D-Link DSL-2750U: How to block PPS TV

This How-to block PPS TV is for D-Link DSL-2750U. If you are using a different modem, then this post should give you some ideas (similar setup) to your current modem.

  1. I know many of you are a diehard fan of PPS TV.
  2. Some of you have realized the already slow Malaysian internet service being abused at home (or office) and you have a problem telling the other person “NO”.
  3. You then Google “How to block PPS” and you finally arrived at a very long thread on Lowyat.net and invested a number of hours reading. Found the nuggets, thanks to Bingozero you finally have more usable information.
  4. Now that you know how, you were surprised by the shear numbers of people looking for the same information. It’s made you wonder, more people are looking for ways to block PPS than stop eating a burger to keep slim.
  5. Yes, I am describing myself.

Step One – Log in to your modem

  • Point your browser to 192.168.1.1
  • Enter Streamyx Account Username (users@streamyx)
  • Enter Streamyx Account Password

Step Two – Outbound IP Filtering

Click “Advanced”, “Filtering Options” and “Outbound IP Filtering” to modify “TCP and UDP”

Dlink-DSL2750U-Advance-option
Dlink DSL2750U: Advance Menu

Step Three – blocked port 1024:65535

Enter the following information to “Outgoing IP Filtering” (follow my graphic guidance below)

  1. Filter Name: Type in any name you desire
  2. Protocal: Select “TCP and UDP”
  3. Source IP Type: Select “Any” (default)
  4. Source Port Type: Select “Port Range”
  5. Source Port: Enter “1024:65535”
  6. Schedule: “Always” (“Always” will block the port range above 24/7)

[box type=”warning”] You can define your “allow” PPS time duration or unblock time duration via “Schedules”. However, it was never a successful one for me. [/box]

Dlink-DSL2750U-source-port-type
DLink DSL2750U: Outgoing IP Filtering Menu

My Thoughts – DSL-2750U needs a firmware update

  1. I wanted to schedule a time for PPS TV, say from 8am – 7pm, unfortunately the “schedule” feature was not working. Instead it unblocks the port for the whole time.
  2. The last time I check, Dlink (Malaysia) website do not provide any of this solution via firmware update.
  3. My DSL-2750U is a year old unit and possible small malfunction due to wear and tear.
  4. If you got the scheduling part working please don’t hesitate to let me know.
  5. I hope this post helps you and do share it with your friends. If you have an alternative and would like to contribute to this post please leave a message below. I am in need of a new information how we can use our modem to the fullest.

Sent from my iPad

15 responses to “D-Link DSL-2750U: How to block PPS TV”

  1. by the way, since seeding require open ports, you can try disabling UPnP on your router, it may significantly lower outgoing traffic and slowdowns on ADSL

    Disable UPnP especially if http://upnp-check.rapid7.com/ this test shows you have vulnerable router

      • you may just not expose upnp to outside, it still can be vulnerable from local network, thats less dangerous than exposing it to the world ofc )
        Better to disable upnp and snmp completely. 99.99% home users dont need it 🙂 upnp is made as a helper to open ports for bittorrent and similar apps that need to have listening ports, if you know how to create forwarding rules on router – you dont need upnp, if you ever will need to open listening port at all

          • Its a software solution to be installed on a PC that act’s as router, it will not help you anyhow with D-link router 🙂 But here are alternative firmwares for many devices that have expanded functional, OpenWRT for example. Thats unsupported by device vendor ofc.

            • Unlike windows, Linux has firewall in its kernel – netfilter with many modules, all the other “firewalls” are only frontends and tools to create rulesets. Features of linux firewall are limited by kernel configuration, full set of modules is quite large, set of modules found inside SOHO routers is very small and lacks many filters and traffic shaping modules, thats why alternative firmware can have enhanced functionality over vendor firmware, they include more modules, vendors are not much interested to make cheap devices to have enhanced functionality, they offer only basic, the rest available in other, more expensive models.

              • Its not very safe to replace vendor firmware to alternative firmware anyway, you loose warranty and things may get screwed….
                And you still need to have idea what exactly to block using netfilter either vendor’s or alternative’s

  2. on the other thought, being a P2P app (like bittorrent)PPStream must have some controlling servers (tracker), filtering tracker server’s IP’s or IP ranges shall help, without need to have “dragon rules” to filtering everything on unprivileged ports

    • they have too many fallbacks, installed app, catched and blocked about 10 IPs, some channels were blocked, while other’s dont, i dont have more time now, but it seems like having rules to block 30-50 IPs will work with blocking PPStream and making it unusable. And yes, it seems to use DHT or similar mechanics to get “seeder” IP list

      • I think if I streamline the research on how to block seeder IPs, I could hit a jackpot on how to totally stop the PPS. hahaha

        • list1.ppstream.com
          list2.ppstream.com
          list3.ppstream.com
          stat.ppstream.com
          main trackers, they have multiple IP’s

          program at start trying to connect to ‘DHT’-like, and sends UDP to port 9001 at several IP’s, blocking trackers and port 9001 will make channel list less functional and some channels will not load, but this doesnt yet make PPS TV unusable. Sadly i cant check the PPS program settings, i dont understand anything in chinese 🙂

  3. blocking whole range of ports isnt a brilliant idea, you block not only PPStream, but many more things, really its better not to use the app if it causes too much problems, not many SOHO routers ( “soap” devices ) will allow you to have and use advanced filtering rules. If PPStream is a P2P app with no fixed IP and ports, then probably only packet-string-matching filter can help, but its most likely not present in SOHO router kernels.
    As for schedule times, maybe its firmware bug, D-Link is known not to test their “advanced” features much, they might not work or work incorrectly, make sure your device has correct time settings (enable logging and check timestamps in log)
    Router can set time on startup via NTP (need to enable) or via manual button (some models)

    • I’m still doing some research on way to stop PPS.

      It does seem like a bad idea to block a whole range of ports but it was the most effective method for less technical setting.