BT Promise to Fix VPN Blocking Bug in Home Hub 3A Broadband Router

BT’s consumer ISP division has warned that it “will take time” to fix a bug in its older Home Hub 3A broadband routers, which has been causing problems for UK customers that want to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection.

The fault, which is not to be confused with a separate VPN bug that currently afflicts some of BTOpenreach’s VDSL / FTTC modems (here), appears to have been introduced by the HH3’s latest firmware (4.7.5.1.83.8.94.1.37).

The update is said to have introduced an “interop issue between the Home Hub 3A and certain types of VPN configuration“, which can disrupt connections to the service. Customers have been complaining about the problem (here) since earlier this month but the operator has only now recognised the issue.

Statement from BTCare’s Community Manager

We are currently working on a resolution to this and will roll out a change to the Hub as soon as possible, but this will take time.

In the short term while we’re working on this we can suggest connecting to your BT Wi-Fi connection as a workaround for this issue. If you are still having problems having tried this workaround please let us know and we will offer further support.

In the meantime some customers have been able to get a Home Hub 4 to replace their current model, although The Register claims that this can sometimes involve agreeing to a new contract term. Suffice to say that BT doesn’t seem to have much luck with the VPN service and we once saw a similar issue occur on their older HomeHub2 routers.