How to use a Netgear Nighthawk R7000 with Vodafone NZ fibre

After Chorus connects your fibre optical router to the wifi modem that Vodafone provides, and ensures it’s working, you can switch to using your own, better Nighthawk modem this way:

  1. Detach the red plug from Vodafone’s modem and plug it into the Internet port on the Nighthawk
  2. Follow the instructions in your Nighthawk manual and connecting power, etc.
  3. In a browser, visit routerlogin.net (This is an address that the Nighthawk interprets as referring to itself; it’s not a machine on the Internet, so it will work if the modem is on but you don’t have an Internet connection yet.)
    1. If you can’t connect, follow the instructions about using an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to the Nighthawk
    2. The default login is admin with password password. But if you have house-sitters, you probably want to change this. I recommend using LastPass to keep track of passwords.
    3. If prompted whether to use the Netgear Genie software or a wizard to connect to the Internet, answer yes.
  4. In Genie:
    1. To connect to the Internet:
      1. Select: Advanced / VLAN-Bridge settings / Enable VLAN / Enable VLAN tag / VLAN ID = 10 / click Apply
      2. Note that if you ever use a paperclip to press the recessed reset button, you will need to do the step above to reconnect.
      3. I got this tip from https://community.vodafone.co.nz/t5/Broadband-services/Trying-to-connect-a-new-router-to-the-ONT/td-p/183755
    2. To change the wifi name or password:
      1. Select: Advanced / Setup / Wireless setup / 2.4GHz name ssid = NETWORK NAME YOU WANT / security = wpa2-psk / password = PASSWORD YOU WANT Then do the same for 5GHz but add something like -5G to the name. Click Apply to restart router.
      2. Note that this changes the name of your wifi as it appears on your computer and for any of your guests. It doesn’t change the name and password that you use to access the modem’s settings. If you’ll have a house-sitter that you want to prevent from changing modem settings, follow the steps below.
    3. To change the password for modem settings:
      1. Select: Advanced / Administration / Set Password
      2. Enter password as Old Password
      3. Use LastPass to generate and record a New Password. I recommend saving this to a folder in LastPass that you’ve shared with any other household members that might need to access settings.
      4. NetGear recently advised against using the Enable Password Recovery checkbox for security reasons. If you do lose your password, press the recessed Reset button and redo all of the steps on this page.
      5. Click Apply
      6. When prompted to login again, enter admin as the user and get the password out of LastPass
    4. To set the clock to NZ (which is necessary if you’re going to use a schedule below, but probably not important otherwise):
      1. Select: Advanced / Security / Schedule / Timezone = NZ GMT+12. Adjust for DST = on. Click Apply to restart router.
    5. To turn wifi on and off according to a schedule:
      1. Select: Advanced / Advanced setup / Wireless settings / Wireless advanced settings for 2.4GHz / Turn off by schedule = on / Add new period / start=11pm end=7am daily / click Apply. Then do the same for 5GHz. Click Apply to restart router.
      2. You might need to set both “Turn off by schedule = on” again after updating the schedules.
    6. Logout of Genie and close the browser tab it was in.
  5. Disconnect any Ethernet cable.
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