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| Bell from Hell & the 2-Wire 2701HG-G Modem Greetings oh wise internet,
It would seem to appear that in recent times, Bell from Hell has decided to start countering any of their 2-Wire 2701HG-G modems that users have modified by reflashing them with the Singtel firmare in order to be able to unlock them and access the Management & Diagnostic Console to be able to do such things as bridge the modem to be able to use a Wireless N instead.
For the last year or so, this has worked fine, but it now seems that Bell is taking measures to remove such modems from their network by screwing around with their connectivity. The question here is does anyone know (or have) a generic firmware, or even a Bell from Hell firmware that can access the MDC that I could re-flash these modems with to be able to render them usable once more?
Any help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. I currently have not one, but THREE of these modems that Bell has done this to. In an ideal world, I'd like to sell them, or otherwise send them to a home where they would be appreciated and used, rather than sitting in a closet collecting dust. The short version of how I got my hands on so many modems was that I had it out with Bell's Executive office when I went through the HELL of 9 technician visits in a matter of 2 weeks. Every time a technician would come, they would change the modem AGAIN, thinking that the modem was the problem. Of course, every time that they'd do this, they would never give me any kind of return instructions or anything for the old modems.
As you may have guessed, Bell tried charging me through the arse for these technician visits, however with a quick call to my lawyer (who I sent after Bell like a wild pitbull on speed) and Bell seemed to have a very different attitude with me. I was damned if I was gonna pay some $800 in technician visits alone for technicians to come, replace the modem that didn't need to be replaced, remove hardware from my internal wiring that neither needed to be removed, nor did they ever give back to me as it was not theirs to take, and left without having fixed the problem. One such technician I actually felt the need to call the Waterloo Regional Police to have removed from my home because he decided he wasn't going to listen to simple instructions, then was going to insist that he change wiring that didn't need to be changed. The inevitable result of this resulted in about 4.5 hours of my time being spent re-doing the wiring that they screwed up and pulling the wiring for my 2nd VoIP line off of the Bell line as they had bridged the two together, which by the way did happen to fry my VoIP adapter.
So... This leaves me with a number of "spare" modems, some of which cannot be used currently thanks to Bell blacklisting the Singtel firmware, a nightmare of a wiring mess to have to clean up, and a legal battle that I am still battling out. If there is anyone here that could help me get a "proper" firmware (as far as Bell from Hell can tell) on these modems to be able to render them functional again would be greatly appreciated.
On the note of the 9 technicians from hell in a row, I have come to discover that Bell from Hell doesn't like when a customer lashes back at them with a bill of their own. Namely, they don't like when a customer owns a small technical services company and decides to create an account for them in which to bill them for $85/hr for the re-wiring that was needed to fix the lines that they screwed up, plus another $100 or the VoIP adapter that they destroyed, PLUS... Get this... I was so frustrated that I upheld my threat and slammed them with a bill for $25/min (and I don't do per-second billing for them) for a whopping 456 minutes of technical support time that I could have otherwise spent making money off of customers. When you roll all of that together and add the mandatory 13% HST, it came out to a whopping $13,427.26 that they now owe just on their f**kery alone. This doesn't even begin to touch the legal fees or anything else such as the $25 "late payment" fee, or the compound interest rate (billed as per Bell's own interest policies that they charge their customers) for having to put up this fight.
One thing that I will admit though is that sending Bell a bill for $13,427.26 for such things certainly does get their attention REAL FAST. What gets their attention even more is when you submit this bill to your lawyer to have them be the ones to hand it over to them with the threat of litigation should they fail to comply. Don't get me wrong though... This isn't my usual MO when it comes to business, but when you're an evil faceless corporation like Bell from Hell, sometimes drastic measures are necessary in order to accomplish anything. This is where TekSavvy comes in handy, since TekSavvy has never played the kind of games that Bell has, nor have they ever (and I highly doubt they will ever) resort to such things as Bell has.
Just one example of what Bell has pulled as compared to the standard of excellence that TekSavvy provides is that when I determined the problem to be the modem, Bell started to challenge me on it, saying that unless a Bell technician visits my home and determines that the modem is the problem, they will outright REFUSE to help me. In fact, it took almost 2 hours of fighting with a "big wig" at Bell's executive office (which in TekSavvy terms, would be like having to put up a fight with TSI Andre) before they would start to see things my way. It seemed that when my telling them that when I replaced the 2-Wire 2701HG-G modem with an old Simmens SpeedStream 5200 that suddenly, I was able to establish a PPPoE link again, whereas I could no longer do this through the 2-Wire modem, yet for some reason, this unto itself was insufficient for Bell to believe that the modem was the problem. Bell from Hell also didn't seem to like the fact that I thought it was unreasonable to force me to pay a monthly service fee for renting a modem that does not work.
