DNS fails after 30 hours & daily scheduled restart stopped working

[Tigger]

Hi, I became a new customer around the end of June 2024. I have Three Home Broadband with the supplied Three ZTE MC888 Router / Hub.

Since around 4 days after day one (back in late June), the DNS has stopped working and the Hub requires a restart to restore normal service. This was happening every 4 to 5 days afterwards too, so as a workaround, I set the restart scheduling to restart every 1 day at 0200 hours.

This was fine until about a month ago when I notice the Hub had done an automatic software / firmware update. Now software V1..0.0B09, firmware V1.0.0. Since this update, it’s got worse and no longer restarts everyday and the DNS stops working after around 30 hours. So a manual restart is now required daily.

If I manually set the DNS on my devices (e.g. 1.1.1.1 & 8.8.8.8) I can get Internet for a few more hours without a restart, however, within a few hours it slowdown substantially until it comes to a grinding halt with network errors. So this workaround doesn’t last long until a manual Hub restart is required again.

I read somewhere on this forum, setting the APN to ipv4 only (from ipv4 & ipv6) may help, however, I’ve tried this and it made no difference.

[Tigger]

Hi @JonathanB 

Now it's been auto-rebooting daily for 2 or 3 days, there has been no DNS failure for 2 or 3 days now (and no total loss of internet 1 to 4 hours after the DNS failure).

The DNS failure and total loss only happens after around 30 hours, so when the daily auto-reboot does work, the reboot happens at between 24 and 26 hours of use, and so never reaches the 30 hours.

Hopefully it keeps rebooting every 24 to 26 hours, and hopefully on next automatic update, that one dosn't make it even worse and cause the DNS failure and loss shorter than 24 to 26 hours.

Yes, indeed, it's an MC888,Software Version: BD_H3GUKMC888V1.0.0B09
Hardware Version: MC888HWV1.0.0

Many thanks

[Tigger]

The DNS is just the precursor to loosing the internet completely after a further 1 to 4 hours later, until a router reboot.

Repositioning the router isn’t going to be the issue in this case. I’ll explain further.

This is a fault with the router hardware, firmware or software (unless it’s a fault on the mast equipment or some other issue your end).

When the router first arrived, this issue would only occur on a Saturday. This was the only day of the week this would happen. It would not do this on any other day of the week. So I asked myself, could this be some kind Time related in some way.

I had already noticed from day one in the router settings, that the “Reboot Scheduling” had a factory setting of, reboot weekly on Tuesday at 0200 hours (with a 2 hour buffer).

So to test if this out, I changed the weekly reboot schedule day setting from Tuesday to Sunday at 0200 hours. If this was a time related issue, then the day of the week that this issue would occur would change from a Saturday to a Thursday.

As I predicted, That’s exactly what happened. This issued then Only occurred on a Thursday and not any other day of the week. Thus proving that point that it’s time related in some way, for what ever reason.

So, as a workaround, I set the the reboot scheduling to Daily. This workaround was fine for weeks, and apart from the automatic reboot once a day, I had no loss of DNS or internet connection. So almost perfect. Nothing to complain about.

However, along comes automatic software update ( version seen above) and it all goes pear shaped.

Making it worse from day one of the update, Not Only did this issue start to re-occur after around 30 to 34 hours, instead of like before, 4 days, Now this new update has stopped the Daily Reboot Scheduling from working too, which was the workaround for the previous issue. So the update Has compounded the issue.

Surely you must be able to pass this information on to a higher level? There must be hundreds of your customers having this issue? Not unless this is a freak issue in a small subset of router and local mast equipment issues! Who knows? Can you pass this on to a higher level? It needs a software update that can fix this issue, potentially hundreds of customers that have the same issue!

[Tigger]

Hi JonathanB, Thanks for you message.

When DNS fails Windows 10 says “No Internet, secured” as in image below. The 2x iPhones say “No Internet Connection” in Settings>Wi-Fi. The 2x Samsung A34’s say “Connected without internet” in Settings>Wi-Fi. All at the same time. All apps and browsers on all devices say DNS issues or simply no internet. If I set any or all of the devices DNS from automatic to manual using 1.1.1.1 and or 8.8.8.8, the “No internet” errors on device go away & internet usage resumes for an hour or two.After rebooting, everything's ok again for another 30 hours or so.

The DNS fails on the router when wired by Ethernet and on Wi-Fi.

Factory resetting the router has no impact and the DNS fails again after around 30 hours or so.

Before the router did an automatic software update, the DNS would fail after 4 to 5 days and factory resetting had no impact and would fail again after another 4 or 5 days.

It’s now on Software Version BD_H3GUKMC888V1.0.0B09

Hardware Version MC888HWV1.0.0

The Network Status Checker says “Our systems haven't reported any network problems.”

And has always said that, when I’ve checked from time to time.

I’m getting good download speeds right up until the DNS fails.

[Tigger]

@PeteG You have done your best in your reply and I thank you. You seem like a good guy. Please could you ask your Line Manager to reply to this now?

[Tigger]

Hello Pete, there has not been any one single solution that I have not already tried, and told them so.

Pete, can you send this to the correct team? Is that team one, two three or four?

Mark

[PeteG]

Hello Tigger. 

Oh, that sounds like a frustrating issue to be having. It's not clear what would be causing that based on the fact the issue goes away and comes back after each solution. 

It might be worth checking in with the Home Broadband Support team to see if they have ay solutions for the problem, or to see if they are aware of what is causing the issue. Hopefully there will be a work around that restores reliability to your connection. 

Pete. 

[Tigger]

Please can a Team Member reply quickly to this before I cancel my 30 day rolling contract. I've just spoken to customer support and they asked me to do a factory reset and monitor it. I told them I've did a factory reset yesterday (and many times before) so it will still be failing tomorrow.