The Wireless MAC Authentication link has disappeared...?

[Zoey_DC]

I can no longer login to my router using 192.168.1.1 - now I get a certificate error and I am redirected to MyFiosGateway.com. I am able to login and see my devices, many have stopped working, but not all.  However, now when I login using MyFiosGateway.com I no longer have the option to use MAC address filtering, the Wireless MAC Authentication link has disappeared? And, even there is some debate on using that advanced security feature or not, since it is offered, I use it, and had never had a problem until setting up new Smart Plugs a few days ago, since then my network has gone crazy. I can't figure out why I'm being redirected.   It's not a browser issue and only started after installing the new plugs and them upgrading their firmware.  Never had a problem before.

Any ideas?

[Zoey_DC]

First, I am very familiar with networking, and I had never had any problems with my FiOS internet or router, since the initial setup. I have many devices setup, cameras, thermostats, Amazon smart devices, etc., and everything worked perfectly. 2 days ago I setup several new TP-Link smart plugs, I already had 2 on my network.

After the initial setup, everything worked fine as planned, however after several hours I noticed that many of my Wifi devices stopped working - not all devices, but something happened that knocked all of my cameras and plugs offline, and some of my Amazon devices, but not all, yet some Wifi devices work fine?

Also, now when I try to login to my router, I get an error message - Certificate Error, and I'm redirected to login to my router using an untrusted certificate.  While I am able to access my router, and I that the router interface has changed, I still see all of my devices, but I no longer have the ability to modify how I have my devices setup using the MAC address to access my network.

Very strange, I've never seen this before - I was thinking should I completely reset my router and setup all devices again, or is this a problem that someone has seen and might have a solution for.  The biggest issue is now my router has a new interface, with some of the advance security settings missing, and I have no idea how that happened?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank-you.

[ted88]

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r32309069-Router-Problems-with-Fios-G1100-Firmware-Vesion-02-02-00-...

[Edg1 · Accepted solution]

It looks like for some Verizon pushed out a firmware update which is why there is this change in the router GUI. This is also the reason you are getting the certificate error. 

The page myfiosgateway.com is not a internet website. It just points to 192.168.1.1 which is the router’s default gateway. That just an easy way connect to the router for the less tech savvy. 

The only thing you can try now is hard reset the router and hope it reverts back to an earlier version. If it does turn off the mac filtering before it updates again. 

[Zoey_DC]

Thank you...!  That is the exact same conclusion I came too, I plan to reset my router, I've disconnected all wifi devices, and I'm going to bring everything back online one at a time, and take it from there.  Funny, this problem didn't start until I setup 3 new Smart Plugs, they all did a firmware update, but I didn't know that the router had a update come down.

Is there anyway I can check to see exactly when the router firmware update was pushed down?  I looked and couldn't find it.  Also, the idea that I can't use the IP address to access the router now, I've never seen that before, hopefully it will revert back after my reset.

Thanks for the response!

[Edg1]

It might be in the system log under System Monitor but I’ll have to check next time I can log into the router. Hopefully Verizon will send out an update soon to fix the bug. Until then good luck. 

[lwdjgLS]

How do we get a fix for this?

[Edg1]

Verizon will put out another firmware update to fix. Until then you can try hard reseting the router and leave MAC filters off. 

[Zoey_DC]

Sorry, there is no fix - I did the reset and re-setup my network, I actually wanted to change my SSID, etc., so this was a good opportunity to reset everything.  With the new firmware, there is no way to setup Wireless MAC Authentication, and your devices that were previously setup might expereince issues.

There seems to be alot of debate on if MAC Authentication is useful, I thought it was cool, and just an extra layer of security, but it's gone now.

I did check my system logs and saw that indeed the firmware update was pushed down at the time I started having issues, so I think this problem is resovled, eventhough after the firmware update, I get the redirect to access my router, which seems strange, I've always used the IP, but I guess that's a change I'll have to live with...

[Lobes1664]

I was updated to Firmware Version: 02.02.00.13,  Hardware Version: 1.03 and  UI Version: v1.0.388.

None of my devices could connect to the main wifi network. I had all of them configured via MAC Authentication. Well, guess what? MAC Authentication is no longer available on this version, so it basically screwed all of my existing devices that used it. 

Everything could connect just fine to my GUEST network.

So I did a live chat with Verizon, and they had me do a factory reset. Now all works fine, however, no more MAC Authentication, as it no longer exists in this version of the UI.

[Edg1]

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@Zoey_DC wrote:

Sorry, there is no fix - I did the reset and re-setup my network, I actually wanted to change my SSID, etc., so this was a good opportunity to reset everything.  With the new firmware, there is no way to setup Wireless MAC Authentication, and your devices that were previously setup might expereince issues.

There seems to be alot of debate on if MAC Authentication is useful, I thought it was cool, and just an extra layer of security, but it's gone now.

I did check my system logs and saw that indeed the firmware update was pushed down at the time I started having issues, so I think this problem is resovled, eventhough after the firmware update, I get the redirect to access my router, which seems strange, I've always used the IP, but I guess that's a change I'll have to live with...