The good part out of this is that I've since been able to give Bell from Hell the proverbial "1-finger salute" and cut their crappy customer service out of the picture completely by switching over to TekSavvy. I must say that I'm very glad that I made this change, mainly because it gets very frustrating when you have to call in because something is wrong, only to get Ali Babba Shaqua Shouvez from Bangladesh on the phone, who doesn't possess a sufficient comprehension of the English language necessary to do their job adequately. I can honestly say that unlike Bell, I have *NEVER* had this problem with TekSavvy. Keep up the good work. | |
 Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON
kudos:3 | I have a non-Bell 2701 HG-T with Qwest firmware that runs very well. It has less info than others like the AT&T firmware that I had on my 2700 but I highly recommend it nonetheless. | |
| Are you by any chance able to rip the firmware out of that bad boy? *crosses fingers* | |
Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON
kudos:3 Reviews:
 ·TekSavvy DSL
| »www.qwest.com/internethelp/modem···5.48.2sp
The status page gives the following info:
VPI: 0
VCI: 35
Broadband Negotiated Mode: G.DMT2+ Annex A
Connection Status: CONNECTED
Speed (down/up): 19453 Kbps/1086 Kbps
Number of Retrains: 0
Number of Retrains Elapsed Time: 0H: 00M: 00S
SNR Margin (Downstream/Upstream): 12.1 dB/10.3 dB
Attenuation (Downstream/Upstream): 7.6 dB/5.2 dB | |
| OMG OMG OMG!!! You're a life saver! Thank you 10,000,000x | |
Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON
kudos:3 | No problem. Let us know how it goes. | | |
|
| So far, it seems to be re-flashing no problem. I will soon be in the testing stage to test if this turns out to be a viable solution that Bell doesn't lothe...
@Teddy Boom: I know you've had a lot of success with ripping the firmware and such from modems such as the Thompson DCM476 and the Motorola SurfBoard SB(somethin er other), but I was wondering... If I had an original 2-Wire 2701 HG-G modem with the original Bell crapware on it, would you be able to rip the firmware from it to render me an "upgrade image" that I could use to reflash and update the firmware on modems that are running the older firmware? If not, would you be able to rip it in such a manner that I could either send you (or otherwise bring you) my other 2-Wire 2701HG-G modems to be able to plop the firmware onto them forcibly? If so, name your price and you have yourself a business deal.  | |
| reply to Mike2009
I have successfully re-flashed the modem and programmed it to replace the Simmens SpeedStream 5200 and Linksys WRT54G router and so far, I've noticed nothing but results. The speed seems to remain consistent, and I've been able to reach speeds on that line like I've never reached before. I'm very much liking the way this is working.
Thank you sooooooooo much! | |
Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON
kudos:3 | Great to hear. It's a fantastic modem, easy to bridge and great on crappy lines. Enjoy! | |
 Teddy Boomk kudos Received
join:2007-01-29
Toronto, ON
kudos:5 | reply to MrMazda86
said by MrMazda86:@Teddy Boom: I know you've had a lot of success with ripping the firmware and such from modems such as the Thompson DCM476 and the Motorola SurfBoard SB(somethin er other), but I was wondering... If I had an original 2-Wire 2701 HG-G modem with the original Bell crapware on it, would you be able to rip the firmware from it to render me an "upgrade image" that I could use to reflash and update the firmware on modems that are running the older firmware? If not, would you be able to rip it in such a manner that I could either send you (or otherwise bring you) my other 2-Wire 2701HG-G modems to be able to plop the firmware onto them forcibly? If so, name your price and you have yourself a business deal. It is an interesting question.. But to start, I think the problem you are running into is different than you think.
1 year or 18 months ago Bell started using a 6.x.x.x firmware on the 2wires. That version can't be upgraded with the 5.x.x.x SingTel firmware because the 2wire won't allow the firmware downgrade. It isn't a lock that Bell is putting on at all. And that's why the Qwest firmware works, it is a 6.x.x.x firmware. The 2wire happily accepts it.
Similarly, if you take an old Bell 5.x.x.x unit you can put SingTel on it, or Qwest. If you put Qwest, you can never go back to SingTel, but you can go from SingTel to Qwest.
As for messing about at the JTAG or in circuit flash programming level.. Well, I've never tried, but it might be possible. The Qwest firmware works fine though, so unless you really really want access to the old MDC, I think the Qwest firmware is the easiest solution.
--
electronicsguru.ca | |
| If you should develop means of ripping the firmware, I have a 6.x.x.x firmware version modem that I'd want to send your way to grab firmware off of. This way, I can be-rid of the more problematic 5.x.x.x firmware that lies on the older modems, but still flash it with a legit Bell firmware so that if the customer returns the modem to Bell, there's no way for them to know that the firmware was changed as they don't check the firmware in the modem.
