Safeguard not working again aaghh!!!

[#1]

"We are clear, however, that no technical solution currently available can provide 100 percent protection for a household."

I'm not getting 1% protection let alone 100%.

When Safeguard was working I thought it was pretty good as it provided blanket protection on various categories  and you could also specify particular websites to either block (or allow).  My gripe is that it has stopped working and nobody seem to know why.

If you read safeguard help pages , it will not work if you don't use PN DNS

I have read the help pages.  How do I use PN DNS?

RF_Engineer

[#2]

PN = Plusnet  you should be using the default DNS

SafeGuard can only work if you’re using Plusnet DNS servers, so if you’ve changed these (either on your router settings or computer) try changing it back. For more on this see About DNS server and website settings.

Help page here https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/how-to-use-plusnet-safeguard/

[#3]

Thanks RongTw

I think you may be on to something...

Your DNS is normally assigned to you automatically, but if you want to choose which DNS to use, here are the settings you’ll need:

To set standard DNS server addresses
Primary	212.159.13.49
Secondary	212.159.13.50
To set alternative DNS server addresses
Primary	212.159.6.9
Secondary	212.159.6.10
To set Plusnet Safeguard DNS server addresses
Primary	213.120.234.42
Secondary	213.120.234.42

I haven't changed any DNS settings and my PN Hub One is reporting:

Primary         212.159.6.9

Secondary    212.159.6.10

How do I change these to:

Primary	213.120.234.42
Secondary	213.120.234.42

(should these be the same?)

I'm logged in to the Hub One, do I need to enable Dynamic DNS (currently not enabled)?

RF_Engineer

[#4]

Did you drop the session after you dissabled/enabled the Safeguard ?

[#5]

Did you drop the session after you disabled/enabled the Safeguard ?

Yes, sometimes several times.

RF_Engineer

[#6]

@RF_Engineer, going to have a quick nosy at this now.

I'll be fiddling with the static IP assignment, so ignore any notices you may receive.

Edit: I've left you on a dynamic IP and refunded the charge for the static, but I've struggled to remedy the Parental Control issue I'm afraid. Will carry on digging but it looks to be part of a wider internal problem (ref: 89097) so can't promise I'll be able to do anything before that's resolved

[#7]

Hi Bob, I'm pleased to hear that you're on the case.

I've been speaking with [CSA Removed] on a daily basis to try and resolve the problem.

This evening [CSA Removed] talked me through manually setting my pc to the Safeguard DNS settings:

Primary DNS:       213.120.234.42

Secondary DNS:  213.120.234.38 

>ipconf /flushdns

But sadly Safeguard still would not work even with these new DNS settings applied.

Any further thoughts or advice appreciated.

RF_Engineer

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): CSA name removed as per Forum rules.

[#8]

---

@RF_Engineer wrote:

But sadly Safeguard still would not work even with these new DNS settings applied.

I don't suspect it will because the Safeguard platform has no knowledge of you as a subscriber due to the odd state your account's in.

There's no simple way to fix it

[#9]

I don't suspect it will because the Safeguard platform has no knowledge of you as a subscriber due to the odd state your account's in.

The Safeguard platform did have knowledge initially because Safeguard was working OK for a few days (then it stopped working and has not worked since!).

Can my existing account be re-registered with the Safeguard platform?

Thanks,  RF_Engineer

[#10 · Accepted solution]

UPDATE

Well, after further telephone discussions with [CSA Removed], I have been trying out a new router.

It is a  Zyxel VMG8924-B10A

I have it installed now and Safeguard is now working again !!

Thanks guys and [CSA Removed] for all the help and suggestions received - it seems the better router was the way to go.  

RF_Engineer 

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): CSA name removed as per Forum rules.

[#11]

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Mike (Mav), you don't seem to know your own rules - the name that you removed is a member of the Customer Relations Team.

Therefore according to the forum posting rules (above) I am allowed to post his name?

RF_Engineer

[#12]

Hi @RF_Engineer

It seems that in the end the only way for you to solve this was to spend £100+ on a new router because the one Plusnet supply does not work with their own Safeguard solution.  Is this correct?  Did you then get some compensation from Plusnet for having to do this?

I have found myself in exactly the same situation .....

[#13]

Hello Alan3

Noooo, I didn't have to put my hand in my pocket (why would I do that?)

Plusnet kindly supplied the new router (Zyxel-VMG8924-B10A) entirely free of charge.

In addition I negotiated a small discount on my monthly fee for my troubles.

Notwithstanding, I chose to leave Plusnet when they increased their prices in June 2017 and I'm now with Sky ADSL  (£9.50/month all-in). 

All's well that ends well.

Good luck!

RF_Engineer

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): Full quote of preceding post removed as per Forum rules

[#14]

Hi think I have same issue. Did you get your new router from Plusnet or buy yourself? Cheers Stuart.

[#15]

Hi Stuart,

This was very very painful.  The plusnet support staff were very polite but consistently and utterly inefficient and useless.

In the end I just bought myself another router.  (netgear).  Once you do that though, you don't need to use safeguard anyway.

All safeguard is, is a pretty wrapper on top of open DNS.  And the netgear router (from memory I think...) actually helps you to set it up.

Anyway I forked out £150 for the netgear router and then after keeping my complaint going for goodness knows how long, I finally got an offer of £50 from plusnet which was utterly inadequate for all the grief I had sorting this out but I accepted it just because life is too short..  I know someone else got £10 of their monthly subscription - not sure how long for.

I am pretty sure that anyone with the standard plusnet router is not going to be protected, even though netguard is seemingly switched on.  The whole thing is completely scandalous...