Bridging the Vodafone HG658c

GreyAlien

Got Vodafone fttc installed today. Had nothing but headaches trying to get this piece of crap modem into bridge mode. After ringing their tech support four times and been given the run around (basically different reasons as to why it can't be bridged), I took matters into my own hands.

Not sure if this was posted before, but it's possible to get this modem into proper bridge mode without having to contact the horror that is vodafone tech support. All it takes is a tiny bit of editing the modem page source in your broswer and the admin pass.

Log into the modem with
username: admin
password: admin1234

You'll get the screen below with added info and so on.



DMZ and more advanced options will become available, but the WAN section for bridging is still hidden, among other menus. Editing the page source fixes that.

In firefox, right click the left frame where it displays 'LAN' under Basic and select 'Inspect Element'.



You'll be greeted with something similar to the screenshot above. Take a close look at the id entries 'Admin_1_2' and so on. You'll notice some have a background colour set under style, while other style entries have 'display: none'.
Admin_1_1 id is the one that displays the WAN entry where bridging option is. It's hidden so simply copy the style entry from Admin_1_2 to Admin_1_1 and voila, it appears. It's also possible to get other hidden menus to appear by applying it to other id entries.






Hope this helps people. Probably an easier way than this half assed way, but it works for me. Late here, so if it doesn't make sense will try and clarify the steps another time.

Edit: Forgot to mention that you'll find your username under the WAN section before you set it to bridge.
Username is your serial number on the box followed by @vfiefttc.ie
pass: broadband

lmimmfn

Excellent, great work

Nik

GreyAlien wrote: »

Got Vodafone fttc installed today. Had nothing but headaches trying to get this piece of crap modem into bridge mode. After ringing their tech support four times and been given the run around (basically different reasons as to why it can't be bridged), I took matters into my own hands.

Not sure if this was posted before, but it's possible to get this modem into proper bridge mode without having to contact the horror that is vodafone tech support. All it takes is a tiny bit of editing the modem page source in your broswer and the admin pass.

Log into the modem with
username: admin
password: admin1234

You'll get the screen below with added info and so on.



DMZ and more advanced options will become available, but the WAN section for bridging is still hidden, among other menus. Editing the page source fixes that.

In firefox, right click the left frame where it displays 'LAN' under Basic and select 'Inspect Element'.



You'll be greeted with something similar to the screenshot above. Take a close look at the id entries 'Admin_1_2' and so on. You'll notice some have a background colour set under style, while other style entries have 'display: none'.
Admin_1_1 id is the one that displays the WAN entry where bridging option is. It's hidden so simply copy the style entry from Admin_1_2 to Admin_1_1 and voila, it appears. It's also possible to get other hidden menus to appear by applying it to other id entries.






Hope this helps people. Probably an easier way than this half assed way, but it works for me. Late here, so if it doesn't make sense will try and clarify the steps another time.

Edit: Forgot to mention that you'll find your username under the WAN section before you set it to bridge.
Username is your serial number on the box followed by @vfiefttc.ie
pass: broadband

This is Super!!
I managed to port forward my NVR and i can confirm that with vodafone fiber broadband ip security cameras working perfect.
I hate to advertise for vodafone after all the hassle I have been through with them
Horrible Costumer Support

theShire

if you look at the source for the Accounts under Maintenance there's a list of the available users on the device:

var UserInfo = new Array(
new stUserInfo("InternetGatewayDevice.UserInterface.X_Web.UserInfo.1","admin"),
new stUserInfo("InternetGatewayDevice.UserInterface.X_Web.UserInfo.2","vodafone"),
new stUserInfo("InternetGatewayDevice.UserInterface.X_Web.UserInfo.3","support"),
new stUserInfo("InternetGatewayDevice.UserInterface.X_Web.UserInfo.4","superuser"),null);

It would be interesting to see if the superuser password could be found

Frank Tp

Nik wrote: »

This is Super!!
I managed to port forward my NVR and i can confirm that with vodafone fiber broadband ip security cameras working perfect.
I hate to advertise for vodafone after all the hassle I have been through with them
Horrible Costumer Support

Recently got the fibre in and need to port forward for my dvr.
Tried the setting and all seems okay but nothing woke and the open port check tools indicate that the ports are closed.