Ironically, the 2-Wire 2701HG-G with the 5.x.x.x firmware was recalled because of some firmware issue. In some cases, users may not be affected by this, however in other cases, the firmware has caused some interesting problems. I've even noticed the differences in performance between the two different versions actually. | |
taraf
join:2011-05-07
Stittsville, ON | reply to MrMazda86
quote:
It would seem to appear that in recent times, Bell from Hell has decided to start countering any of their 2-Wire 2701HG-G modems that users have modified by reflashing them with the Singtel firmare in order to be able to unlock them and access the Management & Diagnostic Console to be able to do such things as bridge the modem to be able to use a Wireless N instead.
The 2-wire has 802.11n wireless, and it'll automatically bridge the connection if you plug a router's WAN port into LAN1 on the 2-wire. You don't even have to remove your user/pass from the 2-wire, but it's generally recommended.
quote:
Any help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. I currently have not one, but THREE of these modems that Bell has done this to. In an ideal world, I'd like to sell them, or otherwise send them to a home where they would be appreciated and used, rather than sitting in a closet collecting dust. The short version of how I got my hands on so many modems was that I had it out with Bell's Executive office when I went through the HELL of 9 technician visits in a matter of 2 weeks. Every time a technician would come, they would change the modem AGAIN, thinking that the modem was the problem. Of course, every time that they'd do this, they would never give me any kind of return instructions or anything for the old modems.
They provided you with the modem, and you voided the warranty, and you're surprised that they aren't accomodating? If you *really* want to use a modem other than they intended, Buy One. The 2-wire is ADSL/ADSL2, and there are a very large number of modems which support the same technology available on the market. That one that costs $20 and is at the top of the list? I've been using that on an ADSL2 16/1 connection for over a year without any problems, and the base firmware on it provides all of the functionality you've been demanding in this thread.
quote:
As you may have guessed, Bell tried charging me through the arse for these technician visits, however with a quick call to my lawyer (who I sent after Bell like a wild pitbull on speed) and Bell seemed to have a very different attitude with me.
Bell's official policy is that as soon as you contact them with a lawyer, they provide no further support until the issue has been resolved by the court system. If you'd actually contacted them with a lawyer, you wouldn't have had a tech out. Further, you openly admit that you flashed the firmware with a non-Bell firmware, and then the modem developped problems. I'm calling BS.
quote:
On the note of the 9 technicians from hell in a row, I have come to discover that Bell from Hell doesn't like when a customer lashes back at them with a bill of their own. Namely, they don't like when a customer owns a small technical services company and decides to create an account for them in which to bill them for $85/hr for the re-wiring that was needed to fix the lines that they screwed up, plus another $100 or the VoIP adapter that they destroyed, PLUS... Get this... I was so frustrated that I upheld my threat and slammed them with a bill for $25/min (and I don't do per-second billing for them) for a whopping 456 minutes of technical support time that I could have otherwise spent making money off of customers. When you roll all of that together and add the mandatory 13% HST, it came out to a whopping $13,427.26 that they now owe just on their f**kery alone. This doesn't even begin to touch the legal fees or anything else such as the $25 "late payment" fee, or the compound interest rate (billed as per Bell's own interest policies that they charge their customers) for having to put up this fight.
Good luck with that. If your lawyer is worth his paycheque, he'll tell you not to waste your money trying to enforce that. Their terms of service are quite clear as regards that point, and you agreed to them by signing up for the service. Since I have a feeling it'll become important at some point in the future, I'll also point out that TekSavvy's ToS also indemnifies them against liability for this kind of crap.
quote:
The good part out of this is that I've since been able to give Bell from Hell the proverbial "1-finger salute" and cut their crappy customer service out of the picture completely by switching over to TekSavvy.
Ahh... now I get it. In the two cases I've seen where somebody *actually* sued Bell, the "resolution" provided by the court system was that Bell was allowed to terminate their service contract, and put a mark on their in-company credit history declaring that Bell would never sell that person a phone line or other services again. Congratulations.
Enjoy TekSavvy... I'm glad you're not having problems with it, and hope it continues to work for you. | |
| reply to MrMazda86
Re: Bell from Hell & the 2-Wire 2701HG-G Modem The suggestion to get a TPLink modem is a good one. I had a couple of the 2Wires and found them good on my somewhat noisy line, as good as a Speedtouch. However, the TPLink modems are better than either of them. I've been using them for 3 years now, have yet to have one fail, had 2 2wires and 2 Speedtouch 516s puke prior to going to TPLink. Combine that TPLink with a TPLink 1043 300N/Gigabit router and you have a kick ass combo for pretty cheap bucks that outperforms the 2Wire totally in every respect.
