Faulty modem, no replacement, no one returns calls

[rambo]

I'm very disappointed in TPG and on the verge of leaving.

I've been a good customer for about 4 years now.

In October 2019 I was sent what I thought was a new modem. In February I started to have drop out problems and when looking at the modem settings I saw that there was a username in internet settings that had nothing to do with me, in fact it was an iinet username.

After speaking to tech support I changed the username and all was ok until April when i again had internet loss and speaking to tech support it was the same issue. 

A couple of weeks ago it hapened again and the same problem.  By this time I was wondering why TPG could not fix it permanently and thought someone was hacking my account.

I spoke to the Engineering department and was told my modem was faulty and a new one was to be sent out.

Since then I have rang several times and nobody can tell me if a new modem is, or is to be sent. I am constantly told that someone will call me but nobody ever does.

Today  I found out that once a modem has been used by someone else the settings cant be changed to a new user.  If that is true TPG are grossly negligent by sending me out a refurbished modem. They are also incompetent in the tech department for not sending me a new modem in February when this was first discovered.

Today I spoke to 2 tech people and had trouble understanding them because of barking dogs in the background. True.

[david64]

Hi rambo. I don't believe that "settings cant be changed to a new user". If you want to persist trying to get a new router from TPG, then in the meantime, have you ever done a factory reset on the router? That resets internal settings back to what is displayed on the label on the router. Router then needs the Internet settings set up again. The other change to make is to change the default admin password if you think someone is hacking the router. There's also usually settings in the router to stop access to the router admin from the internet side.

If you do reset, it would be interesting to know what the default userid is in the internet setup part.

The only Internet setting up after reset is: PPPoE, TPG userid and password, and somewhere to set VLANID = 2.

What model router is it?

[rambo]

The modem is a TP Link Archer VR 1600v.  If you mean resetting the modem by pressing a small object into the pin hole I have lost count of the times I have done that and nearly always with tech support or an engineer on the other end of the phone.

The whole point of this is that no matter how many times usernames are changed and resets are done the previous owner of the modem's username defaults back in.  When that happens in the DSL settings the internet drops out (I'm connected to the modem by wifi). 

I have some general knowledge on the technical stuff but I would expect tech support or an engineer to sort this out first time and not have this go on since February.

I no longer think someone is hacking into the modem but that was the fear for some time.

I was told by someone at another ISP that the settings cant be changed so I was relying on that.

I dont know if TPG support staff monitor this discussion group but if they do I find it interesting that no one has responded.

[david64]

The settings can be changed because it does work for you even if only for a little while.

Something to try. Get it set back up so it works for you. Change the admin password to something else and save it. See that you can login again. Then turn the router off and on and see that the admin password is still the new value you set. And also that the internet works. Then see how it goes.

Next time the internet stops working, check if the admin password is your new value or if it has reverted to the default. Be interested to know. Changed or not, seems like faulty modem as you say.

Moderators do answer these posts but they may not look at this one since it is a couple of days old now and also has a few replies (they might think it has been answered). Tomorrow, make a new short post summarising the history: it's an Archer 1600, you've done factory resets, done the internet PPPoE/VLANID settings and it has worked for some length of time but has then stopped working and is showing the wrong userid (not just the default userid but a real iinet userid).

[rambo]

Thanks david64 for going to the trouble of trying to help me.  I have now decided to change ISP's so there is no point in continuing with this thread.

I have seriously never experienced such poor customer service from any business.  The Product Review web site confirms this when you look at TPG's overall rating compared to other known ISP's.