Why was this removed? Bring it back!

[StuartHK]

@Keith_Beddoe 

Yes, good point.  I suppose “ordinary users” wouldn’t even be aware of it on the hub.   Silly comment, consider it withdrawn.

I really posted my initial reply to see if anyone had heard the same rumour.  I thought you might be one of the people that could answer that question.

[K7L3]

Well this average user went looking for it because i read it on their website, couldn't find it, learned about Pihole, setup my own DNS and DHCP server all before lunch time. I'm a fabricator welder...

[StuartHK]

The very fact that you posted on here marks you out as not an “ordinary user” but my apologies if the remark caused any offense.

[licquorice]

I've no idea why this has suddenly been raised, it hasn't been possible to change DNS settings on BT hubs for years.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@StuartHK 

I have used most BT routers in the past, including the original USB (stingray) one, a later USB one which had an Ethernet port, and all of the Voyager series, including the one that had a phone socket for "broadband voice" which was the very early version of VOIP, and gave you an extra phone line. That was on 500Kbs broadband, which was the very first offering from BT.

The last usable home hub was the Home Hub 1, which you could change everything via the web interface, or by editing the user.ini file, which is now encrypted.

I have mainly used a TP Link W9970, however a recent change to BT`s ADSL profile caused connection difficulties.

I now use a Home Hub 4, but with DHCP disabled, as I use PI-Hole as a DHCP server and DNS filter to remove unwanted content like advertisements and trackers.

[StuartHK]

@licquorice Aligns with the IPA back in 2016 by any chance?

[gosforth]

I went out for walking other day…

You might be surprised, how many people have their Broadband Router placed in the window facing street, with clearly visible credentials to log in… 

90% ordinary users of any Broadband provider never ever log in into administration and never made any changes, be fair…

I say, also 1/2 ordinary users never change default credentials (yeah, I just might log into some Wifi networks, find printer and print out warning “Please change your Wifi/router password, and move it out from the sight of strangers, before someone dodgy will stole your bank/credit card details, or do more naughty things on your behalf, whilst on your internet.”

Feeling sorry for little mess this might produce, but it might be easy way, how to point to that people, as they expose self to many risks…

My experience is, as 90% people don’t have idea what and why is DHCP, DNS, WEP, etc etc. 

bt providing product for masses, and best option to make sure it’s simply working (on almost plug and play basis) is give them less options to broke anything, DNS included 🙂

I have my SH2 plugged in solely because my phone line… everything else is managed by TP Link Omada HW, from router,  bridges, POE, to APs… from that moment, I never need to deal with BT SH2, because it’s just work, providing me my Broadband and Phone connection, with anything else simply managed out of the BT options…

[licquorice]

@StuartHK Quite possibly

[Crimliar]

It always used to be good practice to provide two or more DNS servers, geographically separate, and to ensure that they didn't undergo maintenance at the same time.  Not every ISP runs their own DNS servers, especially if they are offering value-added services such as filtering, but BT probably has the customer base and infrastructure (not OpenReach Infrastructure) to keep these things in-house.
At least one of the big names in DNS has in the not-too-distant past caused problems by not following "best practice".
Sky/Now I would assume may also have their own DNS servers in addition to the distributed TVOD servers I assume they maintain even if they failed "best practice".

@gosforth You'd also be surprised how many people have their router on or under a telephone table just inside the front door - not such a security risk, but awful for signal propagation!

[K7L3]

@StuartHK No, no offense taken I simply mean this is not advanced stuff, we live in 2023 where you can ask an AI how to do something and it tells you how, people need to expand their expectations of normal users. So maybe stop removing features based on that.

@licquoricebecause it's in the help documentarion on the official website, as seen in the OP...