Wireless router at church setting bad DNS. How can I reconfigure?

Discussions about Internet service providers (ISPs), the Meetinghouse Firewall, wired and wireless networking, usage, management, and support of Meetinghouse Internet
Post Reply
Nathanielayer
New Member
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 5:20 am

Wireless router at church setting bad DNS. How can I reconfigure?

#1

Post by Nathanielayer »

Everyone at church can connect to the wifi, but no one can browse the internet. If you change your DNS manually to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, it works. But only people with Apple devices can do that. Android will not let you set only the DNS; with Android you have to have a fully static connection to include your IP address and gateway. So the end result is that people with Apple devices can browse after some annoying extra setup, but most Android users can't browse at all.

I can work around the issue by unplugging our expensive Cisco wireless router with its range extenders, and re-enabling wireless access on the cheap ISP-provided modem/router (thereby bypassing the church's internet filter), but then only about the first 20 or 30 people to connect get to access the internet because that's all the cheapo wifi router can handle.

What I really need to do is reconfigure the Cisco router in the building to start giving people the correct DNS settings. And I have no idea how to even begin with that.
User avatar
Biggles
Senior Member
Posts: 1608
Joined: Tue May 27, 2008 5:14 am
Location: Watford, England

Re: Wireless router at church setting bad DNS. How can I reconfigure?

#2

Post by Biggles »

If you’re the STS (Stake Tech Specialist), assuming you have already tried rebooting. In TM under Tools, you could try a Refresh Firewall Configuration. Failing that, your next course of action will be to contact the GSC.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34492
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Wireless router at church setting bad DNS. How can I reconfigure?

#3

Post by russellhltn »

Only GSC can configure it. The DNS is set to a church standard. Normally a DNS set by the user is blocked. So, the fact they're successful suggests it's not configured correctly.

Note that the networking people at GSC only work weekdays, so I'd call them sooner then later.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
User avatar
sbradshaw
Community Moderators
Posts: 6260
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:42 pm
Location: Utah
Contact:

Re: Wireless router at church setting bad DNS. How can I reconfigure?

#4

Post by sbradshaw »

Those addresses are Google's Public DNS addresses (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4), which are probably not the default.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Public_DNS
Samuel Bradshaw • If you desire to serve God, you are called to the work.
lajackson
Community Moderators
Posts: 11476
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:27 pm
Location: US

Re: Wireless router at church setting bad DNS. How can I reconfigure?

#5

Post by lajackson »

they are not the default. As russellhltn has said, the router needs to be reconfigured, and the GSC needs to do it. Give them a call.
Nathanielayer
New Member
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 5:20 am

Re: Wireless router at church setting bad DNS. How can I reconfigure?

#6

Post by Nathanielayer »

Thanks for the info everyone. I'm the branch clerk, and this duty has just kind of fallen to me. And yeah, we need to use the non-standard Google public DNS until the router's default DNS gets fixed. I think I found the number for GSC. I'll give them a call. Thanks!
bartj
Church Employee
Church Employee
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2015 4:00 pm

Re: Wireless router at church setting bad DNS. How can I reconfigure?

#7

Post by bartj »

Were you able to get this resolved? Please send me a direct message with your contact information if the GSC was not able to help.
Post Reply

Return to “Meetinghouse Internet”