Would appreciate if you could share some screenshots as to the settings you used.

Many thanks

lmimmfn

i have a quick question on bridging, why does everyone want to bridge? i realise what it does, but after i changed my router on my subnet so it doesnt share the same ip address and disabled DHCP i have had 0 issues without bridging with the VF model. Even ports i have forwarded on my subnet are forwarded on the VF router, im just curious as to the advantages( i realise its a lot easier than creating a subnet etc. )?

Jbrigg

Success! A couple of days reading threads but where there's a will there's a way. I wanted to use the Vodafone router to extend the wireless range in the house using it's 'n' protocol, by taking a 50ft Ethernet feed from the UPC modem and sharing the signal via the router.

When logging into the router use '[EMAIL="'A@dvanced"]Advanced[/EMAIL]' as the user name and 'Advanced' as the password.

In WAN click though the pages and select PPPoE. As previously stated by 'GA' Username is your serial number on the box followed by @vfiefttc.ie
pass: broadband

Disable DHC

Save and reboot.................. It worked for me

kalipa

GrenAlien's solution works perfect, thanks that I get access to Voice menu and sorted out my SIP.

lathyrus

Nik wrote: »

This is Super!!
I managed to port forward my NVR and i can confirm that with vodafone fiber broadband ip security cameras working perfect.
I hate to advertise for vodafone after all the hassle I have been through with them
Horrible Costumer Support

Hi Nik,
Please can you tell us what you did to get the camera working? I am trying to run a webcam with HG658c and can't get port 80 forwarding to work through this router... Did you use bridge mode to connect the Vodafone VDSL to a different router, or what?

bush

Cheers for this but I have a couple of questions. What do I have to do besides turn on bridge mode? Do I turn off dhc on the vodafone router or the 2nd router. Do I use the wan port or the lan port to connect to the 2nd router?

maclek

DHCP should be off on the vodafone router and turned on on the second router. The vodafone router should be plugged into the wan port of your 2nd router. The 2nd router will need to be set up with ppoe and your vodafone password as indicated above.

ctlsleh

Do I connect to a lan or ean port on the vf router?

Zed1601

i can make this work no problem but when i try to log in to the vodafone modem a couple of days after setting it up, it keeps saying the password is incorrect. I've tried both the vodafone and the admin username/password. Does anyone know why this is happening?

swoofer

try this, disconnect the cable going to your router from VF modem, then have cable from pc going to vf router. the ip addresses can be same for both routers.

ctlsleh

heres what ive done and its working but is there a better way........

VF modem at the NTU point, no changes to the VF modem other than Wifi is turned off.
from a LAN port on the VF modem, im connecting into a Powerline adapter.

From other powerline adapter in a better position in the house, im connecting to a Dual Wifi router. ive measured the performance on speedtest and im loosing no more than about 20Kbs. All my devices are connected to the wireless router and it all seems to be working well so im pretty happy with the setup, but was wondering if theres a better set-up tha could make more use of the VF modem and especially on its wireless capabilities to improve the wireless signal even more......?

Thoughts appreciated.

Tonio

Can the WAN port be configured as an extra LAN port? I need a fifth one

fat-tony

The WAN port seems to be configured for a host connection (like the DSL port or the USB port via a 3G dongle). If you wanted to add more connections on the LAN side you could buy a hub - 4 port, 8 port - whatever. I have a TP-Link switch attached to the VF router. It's a gigabit switch and cost about €15 on Amazon as far as I remember. Pity the VF router is limited to 100Mb on the LAN side, though!

Tonio

kalipa wrote: »

GrenAlien's solution works perfect, thanks that I get access to Voice menu and sorted out my SIP.

Does this mean I could connect my dect phone directly to the router without using a handytone adapter that my VOIP provider Vomino provided?

hardweir

Hi lads,i have followed the instructions to a tee and still have no internet on the router connected to the huawei.
I am using a d-link dir 655 and have dchp off on the huawei and connecting through ppoe on the d-link but no result.
Wondering if the user name and password is the problem as the username shown in mine ended with @vodafone.ie and not vfiefttc.ie.
Anyone?

wheresmybeaver

Followed these instructions and it worked great for me with my TP Link router. I only had the fibre installed yesterday and I was having massive issues with the Wifi dropping out and the connection being lost every 30 minutes or so, I think the Vodafone router I got is half shagged. They should really have the option of providing a standalone modem for "power users" who want to use their own networking equipment. I find it amazing that this router doesn't have gigabit LAN ports.

