detail Matt.

Could you confirm the firmware version of the new router we've sent you (and also of the previous router, if you still have it)?

[#4]

No trouble at all!

I'm at work at the moment, but as soon as I'm home I'll get this information for you and provide an update if that's okay?

Thank you.

Matt

[#5]

Yeah that's cool, no worries.

[#6]

Hey,

I didn't have time to get the old router software version, but here is what is displayed at the bottom of the page for the new router:

Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.259 | Last updated Unknown

Is this is the information that you're looking for, or is there another place this is located please?

Thank you,

Matt

[#7]

Hi @mattwainwright,

Thank you for confirming the software version, this is what we were looking for. Version 4.7.5.1.83.8.259 has been known to cause WiFi stability issues for some customers. I've asked our products team to move you onto an older version of the firmware that's not affected by this issue.

Please monitor your connection over the next few days and let us know if you continue to experience any problems.

[#8]

Okay awesome, that's great. Thanks very much!

I'll keep an eye on things and provide you guys with an update after the update has been applied.

Thanks again for your help.

[#9]

Thank you @mattwainwright !

[#10]

Hello Emily,

Just wanted to let you know that so far I haven't seen the update come through on the router.

When should I expect to see this please?

Thank you!

Matt

[#11]

Hi @mattwainwright,

I'm sorry to hear that you've not had an update just yet. I can see that this has been raised to the products team, however it hasn't been picked up just yet. There's no set in stone time that we'd expect to hear back from the team, though after looking into this today, this should be picked up over the next few days. If you've still not received any updates in a couple of days time, please let us know so that we may follow this up as soon as possible.

[#12]

No worries, thanks very much for checking this out! I'll check again at the weekend and let you guys know if the update has been carried out.

[#13]

@mattwainwright, would you mind dropping me a message containing your hub one's serial number and mac address please? Neither of the devices associated with your account seem to be talking to our hardware management platform and I want to try and work out what's going on.

This said, I'm not sure a firmware update will help. Your issue sounds very reminiscent of an open problem I'm trying to get to the bottom of that's being discussed here.

To confirm whether or not we're dealing with the same issue, the next time this happens open a command window from an affected Windows machine (that's configured to obtain it's DNS automatically) and do this:

nslookup bbc.co.uk

Then try this:

nslookup bbc.co.uk 212.159.6.10

If the first fails, but the second doesn't then we're looking at the same issue, seemingly a failure of the router's DNS proxying ability.

Do you have any secondary access points/extenders on your network?

If you can give me a nudge the next time things are in a failure state, and you don't mind leaving them this way until I see your post, then it would be really useful for me to grab some logs from your device.

[#14]

Hello Bob,

Thank you for your reply!

I've dropped you a PM with the details requested.

Thank you,

Matt

[#15]

I have just joined Plus.Net and have received and connected a Hub One router. Almost immediately I started hitting the problems described at the start of this thread.

After around a day of usage, DNS requests from all devices network start failing. If I change the DNS configuration of a specific device to a public DNS (such as 8.8.8.8 ) then the device starts working, but realistically I can't do this to all devices on network.

If I restart the Hub One router then everything starts working again for the next 12-36 hours before it fails again.

I contacted support via chat and I've copied the conversation below. tl;dr IT is working on a fix but we don't know when it will be fixed and we're not telling anyone about the issue.

Can anyone from Plus.Net give me:

a) a solution that doesn't involve restarting my router everyday, it has a tendency to go wrong at the worst moments, such as when I'm trying to join a VC meeting

b) some kind of acknowledgement of the problem and an ETA for a fix. It really looks like some kind of firmware bug. 

Finally, I sort of understand why Plus.Net might lock down some of the settings on their router, as it prevents users from breaking their config, but locking down everything means there's no way to work around this kind of problem, is it really worth it?

Thanks

Jules

Partial transcript of support chat on the subject:

Chloe: There is a known issue that we are working hard to resolve

Chloe: Our IT team is working on a fix for this

Me: Is there any way to change the router config as a work around?

Chloe: There is no way to change the DNS on the router

Me: That's a shame.

Me: Is there a status page where I could have found out about this problem without having to contact support?

Chloe: As far as I am aware there is no status page with the update on regarding this matter

Me: Just found the service status saying there are no known issues with broadband.

Me: If I reboot my router is it likely to help?

Chloe: If you normal reboot does that clear the error

Chloe: *normally*

Me: It has seemed to previously but if plus.net have a DNS problem then it probably won't. If it's the router then maybe it will.

Chloe: Give me a couple of minutes

Me: Thanks

Chloe: Thank you

Chloe: If you reboot the router it will fix the issue temporarily

Me: Ok. Thanks. Any indication of how long this problem will take to fix or how long it's been a problem?

Chloe: I would say we should know more in a few days time

Me: Is there anyway to arrange to be told when there is news?

Chloe: You will know when it has been fixed as you will no longer need to reboot the router to get the internet working again

Me: I see. Thank-you for your assistance.