Apr 02
If your a gamer don’t buy a BT Home Hub it doesn’t do open NAT. Just spent an hour sorting out a friends Home Hub. Rather than use stateful translation tables you have to set-up port forwarding for each game đ And because you have to set-up static NAT for games it won’t work if you have two PS3’s. This is rubbish, now I know why they call it a home hub not a router. Save yourself ÂŁ80, get broadband only and buy a Netgear router from PC world.
Out of interest I checked my O2 Wireless II box and found it had a similar set-up although not quite as restrictive, however to my horror I noticed the default security was WEP, so basically if I used that router with their default settings anybody wardriving could use my router, how does that hold with the Digital Economy Bill? Are users liable for not knowing how to change the default security of the router supplied by there ISP?
I’m so glad I invested in my own router, this was the first time I switched on the o2 router, as I use my own Netgear RangeMax Router. Ever since the early noughties when I had a USB modem, I’ve never trusted the kit you get from ISP’s, they always seem to have the ISP’s own firmware (crapware). Looks like I’ve been proven right, as what the ISP supplies you with seems to be getting worse not better. My advise is never buy a router from a ISP, save your money buy your own and if you’re not technical get a friend to help you set it up.
Just got the following email from O2, are they reading my blog đ
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Dear ********,
To ensure that your O2 Broadband always performs at the highest level, we occasionally carry out updates on our O2 Wireless boxes.
Thatâs why weâre writing to you to let you know that over the next few days, we’re going to update yours. Youâll see your O2 Wireless box turn itself off and back on again, itâll take around 30 seconds.
These updates will increase the security of your O2 Wireless box.
There are two changes we need to make you aware of:
Password to access the Router
Weâre going to set up a password to protect the settings on your O2 Wireless Box. You donât need to do anything. Youâll only need it if you want to change the settings. (In most cases, youâll probably never need it.) The password is the serial number of your O2 Wireless Box.
You might find that it takes longer to access the settings pages on your router at http://o2wirelessbox.lan, this is because of the new security features weâve put in place to protect you online.
Wireless Network Name
If you ever have to reset your wireless box, it will set up a new wireless network name to increase the security of your O2 Wireless Box. You donât need to do anything to make this happen either.
If you would like to see more information around this, here’s where you can find it here
Felix Geyr
Head of O2 Home and Broadband
Bet it’s still WEP 64 bit though, really who advises these people đ