Anyway in case it helps anyone, I got my username from the WAN page as per the instructions, it ends in @vfiefttc.ie like others have said, so if you're seeing something else you might be looking in the wrong place. I plugged the CAT5 cable from Eth1 of the Vodafone modem / router into the WAN port of my TP Link router. All I needed to enter on the TP Link router was the username and password. I chose PPPoE under WAN Connection Type, and it connected straight away.

The only thing I never did was disable the wifi on the Vodafone router, so I still have that SSID broadcasting in the house. Any easy way of disabling that without having to reset the modem? Can I just connect my laptop directly to the Vodafone router or would I have to manually set an IP or something? I'm half afraid to make any changes in case the dreaded 30-minute-disconnects come back again but it'd be nice to get rid of that unnecessary Wifi network.

hardweir

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

Followed these instructions and it worked great for me with my TP Link router. I only had the fibre installed yesterday and I was having massive issues with the Wifi dropping out and the connection being lost every 30 minutes or so, I think the Vodafone router I got is half shagged. They should really have the option of providing a standalone modem for "power users" who want to use their own networking equipment. I find it amazing that this router doesn't have gigabit LAN ports.

Anyway in case it helps anyone, I got my username from the WAN page as per the instructions, it ends in @vfiefttc.ie like others have said, so if you're seeing something else you might be looking in the wrong place. I plugged the CAT5 cable from Eth1 of the Vodafone modem / router into the WAN port of my TP Link router. All I needed to enter on the TP Link router was the username and password. I chose PPPoE under WAN Connection Type, and it connected straight away.

The only thing I never did was disable the wifi on the Vodafone router, so I still have that SSID broadcasting in the house. Any easy way of disabling that without having to reset the modem? Can I just connect my laptop directly to the Vodafone router or would I have to manually set an IP or something? I'm half afraid to make any changes in case the dreaded 30-minute-disconnects come back again but it'd be nice to get rid of that unnecessary Wifi network.

Cheers for that but i have done as you have said and still no result,and the username in the wan section definitely ends in @vodafone.ie.The password in mine is only eight dots so i assume its vodafone and not broadband.

By the way there is a wifi button on the side of the vodafone modem to disable wireless.

wheresmybeaver

hardweir wrote: »

Cheers for that but i have done as you have said and still no result,and the username in the wan section definitely ends in @vodafone.ie.The password in mine is only eight dots so i assume its vodafone and not broadband.

By the way there is a wifi button on the side of the vodafone modem to disable wireless.

there's nearly always 8 dots when passwords are masked, regardless of the actual length of the password. But yeah broadband is what i used in my case i think. Where you on fibre during a trial period or anything?

only just copped that button on the side of the router.. Thanks a mill

gtg60

We do we need to bridge the router in the first place? What is it that Vodafone is doing to stop us using our own routers?

Are they not giving us some vital settings or log in information? Just wondering...

wheresmybeaver

gtg60 wrote: »

We do we need to bridge the router in the first place? What is it that Vodafone is doing to stop us using our own routers?

Are they not giving us some vital settings or log in information? Just wondering...

If you have a particularly fancy modem that provides specific functionality not available with the standard Vodafone modem (eg gigabit lan ports, 802.11ac wireless speeds, easy access to DMZ) then bridging will allow you to use the Vodafone device as a modem with all your routing being managed by your own device.

I believe that bridging is better than simply just connecting your fancy router to the Vodafone one using a Ethernet cable as it prevents NAT problems eg port forwarding) and there's essentially fewer things that could possibly go wrong.

In my case I had to bridge as a last resort as my current Vodafone router seems to be highly unstable in my network environment, disconnecting every 30 minutes. Not an issue with the bridged setup thank Christ. I'd still rather just use the one device if I could so Vodafone are sending me out a replacement router to see if that fixes the disconnection issue.

