Diversion Diversion - the Router Ad-Blocker v4.2.x (see new thread for 4.3.x)

[Treadler]

I have Diversion on Ac88x for a month on latest Merlin firmware. I dont see that it is better than just setting AdGuard DNS on stock firmware.
Without AdGuard Pro on my devices there is a lot of unfiltered ads comming through.
YouTube filter also does nothing.
Am I expecting too much?

Welcome to the forum.

Adguard DNS does a great job. Diversion will do as good, if not better job, provided you use blocking list/s that produce the result you want.
Diversion also gives you extras, like blacklisting, whitelisting, & wildcard blocking.

You may find lists outside those ‘recommended’ for Diversion that suit you better?
Here for example.

FilterLists | Subscriptions for uBlock Origin, Adblock Plus, AdGuard, ...

FilterLists is the independent, comprehensive directory of filter and host lists for advertisements, trackers, malware, and annoyances. By Collin M. Barrett.

filterlists.com

(Make sure you filter for Diversion compatible lists in your searches).

Experimentation is your friend.

Youtube filter takes a goodly long while to produce results, patience & persistence is required. Bear in mind Adguard DNS (in my experience) does nothing for YouTube ads.

Have fun!

 

[nvarga]

Thank you for your reply, I will try additional lists.

 

[dave14305]

Without AdGuard Pro on my devices there is a lot of unfiltered ads comming through.

In Diversion, under the Edit whitelist function, there is an option to toggle the hardcoded whitelist (to support this site). This whitelist includes several Google and Amazon ad domains, which can make it look less effective than other ad-blockers.

 1. Add domain
 2. Delete domain
 3. Process whitelist
 4. Sort and verify whitelist
 5. Restore whitelist from backup
 6. Set domain active / inactive (#! )
 7. Use hosted whitelist
 8. Hard coded whitelist setting

 Enter selection [1-8 e=Exit] 8
____________________________________________________

 Hard coded whitelist setting

 To support SmallNetBuilder.com, some domains are
 whitelisted through the hard-coded whitelist to
 allow ads on their websites to be shown.
 See https://diversion.ch/diversion/use/hard-coded-whitelist.html

 1. Support SmallNetBuilder.com

 Enter your selection [1-1 e=Exit]

 

[Treadler]

In Diversion, under the Edit whitelist function, there is an option to toggle the hardcoded whitelist (to support this site). This whitelist includes several Google and Amazon ad domains, which can make it look less effective than other ad-blockers.

 1. Add domain
2. Delete domain
3. Process whitelist
4. Sort and verify whitelist
5. Restore whitelist from backup
6. Set domain active / inactive (#! )
7. Use hosted whitelist
8. Hard coded whitelist setting

Enter selection [1-8 e=Exit] 8
____________________________________________________

Hard coded whitelist setting

To support SmallNetBuilder.com, some domains are
whitelisted through the hard-coded whitelist to
allow ads on their websites to be shown.
See https://diversion.ch/diversion/use/hard-coded-whitelist.html

1. Support SmallNetBuilder.com

Enter your selection [1-1 e=Exit]

+1.

 

[fallinnn]

Uhm, today I tried to check for updates in amtm, and it showed that diversion had an update available. I pressed 1 and then it started the installer for a fresh diversion. I aborted (e) and now my diversion is gone from both amtm or if i try to simply type diversion. Anyone else had this happen?

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Uhm, today I tried to check for updates in amtm, and it showed that diversion had an update available. I pressed 1 and then it started the installer for a fresh diversion. I aborted (e) and now my diversion is gone from both amtm or if i try to simply type diversion. Anyone else had this happen?

Try to update AMTM first by using "uu". Then after that go back to start and Try typing "1" to access Diversion and then update that using "u"... let it run, don't quit.

It could be that the flash drive is corrupt at this point and you will need to start over by reformatting the drive.
If you need to reset then make sure you wipe the "JFFS" so that is clean as well: use apply on the bottom of the page after you tick the box.

When was the last time you did a full reset of the router, what version firmware and how long has it been since you updated scripts?

EDIT:
I'm guessing that you should update Entware "ep" after you update AMTM and before you move on to Diversion.

 

[fallinnn]

Try to update AMTM first by using "uu". Then after that go back to start and Try typing "1" to access Diversion and then update that using "u"... let it run, don't quit.

