Broadband ZZOOMM / ASUS Headache

[Sundayjumper]

I'm having a baffling problem with my broadband here. ZZOOMM (full fibre service) provide an Icotera router which works fine but I upgraded to a pair of ASUS CT8 to create a mesh network. They worked perfectly for a few months then suddenly didn't. I've reverted to the Icotera for now so that I can actually reach the internet but here's the situation:

The ASUS says it is connected to the internet
I can access google, search for anything, it returns the results but none of the links will open
If I google "speedtest" and use google's own speed test it reports ~180Mbps which is correct
If I google "speedtest" and click any of the results, they won't open

So WTF ? The router clearly has access to the internet, but is letting google though and nothing else ? What would cause that ?

[DeskJockey]

Sounds very odd. Is there/have you mistakenly enabled any kind of proxy/filtering/child's account on the mesh devices?

Have you tried resetting them to factory default?

Edit: a quick Google (my mesh WiFi doesn't block me ) says they've got all the above features. Check that nothing has been enabled mistakenly.

[Shlergen]

DNS issue maybe? Can you reset router and setup from scratch again or even better check DNS /gateway settings between both?

[Sundayjumper]

Edit: a quick Google (my mesh WiFi doesn't block me ) says they've got all the above features. Check that nothing has been enabled mistakenly.

Some stuff was enabled but it stopped working all on its own, I didn't change anything. I was working (on my work laptop, in a meeting) and I got kicked out of the call.

DNS issue maybe? Can you reset router and setup from scratch again or even better check DNS /gateway settings between both?

DNS has come to light as the likely culprit from further googling - posts mention that Youtube is the other thing that somehow works without DNS and true enough, I can use Youtube totally fine.

I've reset the router several times, it's not as simple as that. On the bright side I now have some wine and I will persevere !

[DeskJockey]

Can you set DNS manually to see if that solves the problem (assuming it is also serving DHCP)?

Edit: try setting it on the laptop and see if that overrides the issue.

[Sundayjumper]

I have now had n+1 glasses of wine and I'm ready to throw the router(s)* out the window. Forcing the DNS to 8.8.8.8 in the "WAN" section of the router setup, and in the "LAN->DHCP" section, and in the laptop's network setting doesn't make any difference. I can ping 8.8.8.8 from the command prompt no problem; it's definitely contactable. The router must be blocking the webpage data coming back rather than the request going out ?? This is consumer-level equipment, it should "just work" for the simple job of letting me post on here.

* Interesting feature of the CT8, and a reason for buying them in the first place, is that router & node are physically identical, the role of router/node is determined in the setup. I've tried both units in the role of router and both behave identically which I hope rules out a hardware failure as it's unlikely both would fail simultaneously.


I have now had n+1+1 glasses of wine. I'll revert to my normal job of posting faintly-racist pro-brexit soundbites & bigging up crypto.

[DeskJockey]

Out of curiosity have you tried on a wired connection? Shouldn't make any difference, but still...

[DeskJockey]

Do you have the AIProtection feature turned on? If so, turn it off and see what happens.

Edit: there's a few threads on various forums stating similar problems and that turning that feature of fixes it. Possibly related to lacking/out of date signature files

[Sundayjumper]

I was already alternating between wired & wireless just in case that was an issue. No difference.

Do you have the AIProtection feature turned on? If so, turn it off and see what happens.

Pretty sure it was turned off, but I've given up and I'm now on n+1+2n glasses of wine so it's best if I don't do any more fiddling today I'll look again tomorrow.

Honestly, I never had this trouble with Vodafone. The Vodafone mesh system ("pro" ?) worked perfectly. I only ditched it because I wanted full fibre and Vodafone couldn't offer it here.

[Jobbo]

Can’t you use the Vodafone kit for the mesh part? I still use Google Wifis for the mesh at home but I was sent a couple of Gigaclear mesh nodes when I switched to a new deal with them. The Gigaclear nodes are running a mesh elsewhere quite happily now, where a Virgin router doesn’t cover the whole house.

[Sundayjumper]

Do you have the AIProtection feature turned on? If so, turn it off and see what happens.

OK, it does seem to be something to do with AiProtection. It was turned off. I turned it on and the internet started working ! Yay ! But it got slower and slower until it was unusable again. Turned off - back to the previous unusable state. Turned on again - still unusable. Useless

Jobbo - it crossed my mind but I told myself it wouldn't work as part of my justification for buying the ASUS. The ASUS *should* be far better than the Vodafone kit. But here we are.....

[Gavster]

Can you send them back for a refund?