How the heck do MWEB do this ?

MWEB Guy said:
Hi, I can assure you all that we do not remotely lock any of our customers routers.

Regards
MWEB Guy
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I am not trying to be mean, :)

I do believe proving otherwise will be really difficult. What will count for you (Mweb) will be it something like this doesn't occur again, else people are gonna keep pointing fingers....

/hopes for your sake
 
so did you get it right OP? i know that specific router is a pain in the A$$ to change settings on, its got the strangest way of saving the settings...
 
Peder said:
so did you get it right OP? i know that specific router is a pain in the A$$ to change settings on, its got the strangest way of saving the settings...
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Yea I found the easiest way to deal with it is to instal the Billion Cd with it makes changing isp so much easier.
 
TJ99 said:
Please. If you were such an expert, you'd know what you're claiming is impossible. The router can't be "locked" unless it has special firmware from the ISP. It uses the settings it's given, by you. It only accepts settings from inside your own network, unless you specifically set it to be configurable from the outside.

So please, enlighten us how someone coud "lock" your router, how does it work?
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Simple. They do it by locking your router's MAC address into their CAS and updating your firmware when you're online. As with most illegal things done by corporates, they'll never admit it. The landing page is locked into the firmware.
 
matshelane said:
Simple. They do it by locking your router's MAC address into their CAS and updating your firmware when you're online. As with most illegal things done by corporates, they'll never admit it. The landing page is locked into the firmware.
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I don't buy it. But even if that were so, just re-download the original firmware from the manufacturer, plug out the phone line and re-fash. Change the MAC adress, if you really believe that. All that can be done by you so there's no way they can permanently lock your router.
 
What I find odd is that the problem disappeared, as if by magic, when a 9GB TI account AND new router was purchased. At no point did anybody recommend an update in firmware nor test if the problem persists with a different router. The 800VGT is infamous for how unreliable its flash memory is; hence Telkom dropping the model and switch to the 400G instead. In many cases, the router will either not write to flash when the config is saved or it would corrupt the current configuration, requiring reset to factory settings. In other cases the only option will be to replace it.

I would also like to how Mweb remotely locked your router... :P
 
thrakath said:
What I find odd is that the problem disappeared, as if by magic, when a 9GB TI account AND new router was purchased. At no point did anybody recommend an update in firmware nor test if the problem persists with a different router. The 800VGT is infamous for how unreliable its flash memory is; hence Telkom dropping the model and switch to the 400G instead. In many cases, the router will either not write to flash when the config is saved or it would corrupt the current configuration, requiring reset to factory settings. In other cases the only option will be to replace it.

I would also like to how Mweb remotely locked your router... :P
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The problem disappeared because I switched ISP's ! I've had that router for a while and before signing up with MWEB I was switching with ease between the different ISP's I was evaluating. And frankly I will not be using my new router to connect to MWEB to see if the problem persists. And if you'd like to know how ISP's lock routers then go Google it or read the whole thread.
 
I have an Mweb Business Billion router lying right next to me after upgrading to a new Cisco piece. Reset the billion and using it happily with my webafrica and Cell C connections as a backup :rolleyes:

Frankly this thread seems quite preposterous
 
PsyWulf said:
I have an Mweb Business Billion router lying right next to me after upgrading to a new Cisco piece. Reset the billion and using it happily with my webafrica and Cell C connections as a backup :rolleyes:

Frankly this thread seems quite preposterous
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So because YOU don't have a problem it means nobody else does ?
Frankly, your logic is preposterous. But what can one expect from someone who lives on a forum.
 
All i did to fix this problem is flush cache and ctrl+Shift+delete in browser to clear cache and im ready to go.. I get it a fair amount.

Also with switching from mweb to afrihost of from mweb to telkom. Seems to just be some funny response cached somewhere.

Also will happen more often if you enter your mweb deets incorrectly (get their landing page) and then switch to another ISP account.
 
