What happened to the VPN server on the Archer VR1600 modem/router???????

[deantsou01]

Today I had an emergency on one of the servers at home, and I needed to VPN (OpenVPN) back home to access the server so I could fix it for the family. Much to my surprised, I could no longer connect to my home VPN Server, which I had previously set up using the VR1600 modem.

When I eventually got home, I logged into the router management console, and the VPN functionality completely DISAPPEARED?

Two questions:

1) How did my modem just automatically loose its VPN Server capabilities without me knowing at all

2) (Assuming it was somehow a firmware update done automatically) How can I disable the auto firmware update and change it to manual? I've looked all over and can't find such an option.

3) How can I find older version of the firmware so I can roll back to it?

I cannot use another modem because I am also on the home phone, and need the modem's VoIP.

Anyone else experiencing this issue? Its super frustrating and quite frankly a huge step backwards if you are just a little bit technical and actually know what the benefits of being able to VPN home means.

[david64]

Hi @deantsou01 . There's no happy answer to your questions (long story) but I have a suggestion; more of an experiment.

If you can find some other router that supports OpenVPN, you could connect it to the VR1600 as an access point (no dhcp) and see if OpenVPN will activate in this case. On the VR1600, forward the vpn port to the ip address of the second router and the port chosen for the vpn function.

One other thing you might try. Use your phone's mobile data (not wifi) and browser to access your public ip address and see what happens.

[deantsou01]

Thanks @david64. Appreciate the idea, I actually already have that set up, but my other router cannot work as an VPN server in AP mode, so a no go there.

I've since done some more digging and it concerns me a huge amount that TPG has su access to my modem and update it at will to a different firmware. That presents a massiave security hole in my mind which I never signed up for. I don't understand how having a VPN Server on my modem/router is a security concern enough to warrant them updating my firmware without even notifying me, yet, the very fact that they can just waltz into my router (and hence my home network) as a super user doesn't concern them at all.

Have been with TPG for more than 10 years now, and while their customer service is not great, I've always been happy with them as I know what I am doing around computer networks. But this is rather abhorrent.