I have found Plusnet DNS servers to be unreliable, possibly because my router was set to use those they now specify as fallback IPs, so I needed to change the DNS used by the Thompson Technicolor TG582n router that was provided.
I couldn’t find a way to update the DNS records via the router’s web UI, so I had to resort to its crappy Telnet UI.
First log in to the router:
test@pc ~ telnet 192.168.1.254
Trying 192.168.1.254...
Connected to 192.168.1.254.
Escape character is '^]'.
Username : admin
Password: whatever
------------------------------------------------------------------------
______ Technicolor TG582n FTTC
___/_____/\
/ /\\ 8.C.M.0.DG
_____/__ / \\
_/ /\_____/___ \ Copyright (c) 1999-2012, Technicolor
// / \ /\ \
_______//_______/ \ / _\/______
/ / \ \ / / / /\
__/ / \ \ / / / / _\__
/ / / \_______\/ / / / / /\
/_/______/___________________/ /________/ /___/ \
\ \ \ ___________ \ \ \ \ \ /
\_\ \ / /\ \ \ \ \___\/
\ \/ / \ \ \ \ /
\_____/ / \ \ \________\/
/__________/ \ \ /
\ _____ \ /_____\/
\ / /\ \ /___\/
/____/ \ \ /
\ \ /___\/
\____\/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
{admin}=>
Navigating
I found that I could move backward/forward with the left/right keys, but the delete key inserts odd characters and instead the backspace key functions as delete. So to delete a character, navigate back to before it and use the backspace key.
You can scroll through the command history with up/down. For some reason it’ll show a colon at the beginning of each line in the history, but this won’t stop the command running.
List DNS entries
View the DNS table using the dns server route list command:
{admin}=>dns server route list
DNS Server Entries:
DNS Server Source Label Metric Intf State Domain
D 212.159.6.9 10 Internet UP *
D 212.159.6.10 10 Internet UP *
Now make a note of this DNS table, just in case something goes wrong and you need to restore it.
Deleting entries
Apparently, to delete an entry you can use the dns server route delete command:
dns server route delete dns=1.2.3.4
However it did not work for me…
{admin}=>dns server route delete dns=212.159.6.9
Failed to delete route.
Instead, to delete all entries use the following command:
dns server route flush
E.g..
{admin}=>dns server route flush
{admin}=>dns server route list
{admin}=>
Adding entries
To add an entry, use the dns server route add command, specifying the IP to add, the metric (priority) and interface, as follows:
dns server route add dns=1.2.3.4 metric=1 intf=Internet
E.g, to add Google’s DNS…
{admin}=>:dns server route add dns=8.8.8.8 metric=2 intf=Internet
{admin}=>:dns server route add dns=8.8.4.4 metric=2 intf=Internet
{admin}=>dns server route list
DNS Server Entries:
DNS Server Source Label Metric Intf State Domain
S 8.8.8.8 2 Internet UP *
S 8.8.4.4 2 Internet UP *
Not sure the meaning of the ‘S’ next to each entry, nor the ‘D’ that appeared before we added our own routes.
Saving
When you’ve set up the table you must save it:
saveall
To exit, type exit.
Personally I set up my table to use Google’s DNS. Open DNS will show ads on page not found and Plusnet’s are just shit - they’ll bring down your internet.
