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80mb trial error messages in browser

bez
Grafter
Posts: 27
Registered: ‎04-07-2011

80mb trial error messages in browser


im getting this error screen several times a day, on both my windows machine and linux, never had this problem untill the 80mb trial, seems to be random and also seems to fix itself after random amounts of time without any intervention from myself
7 REPLIES 7
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,863
Thanks: 881
Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: 80mb trial error messages in browser

Ho bez, you should be able to stop that from happening again by specifying the DNS server addresses in your router config.
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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
bez
Grafter
Posts: 27
Registered: ‎04-07-2011

Re: 80mb trial error messages in browser

which dns server addresses should i be specifying in the router?
w23
Pro
Posts: 6,347
Thanks: 96
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎08-01-2008

Re: 80mb trial error messages in browser

You should be fine with 212.159.6.9 and 212.159.6.10 though you can use others (non-PlusNet) if preferred.
Call me 'w23'
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prichardson
Grafter
Posts: 1,503
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: 80mb trial error messages in browser

Hi Bez,
I have been looking into this problem in more detail and we beleive we have a suspected cause for this problem. We do however need to do more testing into this, though our ability to replicate the problem could be pretty limiting.
If you would not mind, there is some possible information you could collect that may assist us in knowing if we can speed this process up and indicate a possible alternative method for us to replicate this.
If you have made the suggested change (which will fix the problem I will add), no worry. If you have not however, next time the problem happens and you get that screen, can you login to the router and provide me the output you can see from the "Router Status" screen linked on the left hand side of the router.
bez
Grafter
Posts: 27
Registered: ‎04-07-2011

Re: 80mb trial error messages in browser

yeah ive yet to apply the fix to the router so i can certainly get you that info next time i get this error
prichardson
Grafter
Posts: 1,503
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: 80mb trial error messages in browser

Excellent, many thanks.
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prichardson
Grafter
Posts: 1,503
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: 80mb trial error messages in browser

Unfortunatly the details you sent did not simplify the tests we could perform. This has not detered us in the slightest, as it just meant we had to find a setup/methodology that could be used.
We actually came up with some ideas yesterday and managed to do some tests. These were unable to replicate this beyond around 5 to 15 seconds after we connected the Netgear to our test setup. This sort of time could be expected as the device completes its self configuration.
Today we have managed to replicate the symptoms you are all seeing and this was also done in a setup that more accurately reflects how you would setup a Plusnet Fibre service. This result confirmed some theories we came up with on Tuesday on what was happening, the problem all centered around "how to prove it".
The theory we had would only occur when you set the connection to automatic assigned DNS, then would resolve itself if you manually configured them, or if you rebooted the Netgear.
For the technically interested, our test setup involved connecting the Netgear to a non-Internet enabled PC. We setup Wireshark on the machine and enabled a PPPoE Server on an XP machine. So instead of the PC making outbound PPPoE connections, it announced and accepted incoming PPPoE connections from the Netgear router.
In the testing, at no point did we make any changes or visit the configuration pages of the Netgear after we configured a username and password into the Basic Setup. We then did the following on the PC through Wireshark and the PPPoE server.
Test 1:
We configured the PC to issue the two DNS servers 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4 when the Netgear authenticated.
This worked as expected this test and we could see the Netgear bein assigned the correct DNS and attempting DNS lookups on these two IPs when a wireless device (namely our Andoid mobiles tried to browse).
Test 2:
We configured the PC to issue the two DNS servers 9.8.8.8 & 9.8.4.4 when the Netgear authenticated (note the slight IP change on the DNS). We then used the PPPoE server to force a disconnect and allow the Netgear to reconnect.
The expected result was similar to test one, with the Netgear then performing looking using only the new servers. It should at no point use any others (there is a minor exception here, but we are ignoring this in the tests on purpose).
The actual result was got was to see the Netgear being assigned the correct DNS servers. However, we could see DNS requests being made on 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4, 9.8.8.8, 9.8.4.4.
At no point should then second test have used 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4.
We conducted a third test, assigning the Netgear 10.8.8.8, 10.8.4.4. In this test, the router was using 6 DNS servers at random.
Our conclusion here is that when the Netgear disconnects from PPPoE, it is meant to flush details it knows about prior DNS servers on the WAN interface as any of these values should be considered invalid. However, the Netgear is not doing this at all and is retaining existing DNS servers values for use on any future PPPoE sessions that are established on the WAN connection.
What this means in the real world here, specific to the BT Wholesale screens you are seeing.
At some point, most likely due to planned maintenance or outages, customers are seeing a brief PPPoE connection to the BT greenscreens, which includes the BT DNS servers associated with this. When this connections drops and the router creates a new PPPoE connection to your Plusnet service, it is not using both the BT and Plusnet DNS servers. Only the Plusnet ones should be considered valid and the disconnection should have completely dropped knowledge of the BT DNS, only it has not.
We consider this to be a problem with the Netgear firmware and have now raised initial investigation with them on this matter. We are yet to hear back, but will need to supply them the packet captures for them to see this in action and consider matters.
I need to advise at this time this may not be a quick fix I am afraid and in the interim, manually applying DNS servers to your LAN connections on your machines, or in the Basic Setup screen of the Netgear, will give you a local fix for the time being.