Skip to content

Entries tagged "bt".

Listing your own customers in Spamhaus RBL

Recently I had problems with a web server denying connections (HTTP error 406) from a certain IP address.
At first I thought it was because of some wacky firewall or tcpwrapper rule.
I couldn't be more wrong - It was mod_security verifying the remote IP against Spamhaus RBL...
While it may seem like a good idea at first, turns out it is not:
1. Because it slows down the request (as Apache has to lookup IPs against the RBL all the time).
2. Some IPs are in a RBL for the wrong reason.

As it turns out that particular IP belongs to BT,
and BT in their infinite wisdom decided to list in Spamhaus a good part of their IP space... Cool, huh?
More info here (and a screenshot for posterity here).
You got to love the corporations!

Bypassing BT HomeHub

So you have BT Infinity, the white Openreach modem is up and running and you have broadband via wired or wifi through the fancy BT HomeHub; but you are a geek or a freak and you want to run your own router.
You want to use your local linux box, custom dd-wrt router or who knows, perhaps a Raspberry PI. Fair enough. Here's how to do it:
1 - disconnect the BT HomeHub router from the white modem
2 - connect your linux machine to the modem (LAN1 port usually)
3 - run pppoe-setup on the linux machine and answer the questions accordingly. Interestingly the user/password I used seem to be sort of gibberish, but do work: "Internet@btbroadband.com" and the password "broadband".
I chose not to let pppoe-setup set the DNS or firewall for me, ymmv. Start the connection with /sbin/ifup ppp0.

That's it, enjoy your broadband!

Links: https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Infinity-Speed-Connection/Openreach-How-I-can-connect-my-PC-directly-into-Openreach-white/td-p/716632