Internet: changing DNS on SFR Neufbox

livfoss · Post by **livfoss** » Mon 04 May 2015 11:18

I have an SFR neufbox-nb4-ser-r2 router (the current offering, I think). I've just acquired an Amazon Fire TV stick, and I want to use it to look at stuff via a DNS service, UnoTelly, for the usual reasons (access to UK accounts etc) - I already use this service on individual devices very successfully, but now I want to do it at router level to automatically apply to all my devices. In theory, I should be able to change the DNS at the router level. I have found just one reference that tells me how to to this at

http://setuprouter.com/router/sfr/neufb ... r2/dns.htm

Sadly, it doesn't work. The box simply reacts with an error. I haven't found a French reference to this at all. I've tried contacting the author of the setuprouter site, Rachel Bauer, but I'm not clear that she is maintaining her site any longer.

Has anyone any clue about this? Can it be done, or is it an absolute no-no?

Thanks for any advice.

PS I know this subject was discussed a long time ago in this forum, but I think quite a lot has changed in the Internet world since then.

livfoss · Post by **livfoss** » Mon 04 May 2015 15:33

To some extent I have answered my own question, or to be more accurate I have solved the problem in another and far more limited way. I have bought a cheap second router (a Netgear one) which gets the Internet from my SFR box and transmits a different wifi network to the one used in the rest of the house. I can alter the DNS on this second router easily, so my Amazon stick can log on to this second network and then 'think' it's in the UK. So really I'm back to doing the job on a device by device basis, more or less. I still really want to know the answer to the original question, but meanwhile I'm watching the BBC iPlayer etc on my HD TV.

livfoss wrote:I have an SFR neufbox-nb4-ser-r2 router (the current offering, I think). I've just acquired an Amazon Fire TV stick, and I want to use it to look at stuff via a DNS service, UnoTelly, for the usual reasons (access to UK accounts etc) - I already use this service on individual devices very successfully, but now I want to do it at router level to automatically apply to all my devices. In theory, I should be able to change the DNS at the router level. I have found just one reference that tells me how to to this at

http://setuprouter.com/router/sfr/neufb ... r2/dns.htm

Sadly, it doesn't work. The box simply reacts with an error. I haven't found a French reference to this at all. I've tried contacting the author of the setuprouter site, Rachel Bauer, but I'm not clear that she is maintaining her site any longer.

Has anyone any clue about this? Can it be done, or is it an absolute no-no?

Thanks for any advice.

PS I know this subject was discussed a long time ago in this forum, but I think quite a lot has changed in the Internet world since then.

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Mon 04 May 2015 16:47

Sorry, I don't have a Neuf box but if you google Neufbox changer DNS then there are quite a lot of responses in French saying it can't be done.

The trend in France is for triple-play internet services -internet, TV and phone. Where a telephone is concerned the service providers seem to keep private records in DNS and consequently don't let you change the DNS settings.

I appreciate that this doesn't really answer the question but your solution is a good one, it keeps all the changes in an area of your own control.

A tip for the Kindle Fire, if you want to buy films from Amazon make sure you have a 1-click account set up with a UK address and credit card

russell · Post by **russell** » Tue 05 May 2015 10:40

I am using that SFR router and can confirm that you can't set up a Smart DNS service on it. Fortunately all the devices I use for television can be set up individually.

Russell.

livfoss · Post by **livfoss** » Tue 05 May 2015 14:11

russell wrote:I am using that SFR router and can confirm that you can't set up a Smart DNS service on it. Fortunately all the devices I use for television can be set up individually.

Russell.

OK, that about wraps it up! I will stick to my solution.

For completeness, I should say that apparently you can alter the DNS on the Amazon device itself (there are various references if you Google the issue); but I found out the hard way that it only works if you have a wifi network which uses a password. I have an unsecured network (no neighbours apart from horses) and the necessary screens just don't appear. To add a password at this stage would be too inconvenient, so that's that - but it could work for other people.

On a slightly different topic, but already mentioned in this thread, I already had the Amazon UK one-click set up. I have found out by extensive surfing that there are some interesting (to me) older movies 'free" on Amazon Prime, such as Ingmar Bergman classics. They never show up on the recommendations so you just have to trawl the whole set to find anything. I do have a US Amazon account too, but I have decided getting involved with that one is a step too far!

Anyway thanks to those who replied. javascript:emoticon(':)')

FORUM