I hate Bhell as much as the next guy, in fact dumped them years ago and became a Bhell free zone with much improved quality of life and lowered stress. You must either like to wrassle with elephants or you enjoy tilting at windmills. Cut Bhell out of your life, get some modern network gear, enjoy Tek's good service and move on. Life's too short to burn brain cells and money on a lame-assed outfit like Bhell. As I am shortly going to become a bona fide senior citizen, I wish I had back all those hours I wasted on stuff like this. | |
| said by jdoe71:The suggestion to get a TPLink modem is a good one. I had a couple of the 2Wires and found them good on my somewhat noisy line, as good as a Speedtouch. However, the TPLink modems are better than either of them. I've been using them for 3 years now, have yet to have one fail, had 2 2wires and 2 Speedtouch 516s puke prior to going to TPLink. Combine that TPLink with a TPLink 1043 300N/Gigabit router and you have a kick ass combo for pretty cheap bucks that outperforms the 2Wire totally in every respect.
I hate Bhell as much as the next guy, in fact dumped them years ago and became a Bhell free zone with much improved quality of life and lowered stress. You must either like to wrassle with elephants or you enjoy tilting at windmills. Cut Bhell out of your life, get some modern network gear, enjoy Tek's good service and move on. Life's too short to burn brain cells and money on a lame-assed outfit like Bhell. As I am shortly going to become a bona fide senior citizen, I wish I had back all those hours I wasted on stuff like this.
I won't deny that TP-Link does offer a wide range of great products. TP-Link is actually one of my 2 recommended brands for purchasing of network hardware. I'm just not fond of the idea of having to purchase such a device when in theory, the equipment that I currently have should work without a problem. As for the current setup, I've opted to completely avoid the 2-Wire modem all together.
I now use a Thompson SpeedTouch 516 with NAT (among other things) disabled. The modem itself then plugs into a switch, which hosts my 5 devices to be able to use 5 separate IP addresses. In this particular case, a friend of mine was having issues with his Linksys WRT54G crapping out on him at times. My solution was to swap out his Simmens SpeedStream 5200 modem and Linksys WRT54G router with one of the 2-Wire 2701HG-G modems that I had, thus consolidating his hardware.
This worked fine for the first week or so, but after that, Bell from Hell got to the modem's firmware and screwed with it in the same manner that they've screwed with the other ones. The end result is that connectivity becomes damn impossible on the Singtel firmware, and even with the modem in bridge mode, you can no-longer establish a PPPoE link through it like a traditional modem. This problem seems to have been solved with the firmware suggested earlier on in this thread though.
As for Bell from Hell, I'll take great pride in being able to enjoy the use of their hardware that they were too dumb to inventory and keep on record that they had issued, so really... It's Bell from Hell's loss. As of now, the ONLY tie that I have left with Bell is through my friend. Since I don't particularly enjoy Bell from Hell's crappy service, I used his Bell POTS fax line that he only uses for faxing to be able to host me my own TekSavvy connection there. The interesting thing is that I get better speeds on TekSavvy in the same house than he does with Bell.. Bahahahaha go figure how that works. Clearly TekSavvy is superior | |
| reply to MrMazda86
I would file a complaint with the competition bureau honestly. Bhell's insistence on only certain modems working with it's system is a clear abuse of their monopoly. | |
| I completely agree. You can actually use any modem you wish on Bell from Hell's network, but they don't like when you do. This is sad really because it's just Bell from Hell's way of trying to push their stronghold on the monopoly down the throats of their customers. This is part of why I got a lawyer involved. | |
Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON
kudos:3 Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
| I don't think this is really a problem with Bell blocking modems with Singtel firmware. Many have reported issues with this firmware for a few years when people started flashing it. It's that the Qwest and AT&T firmware work better in most line conditions. | |
| Duly noted.
It seems to work great now that the Qwest firmware is on it. The strange thing was that if I had the modem connected to their main phone line, I couldn't even get into the web interface for the modem most times because it was like the connection suddenly couldn't be made. With this firmware on it however, it seems to be behaving beautifully and now seems to deliver a slightly faster connection (1.41Mbit DL / 620Kbit UL / 115ms vs 1.1Mbit DL / 300Kbit UL / 250ms), and a much more reliable usability. It was a bit of a learning curve compared to Bell from Hell's crapware, but it was MUCH easier to navigate through and configure, and integrates the MDC into the main interface instead of hiding things and locking them down. We're both thrilled. | |
| reply to MrMazda86
said by MrMazda86:I completely agree. You can actually use any modem you wish on Bell from Hell's network, but they don't like when you do. This is sad really because it's just Bell from Hell's way of trying to push their stronghold on the monopoly down the throats of their customers. This is part of why I got a lawyer involved.
I thought they put measures in place to lock you into certain modems (at least on VDSL2 maybe not ADSL) | |
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