Fallen Tech Blog

I found a bastardized ADSL modem yesterday (see post Multiple IP addresses, single network adapter for more information).

It was supplied with Optus ADSL Internet access here in Australia. The owner was looking at going to a different service provider for their ADSL, so I wanted to reconfigure it.

The product itself is manufactured by D-Link, and has the model name DSL-302G (Generation II). Going to the web administration page however quickly reveals something really nasty.

The modem is branded with Optus, and only allows you to set username/password and activate/deactivate NAT. If that wasn't bad enough, the NAT is specifically for 10.1.1.3 to 10.1.1.32 only. No where does it allow you to configure the specifics for connecting to another ISP.

I was naturally disgusted by this, and decided to flash it with the latest D-Link firmware.

Follow up:

I telneted into the device and logged in with the D-Link defaults of username: admin, password: admin and saw this banner:

D-Link Corp., Software Release R2.01M.B40.OP(021206a/T93.3.44)
Copyright (c) 2001-2002 by D-Link Corp.

I noticed that the firmware version was 2.01M.B40.OP. The latest firmware D-Link offered on their site was 2.01M.B40, only missing the .OP which one would assume stands for Optus. So I figured: great, I'll just flash with the latest DSL-302G generic firmware and we'll be in business.

First however, I read a few forums and discovered that many people were reporting that they'd actually broken their DSL-302G modems by flashing with this firmware.

Eventually I found a notice on D-Link's site saying that you could not just flash the Optus version of the modem with this firmware. You had to instead (due to their license agreement with Optus) contact D-Link, telling them that you were no longer with Optus. They would then send you the appropriate firmware.

This really upset me. This product says it's a DSL-302G on the outside. There's nothing to indicate that it would be incompatible with the DSL-302G generic firmware.

I believe this was deliberate so that if you flash it and it gets screwed, Optus won't help you because you voided your warranty with them by flashing it, and D-Link won't help you because you purchased it from Optus!

Luckily on most models, you can change the url from:

http://10.1.1.1/hag/pages/home.ssi

to:

http://10.1.1.1/hag/pages1/home.ssi

manually to display the original D-Link configuration anyway.

***UPDATE*** Some versions use this instead:

http://10.1.1.1/hag/pages_gthoh/home.ssi

...UPDATE...

Still, Optus and D-Link are now in my bad books, Optus as specially for being deceptive and saying that they sell you a DSL-302G (neglecting to mention that they screwed with it).

To their credit, D-Link DO say that as long as you are no longer with Optus, they will send you a "fixed" firmware that you can flash onto the device, turning it back into a generic DSL-302G. See their support page for more information or go to this direct URL.