GottaGetGatt

Will this solve NAT problems on the xbox 360?Need help

gtg60

Got my new VDSL router working directly with Vodafone fibre, see here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057099603

Interesting to note that the Username seems to have changed format, it's now:
serialnumber@vodafone.ie
but curiously vodafone@vodafone.ie works fine.

fat-tony

Did you not like the VF supplied model @gtg60? Long time since we exchanged posts

I have found that the Huawei model supplied has been stable and has good wifi coverage throughout the house. It's been on since 4th November (on ADSL for a week and then on VDSL) and no issues. I understand that some users might need bridging if they have a particularly good wifi router that they need to use (or to justify the cash they spent on it heh heh ). But for a fairly standard home configuration I'm finding the VF model works well - no problems with xbox or wii so far.
Will your new VDSL modem support vectoring? There seems to be talk of that being switched on in 2014 to enable higher speeds - probably will be needed anyway to reduce the crosstalk once there is a good number of users on the lines in any case!

fat-tony

GottaGetGatt wrote: »

Will this solve NAT problems on the xbox 360?Need help

Did you fix your issues with NAT (presume you have port forwarding problems)?

gtg60

fat-tony wrote: »

Did you not like the VF supplied model @gtg60? Long time since we exchanged posts

Indeed, quite a while!

But for a fairly standard home configuration I'm finding the VF model works well - no problems with xbox or wii so far.

Yes, it would probably be fine for most people and I was getting 67/17 and excellent WiFi coverage but I was coming from using a Draytek Vigor 2830 which is an enterprise class router and truly a superb piece of kit but unfortunately it doesn't support VDSL
I instantly lost a lot of features including the ability to update my dynamic dns service, my multiple and extremely configurable WiFi SSID's, my kids have their own bandwidth and time restricted WiFi Plus a host of other features.

Will your new VDSL modem support vectoring? There seems to be talk of that being switched on in 2014 to enable higher speeds - probably will be needed anyway to reduce the crosstalk once there is a good number of users on the lines in any case!

Yes, it supports Vectoring, this was a very important consideration when purchasing my new router, I'm sure Vodafone wouldn't be too pleased with me if I was connected with my own router and brought down the whole cabinet when Vectoring does go live

gavvkk

hardweir wrote: »

Cheers for that but i have done as you have said and still no result,and the username in the wan section definitely ends in @vodafone.ie.The password in mine is only eight dots so i assume its vodafone and not broadband.

By the way there is a wifi button on the side of the vodafone modem to disable wireless.

All worked ok with DIR-655 that I have. I did at first factory reset both devices, changed to bridged, powered off and back on and checked settings held for bridged mode(first attempt I must have screwed up cause wouldn't connect).
My WAN settings in huawei for username also ended in vodafone.ie , but using @vfiefttc.ie in DLink and the password as " broadband" did work.

This also fixed strict to moderate NAT and NAT is now open for Xbox live.

A big thanks to GreyAlien. I never realized or experienced that such companies are locking down devices as such and offer no "tech" support to resolved issue only to read terms and conditions.[IMG][/img]

phil nulty

Before I give bridged mode a go would disabling dhcp on vf router and use the dmz to the second router with dhcp on that work?

gavvkk

phil nulty wrote: »

Before I give bridged mode a go would disabling dhcp on vf router and use the dmz to the second router with dhcp on that work?

Doubt it as the VF modem would be still in "router" mode.

Stingray

OK I'll start by saying I'm not technical.

Ordered VF Fibre today, will have next week, but will I have an issue connecting to CCTV with Fibre? From what I've read on this thread is the best way to "Bridge" the new router to my existing "Eircom Zyxel" - where everything in terms of connections work perfectly, or will this Zyxel router not be compatitable with Fibre?

I'm just anticipating problems, and trying to get answers ahead of time!

Conar

Stingray wrote: »

OK I'll start by saying I'm not technical.

Ordered VF Fibre today, will have next week, but will I have an issue connecting to CCTV with Fibre? From what I've read on this thread is the best way to "Bridge" the new router to my existing "Eircom Zyxel" - where everything in terms of connections work perfectly, or will this Zyxel router not be compatitable with Fibre?

I'm just anticipating problems, and trying to get answers ahead of time!

I've no problems with the Vodafone router. Using port triggering and Xbox live is fine (no Nat issues) and using Dyndns to remote access for streaming video from my media center again without issue.
I've seen no reason to require bridging the router.

Stingray

Good to hear, so it just a basic Forward what ever port to the appropriate IP on the LAN and job done?

