[Problem] 6591 - no connection after 8.03 update

[552eden]

First of all, sorry for English. I live in Frankfurt am main and already have a2 levels but I'm still learning German. Feel free to respond in German and thanks for understanding

Now for the issue
I have Vodafone kabel connection with their "amazing" OEM router. 3 months ago a friend gave me his Vodafone edition fritz 6591 which worked great until yesterday.

2 days ago, I've received an email that my router was updated by Vodafone from 7.58 to 8.03

Then for about 12 hours everything was OK. Woke up the next day to no internet. Called Vodafone and they said everything looks good. They were angry that I'm not using their router (???) and asked to test with it. Their router worked . Then they said they will need to register my fritz router INSTEAD of the OEM one. I have them all the details (serial, cm Mac) and the lady said it will update in 24 hours

Today I came home from work, and oem router stopped working. I thought switch over time is here but fritz still can't access network!!

It says it's connected over cable and all seems fine but it says no internet and send and receive are at 0kbits....

I tried factory reset and it didn't help

Then I tried setting linux_fs_start to 1 (checked, it was 0) but router still boots to 8.03 (even double checked settings were applied by exporting support data....)

Do any of you have an idea on what to try next? I will of course call Vodafone but I have a feeling they will tell me to use the router they have me (which is so bad)

I live in Frankfurt am main (Hesse) so I thinks it's unimedia or something like that?


Thanks for all the help and again sorry for english

 

[KunterBunter]

3 months ago a friend gave me his Vodafone edition fritz 6591 which worked great until yesterday.

With that you were using your friend's contract at your line. But now it's over. His contract has ended.
And that's that. Whatever you will try, you cannot use someone else's Vodafone Edition Fritz router with Vodafone. Get another one as a retail version or continue using their "amazing" OEM router Vodafone station.

 

[552eden]

[Edit Novize: Überflüssiges Fullquote des Beitrags direkt darüber gelöscht - siehe Forumsregeln]
[Edit Novize: Fullquote of the post directly above deleted - see Forum Rules]

Even though I have registered the mac and serial via Vodafone customer support to my account? So after contract is done the device becomes a brick?

 

[KunterBunter]

After the contract is done the device has to be returned to the provider, according to the fine print in the T&C.
If one ignores that and pays the nominal fee instead, he or she can still deploy the device at any other provider, except Vodafone. So, no brick at all.

 

[H´Sishi]

Which is, in my opinion, a bad move by all providers. If customers buy the provider router out of the contract at any time (at start, during the contract (usually not being offered) or after it), the router becomes a "customer's" device and should be treated like any router from the open market.

Unfortunately router manufacturers either design or flag provider models during production already and usually you cannot convert such a router to an open device by firmware or configuration which would unlock all features the hardware is capable of, including manual firmware updates.
Some routers only get the "provider-additive" flag set, but most routers have hard-coded limitation (electronic design, bootloader flags etc.).

So you're on the mercy of the original provider when it comes to updates - and VF doesn't offer firmwares for installation by customers.

What did the CS say about why the router isn't working?

 

[KunterBunter]

So you're on the mercy of the original provider when it comes to updates

Not really true. You can easily convert the router to a retail version and apply the retail firmware afterwards.
However, the limitation to not using it with Vodafone still persists.

 

[552eden]

Wow this is insane anti customer behaviour

I will call again customer support today and see what they say but this is crazy

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Just confirming, even if I convert it to an unbranded box it will still be "banned" from Vodafone?? That is crazy!!