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matshelane said:
So because YOU don't have a problem it means nobody else does ?
Frankly, your logic is preposterous. But what can one expect from someone who lives on a forum.
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You seem to have a fundamental flaw in your processing of basic information so let me lay it out for you on the down-low in a lingo that might make your get-go

*You have a problem another user on the forum has experienced previously - he found out the error was pebkac
*Mweb has said your statement about router locking is naff
*I personally confirmed it,if a Business router isn't irreversably locked your personal piece of **** is far less likely to be impossible to crack

Resorting to name calling when someone disagrees with you is not going to convince anybody here. Stop smoking whatever you are smoking,take of the paranoia hat and then come back when you are a tad more mature


TL : DR

Oh Em Gee I Bought A New Router And It's Working So Mweb Must Have Haxxed Mine

*Edit - Which is more likely,stupid user,or an ISP remotely locking a personal router
 
PsyWulf said:
You seem to have a fundamental flaw in your processing of basic information so let me lay it out for you on the down-low in a lingo that might make your get-go

*You have a problem another user on the forum has experienced previously - he found out the error was pebkac
*Mweb has said your statement about router locking is naff
*I personally confirmed it,if a Business router isn't irreversably locked your personal piece of **** is far less likely to be impossible to crack

Resorting to name calling when someone disagrees with you is not going to convince anybody here. Stop smoking whatever you are smoking,take of the paranoia hat and then come back when you are a tad more mature


TL : DR

Oh Em Gee I Bought A New Router And It's Working So Mweb Must Have Haxxed Mine

*Edit - Which is more likely,stupid user,or an ISP remotely locking a personal router
Click to expand...

Actually MWEB confirmed with me telephonically several times that they DO lock routers but said it wasn't so in my case. Yeah right ! They quickly changed their tune when I said the router was not purchased from them. Perhaps you should read the whole thread before jumping to conclusions.
 
Hi matshelane,

Mweb use to lock their routers. The new firmware removes the lock. Please PM me your email address and I will email you the latest firmware.
 
BILLION Tech said:
Hi matshelane,

Mweb use to lock their routers. The new firmware removes the lock. Please PM me your email address and I will email you the latest firmware.
Click to expand...

But if it was locked by MWEB he wouldn't have been able to change his username in the first place nor put it in bridge mode. He didn't get it from MWEB anyway.

In any case why would he be singled out to have his modem/router locked(if it's even possible)?
 
Not to derail the thread, but i have a problem when i want to login into my client page. it comes up with an error saying something like i must check my proxy server setting. i checked it at work and worked fine without problems. anybody who can help me. the last thing i did before it happened was when i cleared the history settings for all cookies, passwords, etc.
 
KhoisanX said:
But if it was locked by MWEB he wouldn't have been able to change his username in the first place nor put it in bridge mode. He didn't get it from MWEB anyway.

In any case why would he be singled out to have his modem/router locked(if it's even possible)?
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That's correct ... you can't actually change the details ... it looks like you can because you can enter new details and they are saved in the flash ... the problem occurs when you try connect.
They use multi-level passwords hidden in the firmware.
 
Just bear in mind that when you change your isp you will also, most likely, change your dns server. After a while your cache will be filled with unuseable link addresses.

I'd suggest that you regularly run ipconfig /flushdns from a command prompt.
 
Ok everyone please take a deep breath and stop fighting with the man :)

Matshelane I'm really sorry to hear about the experience that you had and I can honestly say to you that it's not the norm. If there is anything at all I can do to change your mind about cancelling please let me know. I would also like to discuss what went wrong, from a customer service point of view, with you if you wouldn't mind sparing me a few minutes of your time.

In terms of the network locking of routers please let me set the record straight:

Up until last year when uncapped was launched we did provide customers with a network locked router free of charge. The firmware on these routers was locked in a manner which forced the username to contain one of the known MWEB realms (by means of a dropdown list) and the ability to switch the router into bridge, or half-bridge mode was disabled. I want to stress that no other locking, or limiting mechanisms were in place on these routers. Furthermore we will gladly provide the unlocked firmware to anyone who still owns and uses one of these devices, just ask MWEB Guy and he will assist.

In terms of the error 601 landing page that appeared in your browser this would indicate that on at least one occasion you did connect with an incorrect password on your MWEB account which caused the page to be served.

EDIT: Just to be perfectly clear on this the sole purpose of this page is to tell you that you have your password wrong and not to prevent you from using another isp account.

The method used to serve these pages is DNS based, which to me indicates that the problem you experienced thereafter was consistent either with a browser caching issue, or a dns cache issue as has been suggested by some of the responses in this thread.

I really have to say though that it's quite a mystery to me as to how this page literally got stuck in your browser even when changing ISP accounts as I certainly haven't seen that happen before.

Once again please accept our sincerest apologies for the manner in which this was handled.

Kind Regards
Will
 
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