Conar

Stingray wrote: »

Good to hear, so it just a basic Forward what ever port to the appropriate IP on the LAN and job done?

Indeed.
Just go to Advanced>NAT
For forwarding ports to a single device I use port mapping to the IP address.
I have 2 Xboxes so I use port triggering for that.

Then Advanced>DDNS for the dynamic dis which works fine on my dyndns account.

Conar

Conar wrote: »

Indeed.
Just go to Advanced>NAT
For forwarding ports to a single device I use port mapping to the IP address.
I have 2 Xboxes so I use port triggering for that.

Then Advanced>DDNS for the dynamic dis which works fine on my dyndns account.

Sorry, I was wrong about using 2 Xboxes. With port triggering it allows you use 2 Xboxes one at a time, but not at once. I retested after someone mailed me for settings.

sirione

i had a belkin before a got vodafone fibre installed, but i cant sort my nat issues with xbox on this new modem, could i bridge this through the belkin, using the steps you have posted, had no issues with nat on the belkin, cheers

Conar

sirione wrote: »

i had a belkin before a got vodafone fibre installed, but i cant sort my nat issues with xbox on this new modem, could i bridge this through the belkin, using the steps you have posted, had no issues with nat on the belkin, cheers

This seems to work for me

fat-tony

sirione wrote: »

i had a belkin before a got vodafone fibre installed, but i cant sort my nat issues with xbox on this new modem, could i bridge this through the belkin, using the steps you have posted, had no issues with nat on the belkin, cheers

+1 on Conar's post - no problem with xbox using port triggering on this modem/router - ensure you are using the correct interface in the dropdown - it defaults to DSL instead of VDSL

sirione

fat-tony wrote: »

+1 on Conar's post - no problem with xbox using port triggering on this modem/router - ensure you are using the correct interface in the dropdown - it defaults to DSL instead of VDSL

Conar wrote: »

This seems to work for me

thanks a lot for your help guys, nat seems to be sorted, at last!!!:)

Stingray

Any one offer help on Port Forwarding/Mapping?

I've entered details as per my previous Belkin router, but not able to gain a connection with the new VF Fibre Router, see attached

roast

Stingray wrote: »

Any one offer help on Port Forwarding/Mapping?

I've entered details as per my previous Belkin router, but not able to gain a connection with the new VF Fibre Router, see attached

Are you on VDSL? Because those rules are setup on the ADSL connection.

Conar

Stingray wrote: »

Any one offer help on Port Forwarding/Mapping?

I've entered details as per my previous Belkin router, but not able to gain a connection with the new VF Fibre Router, see attached

Check out my screenshot just a few posts back. You need to change the interface to match mine if you're on fibre. You have it set for an adsl connection.

Stingray

Not quite sure what you mean, I've just got the VF Fibre installed this AM and replicated the Ports I had on the previous modem to the knew one (thinking it would work)

I can connect via LAN, no problem

Conar

Stingray wrote: »

Not quite sure what you mean, I've just got the VF Fibre installed this AM and replicated the Ports I had on the previous modem to the knew one (thinking it would work)

I can connect via LAN, no problem

Look at where you have the rule configured.
There's a field (drop down ) which is "interface".
You have set that field incorrectly.
Change it to match what I have set in that field.

Stingray

Bingo, thanks for the info, connected now (would never have been able to work that out without assistance)

Thanks

Stingray

One final question, I used to be able to connect to the local device on the LAN, using its WAN address, but I can't now, I either have to be on 3G (and external IP address) or use the local address 192.168.1.4

What setting(s) determine this?

fat-tony

Stingray wrote: »

Bingo, thanks for the info, connected now (would never have been able to work that out without assistance)

Thanks

That's why I mentioned the default dropdown setting in post #41

Conar

Stingray wrote: »

One final question, I used to be able to connect to the local device on the LAN, using its WAN address, but I can't now, I either have to be on 3G (and external IP address) or use the local address 192.168.1.4

What setting(s) determine this?

If you add a line to your dns host file it should fix that.
Just map the wan address to the local IP address.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/27350/beginner-geek-how-to-edit-your-hosts-file/

Stingray

Thanks, but what would have changed on my PC, if the only thing I changed was the modem, IP address, both local and WAN stayed the same