topic Re: Firewall in Plusnet Feedback

Firewall

peter10 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:31:34 GMT

Today I transferred from option 1 to value. Without any warning my broadband firewall was turned off at the same time and left off. On phoning I was put through to Technical Assistance and was told that they didn't change it and that he didn't know why it had happened. I only found out by looking at closed questions. The time the firewall was deactivated was early morning at the precise time my account was changed. If PN didn't do it has anyone any ideas what happened. If PN did it I'm very annoyed that I wasn't properly informed as I could have been using my computer for a long time without that firewall.

Re: Firewall

James — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:03:25 GMT

Hi Peter,
I suspect that this will be because the Firewall is turned off by default on the new packages.
If this has caused any undue concern, I'm very sorry. However, if you are using a router, this should have an inbuilt firewall which should negate any risk.

Re: Firewall

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:22:32 GMT

Peter - thank you for pointing this out. Have just checked mine and yes, it has been turned off so I have reset it.
Will this be followed up by Plusnet as several of my referrals have, like me, changed to Value and will not check as they are not that computer/Internet-savvy?

Re: Firewall

alanf — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:35:04 GMT

This is terrible news. I think that when I joined Plusnet the default was off but why would anyone assume that an existing customer who had chosen to turn the firewall on would want that changed for them when they move on to a new product? and without warning! Apart from any additional security risk the absence of a firewall can increase traffic and may cost the customer more money than would otherwise have been the case.
This needs to be publicised. I don't usually read the feedback board and only came here because I saw that Firewall was the most recent topic.
Another case of Plusnet making unwanted decisions for us. Like when you sign up for a new broadband product if you on the legacy Anytime phone tariff you get moved to Anytime+ unless you specify otherwise.

Re: Firewall

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:12:41 GMT

Just checked and I think that some have been switched off so have reversed it but on some it says that a BB reconnection is needed.
BTW what is the Homephone Anytime change that you refer to? Have been on Anytime+ for a couple of years and didn't know about any change.

Re: Firewall

pierre_pierre — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:45:16 GMT

the old legacy "anytime" is for 240 min and a lot cheaper, thats another change they made at the same time as the refresh, changed the layout of the page, the click for phone calls was on the left, now it is on the right!!!!, Cant remember what it was called before the refresh, but dont think it was like this

Quote
Home Phone Anytime
Account Summary Itemised Bill Call Features Recent Calls

Control every aspect of your Home Phone service Home Phone Home Phone
Get Help & Support
Tariff Guide
General Guide
Troubleshooting Guide
Billing Guide
Nuisance Calls Guide
Discussion Forums

Account summary
Product: Home Phone Anytime
Phone number:
Remaining mins: 168 min
Next payment date: 24/03/09
Credit limit: £ 50.00

Credit available: £ 50.00
Top Up
How we manage your credit limit

Re: Firewall

Anotherone — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:04:41 GMT

@pierre. poppy, alanf
If this change has taken place, perhaps a separate thread on the subject would be a good idea.
@James
Yep, this does seem to be these case. I would say it was very very silly to have the default as off, apart from the fact that not everyone has firewall protected routers, this causes extra traffic on one's connection if there is constant port probing.
One of the claimed benefits of a PN connection is the ISP provided Firewall.
The average punter wouldn't understand all the complexities nor would they realise it was off, and the previous default low setting usually suits most needs.
I would request that 2 things occur.
1) The default be changed back to Low ASAP.
2) All new & existing customers that have changed or signed up to new producst be sent an e-mail advising them of this and to check their settings suit their needs, with a recommended default of Low.

Re: Firewall

Anotherone — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:18:23 GMT

Is anyone from PN looking at this change of Firewall setting?

Re: Firewall

James — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:34:12 GMT

Yes, I've raised this as problem 55858.
It's a P2 as it's not critical enough to be consider a P1 (priority problem).

Re: Firewall

Anotherone — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:43:12 GMT

Thanks.

Re: Firewall

alanf — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 03:28:16 GMT

Almost 4 years on and it seems that this priority 2 issue has not been addressed. I have just discovered that my broadband firewall is off. I assume because of my recent change to Unlimited.
As I wrote before why would anyone think it a good idea to revert to default settings when changing ones product?

Re: Firewall

Anotherone — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 03:50:25 GMT

Alan, that would come as no surprise, but especially because it's the Firewall this is particularly unacceptable.
And in light of all the comments made in this thread by us nearly 4 years ago I find this particularly galling.

Re: Firewall

Oldjim — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:23:37 GMT

Thanks for the reminder - I had forgotten and the recent change to Unlimited and probably Extra before that turned it off
Not a happy bunny

Re: Firewall

orbrey — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:05:25 GMT

Really sorry guys, Not sure if it's the same issue but it needed reraising internally so that's been done on ref. 74543 and pushed back towards our dev team.

Re: Firewall

Anotherone — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:54:07 GMT

Thanks Matt.

Re: Firewall

Fifer — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:25:31 GMT

Just noticed this and after checking my Plusnet firewall settings it's set at off. It has probably been this way since i changed over to Value from BBYW 2.
This was about nine or ten months ago. As i have the Windows firewall running and my router is firewalled i don't suppose it really matters that much, but it would have been nice to have been informed some way that it was switched off when it was changed over to Value.

Re: Firewall

Anotherone — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:52:48 GMT

So can we have an update on this please instead of just thanks for the feedback. And it would be nice to know what happened to the old problem 55858 as Matt had to raise ref. 74543 ?

Re: Firewall

Anotherone — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:32:31 GMT

Was problem 55858 only addressing BBYW products per chance?

Re: Firewall

rja66 — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:30:09 GMT

Turning mine back on now after moving to unlimited a few weeks ago, should I set it to low or high?

Re: Firewall

Anonymous — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:41:10 GMT

@rja66 what OS are you using ?