The O2 Wireless Box II guide

[Saturday]

Correct at 12th November 2010

Although written for the Box II, the following should apply to later variants. If not please let me know and I will update.

All O2 Home customers are provided with a wireless router. Unlike some other ISPs, this is on loan and so must be returned to O2 at the end of the contract. Please note the following guide applies to the Wireless Box II which Home Access, Standard and Premium customers receive.

O2 have released a Wireless Box III for Pro customers which is essentially the same as the II but with "N" wireless technology.

About the O2 Wireless Box II

• it is a Thomson SpeedTouch TG585v7
• it uses the Broadcom 6338 ADSL chipset
• the current O2 firmware version is 7.4.2.6.0.
• the user manual can be viewed or downloaded here (pdf)
• the CLI Guide for Telnet (see below) can be downloaded here (pdf)

Setting up the Box

When/if run the O2 setup CD does the following:

• runs a basic computer compatibility check
• presents you with a set of Terms and Conditions for you to agree
• presents you with a check list of items needed to connect
• runs a visual guide on how to connect the Box to your PC
• runs a wireless connection wizard *
• loads McAfee Internet security *
• installs the O2 Broadband Assistant on your PC

..............*these steps are optional

Note: you do not need to run the set up CD at all unless you wish to. Just connect the router to your phone line and PC and it should work straight out of the box. However, if you're not confident about doing this and/or wish to install McAfee or the O2 Broadband Assistant (a connection troubleshooting system) then the set up CD is the way to do it.

Accessing the Box

The router admin pages can be accessed via http://192.168.1.254.

To quote O2, "when you first receive your O2 wireless box it is set to a default username and password to allow you quick and easy access without any need for additional usernames and passwords". This means access to the Box is wide open so you are strongly recommended to set a password to restrict access. To do this go to "User Management" and next to Administrator choose "Change my password". You'll now be presented with three blank fields. In the first "Old Password" leave it blank, in the other two type your new password. After confirming you'll then be asked to enter your username and password. These will now be Administrator (note the capital A) and the password you've previously entered. You now have access to a number of functions within the router.

For the adventurous or those with a little more knowledge there is a hidden "Superuser" account. To access this log in to the router with username SuperUser (note the capital S and U) and password O2Br0ad64nd (thats digits 2064 and the first O and B being capital letters).

** NOTE: as at 9/9/9 O2 is pushing out changes to fix a vulnerability in the router which is applying a password to all accounts including the Superuser accounts - see here.

You'll now have access to pretty much all the functionality that you'd get with generic Thomson firmware including access to the router stats.

**NOTE: as at 12/11/10 O2 appear to have dropped the help pages referred to above and below. For "normal" login use ‘Administrator’ (with a capital A) as the username, and the serial number on the bottom of your wireless box as the password. For more advanced access use SuperUser (note the capital S and U) as the username.

CLI (command line interface)

This functionality is definitely best left alone unless you are very technically competent. Through CLI almost every aspect of the router functionality can be adjusted. Above is a link to the CLI manual which lists a huge number of commands and parameters.

The CLI is accessed by telneting into the router.


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[Saturday]

New info at 9/9/09:

O2 has addressed a potential security flaw in the O2 Box router resulting in access to the router for all accounts now having a password set. Full detaqils can be found here:

Help - O2

[cabeme]

The link you posted no longer works.

I've had an O2 wireless box for about 2 1/2 years but can't log in to it as I don't know what the password is.
I've used 'Administrator' as the username, like it advises on the back of the unit, but it says to keep the password blank, which doesn't work.
I've tried 'SuperUser' and 'O2Br0ad64nd' which doesn't work either.
Do you have any idea how I can find it out, or reset it so I can get logged in? I am hoping to change the SSID from O2wireless to something a bit more personal.

Thanks

[Saturday]

Originally Posted by cabeme

I've used 'Administrator' as the username, like it advises on the back of the unit, but it says to keep the password blank, which doesn't work.

Use ‘Administrator’ (with a capital A) as the username, and the serial number on the bottom of your wireless box as the password.

[soapdish]

If you get stuck like I have, run wireshark whilst running the auto setup script.

Straight away you'll notice the application is written to use telnet hence this app sends the superuser credentials in clear text to facilitate configuration elements of the routine. After taking a trace just reassemble to TCP stream and you'll see this password. Dont expect 02 to support you if you screw around with the config

I hate this router anyway, but I'll hang onto it for support purposes. Go out and get yourself a Billion router and start enjoying VOIP cost savings.... :¬S

If your set up worked, then this will give you the password, otherwise the setup would fail right!? Below is an example:

...............Username : .........SuperUser


SuperUser

Password : <I removed this for obvious reasons>

***********

------------------------------------------------------------------------



______ Thomson TG587n v2

___/_____/\

/ /\\ O2 8.4.2.R.AI

_____/__ / \\

_/ /\_____/___ \ Copyright (c) 1999-2010, THOMSON

// / \ /\ \

_______//_______/ \ / _\/______

/ / \ \ / / / /\

__/ / \ \ / / / / _\__

/ / / \_______\/ / / / / /\

/_/______/___________________/ /________/ /___/ \

\ \ \ ___________ \ \ \ \ \ /

\_\ \ / /\ \ \ \ \___\/

\ \/ / \ \ \ \ /

\_____/ / \ \ \________\/

/__________/ \ \ /

\ _____ \ /_____\/

\ / /\ \ /___\/

/____/ \ \ /

\ \ /___\/

\____\/



------------------------------------------------------------------------

{SuperUser}=>exit

exit

[SteveMyatt]

thanks for that Saturday. I appear to be getting in on webterface with SuperUser, - odd that it needs two attempts?? - but telnet port never open (according to nmap, only 80).
Do I need to set 23 open in firewall through webterface? Enable telnet server aplication?

[Saturday]

Sorry if I'm being thick but I'm not clear what you're trying to do. Telnet to the router?

[SteveMyatt]

Not at all, might be me over-generalizing. Thanks for getting back.

I was wondering if the O2 box is a suitable candidate for hacking like the LinkSys and NetGear WAPs; e.g. a post here

Hacking a Netgear DG834G [Archive] - Broadband ADSL | Internet | Computers | Software | Forum

advises:

Open the telnet port:
http://<RouterIP>/setup.cgi?todo=debug

Then telnet in to the IP. Tada!

Simple as pie.

but maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree with the O2 box.
Incidentally, I've since stumbled on OpenWRT - will trawl there.

PS: I rather think this is the page I need, maybe helpful to you also?
https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=21489