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It is probably just a temporary bug in the new update. Every router has MAC filtering. I would just keep an eye out for another update to see if that fixes the filtering and certificate issues. 

I don't use Gateway router since I use my own router. I did plug it in last night to log into it. I am able to access it with 192.168.1.1 using Chrome. I do also get the certificate error. 

[Edg1]

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@Lobes1664 wrote:

I was updated to Firmware Version: 02.02.00.13,  Hardware Version: 1.03 and  UI Version: v1.0.388.

None of my devices could connect to the main wifi network. I had all of them configured via MAC Authentication. Well, guess what? MAC Authentication is no longer available on this version, so it basically screwed all of my existing devices that used it. 

Everything could connect just fine to my GUEST network.

So I did a live chat with Verizon, and they had me do a factory reset. Now all works fine, however, no more MAC Authentication, as it no longer exists in this version of the UI.

---

It's most likely just a bug in the new firmware. I would keep checking to see if a new firmware version fixes the MAC Authentication. I don't know why Verizon would take out completely. 

[DJSasha]

I lost the ability to use MAC authentication on my Fios router. Has anyone else experience this issue?

I cannot get a Verizon Tech on the phone to discuss.

Any help would be appriciated

[GigabitShark]

Had the same issue and had to reset and reapply network settings before my devices reconnected. And yes the MAC filter link is gone:(

I spoke to 3 verizon agents and none had a clue about this or they were hiding the known issue/bug from us until they get a handle on it.

[Edg1]

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@DJSasha wrote:

I lost the ability to use MAC authentication on my Fios router. Has anyone else experience this issue?

I cannot get a Verizon Tech on the phone to discuss.

Any help would be appriciated

---

Did you happen to read the other posts? Verizon did a firmware upgrade on the router recently. For some reason MAC filtering is no longer in the settings. No one is sure if this is something permanent or if it Verizon plans to take it out completely. Just keep an eye out for future firmware updates to see if that fixes the issue. 

[Edg1]

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@GigabitShark wrote:

Had the same issue and had to reset and reapply network settings before my devices reconnected. And yes the MAC filter link is gone:(

I spoke to 3 verizon agents and none had a clue about this or they were hiding the known issue/bug from us until they get a handle on it.

---

Being this is a recent update that's not something a basic tech support person would know about. We will just have to wait to see if a another firmware update brings it back. 

[vz_shot]

This morning there were some issues with my Gateway Router.

The Verizon tech I chatted with said to reset to factory settings. I did so.

There does not appear to be a way to permit only my own household's MAC addresses onto my WiFi networks.

How do I set up the router to deny access to any MAC address which I don't recognize, without having to ask me about it, or my having to find out about it later on after my WiFi has already been breached?

Thanks!

[Nilsa_VZ]

An issue has been identified with the BHR4 2.2 Firmware Update that is causing customers to lose wireless connectivity if they were using MAC Filtering prior to the update.

As @Edg1  has stated, to rectify the issue, you will need to do a factory reset to gain Wi-Fi connectivity again. Once the router has been reset you will be able to connect your devices.

You will not be able to set MAC Filtering on the router until the 2.3 Firmware Update is available.

We apologize for this inconvenience. 

Thanks. 

[waynebo]

Well, it looks like someone put in a fix WITHOUT TESTING IT!

Does this mean that whatever partial patch they put on orphaned some code?

Somewhere in there, code is expecting a MAC Filtering bit to be set to indicate the device is authorized, and without it, the router is denying these devices connectivity!

[Edg1]

They did a firmware update and some reason MAC filtering was left out. It be in the next update. 

[Phrustrated]

Now Verizon is downgrading their Quantum Gateway --- without the customer's consent or choice --- to remove MAC Address filtering. (Admittedly, MAC Address filtering can be circumvented, it helps keep nosey neighbors and script kiddies out.)
 
"We periodically update our routers with the latest firmware to ensure it has the latest security enhancements, support tools, and bug fixes. During our most recent upgrade, we discovered a problem with your device Wi-Fi connectivity that we attributed to a feature called MAC filtering, which some customers use to identify which devices connect to their Wi-Fi network. 

To correct the issue, we will remotely disable MAC filtering on your Fios™ Quantum Gateway on or after March 11, 2019.  After we disable this feature, any device Wi-Fi connectivity issues related to MAC filtering will be eliminated, and MAC filtering will no longer be supported. 

In the meantime, if you‘re experiencing the issue detailed above, you can always reset your Fios Quantum Gateway to the factory setting which will correct this problem.  Factory resets can be completed by depressing the RED reset button on the back of your router for a minimum of 10 seconds.  Please note, a factory reset will erase all prior configurations. Any manual configurations you may have made to your router settings will need to be reconfigured once the reset is complete.

As a reminder, the best way to limit access to your Wi-Fi network is to protect your SSID and password, and only share it with devices/users that you trust.

We apologize for any inconvenience."
 
(We won't mention the long-standing issue of blocking Apple Airport Extremes from streaming video from FiOS STBs over WiFi.)