It could be that the flash drive is corrupt at this point and you will need to start over by reformatting the drive.
If you need to reset then make sure you wipe the "JFFS" so that is clean as well: use apply on the bottom of the page after you tick the box.

When was the last time you did a full reset of the router, what version firmware and how long has it been since you updated scripts?

EDIT:
I'm guessing that you should update Entware "ep" after you update AMTM and before you move on to Diversion.

Im on the newest stable release of everything, amtm 3.2.3, diversion 4.2.2 and newest release of merlin on my ax86u. flash drive didn't go corrupt as amtm and skynet is still working as they should, it was just diversion. Anyway I just followed the diversion installer and did a "fresh" install of just that and now it works as normal again, just lost all my custom lists and stats. Just found it weird how it faked an update and then removed my option to access diversion out of the blue

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Im on the newest stable release of everything, amtm 3.2.3, diversion 4.2.2 and newest release of merlin on my ax86u. flash drive didn't go corrupt as amtm and skynet is still working as they should, it was just diversion. Anyway I just followed the diversion installer and did a "fresh" install of just that and now it works as normal again, just lost all my custom lists and stats. Just found it weird how it faked an update and then removed my option to access diversion out of the blue

Go back into Skynet and run option 3 then #1 update, that should merge the swap file that they share.

 

[Wenro]

Hello!

This might be a dumb question, but do I need to run PuTTY every time to keep Diversion running, or is it running by itself through router now?

 

[visortgw]

Hello!

This might be a dumb question, but do I need to run PuTTY every time to keep Diversion running, or is it running by itself through router now?

It runs in background.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

I have Diversion on Ac88x for a month on latest Merlin firmware. I dont see that it is better than just setting AdGuard DNS on stock firmware.
Without AdGuard Pro on my devices there is a lot of unfiltered ads comming through.
YouTube filter also does nothing.
Am I expecting too much?

You should try the adguardhome installer. It sounds more like to me by your expectations, that you haven't tried enough... adguard dns may someday block something that you want to unblock. Unless you define custom rules in dnsmasq.conf.add or dnsmasq.postconf to point those specific domains to use different dns servers , then you would be out of luck. Adguardhome and Diversion take care of this extra step with the inclusion of whitelisting capabilities.

 

[noah way]

Don't know if ot has been mentioned before but the Brave browser eliminates YouTube ads.

 

[Paul4747]

Um having issue on install of diversion. Pic below. Side note, don't know if issue with GUI for dhcp it keeps telling me that an address is invalid when configuring the start and end addresses. This occurs even after hard resets. So I changed them over ssh, nvram set. Using 172.23.0.0/16. Router model: rt-ac88u, merlin firmware version 386.5_2.

 

[chongnt]

Um having issue on install of diversion. Pic below. Side note, don't know if issue with GUI for dhcp it keeps telling me that an address is invalid when configuring the start and end addresses. This occurs even after hard resets. So I changed them over ssh, nvram set. Using 172.23.0.0/16. Router model: rt-ac88u, merlin firmware version 386.5_2.

What is your Subnet Mask in LAN -> LAN IP page?

 

[CriticJay]

Feature request! (hopefully a straightforward one?)

Currently, the "Follow Log" option #4 ( 4. Blocked domains, by device IP ) only allows for IPv4 addresses.
It does not allow IPv6 addresses to be entered. It does not allow for hostnames either.

HOWEVER, it seems my Windows 10 notebook uses IPv6 as much as possible. Even when pinging blacklisted hosts from the command prompt, it uses IPv6 instead of IPv4. As a result, although I can see the blocking activity in follow option #3 ( 3. Blocked domains ) I cannot see the blocking activity in #4.

Is there any appetite to enhance this feature so that it filters by IPv6 addresses too?

 

[Paul4747]

What is your Subnet Mask in LAN -> LAN IP page?

255.255.0.0

 

[DreaZ]

Heya! So if I understand it correctly. the pixelserv cert needs to be installed on every device (PC, Phone, SmartTV etc...) for Diversion Standard to actual work?

 

[thelonelycoder]

Heya! So if I understand it correctly. the pixelserv cert needs to be installed on every device (PC, Phone, SmartTV etc...) for Diversion Standard to actual work?

That's partially correct. Without installing the certs Diversion will still work but without the benefits that pixelserv-tls brings.

 

[elorimer]

That's partially correct. Without installing the certs Diversion will still work but without the benefits that pixelserv-tls brings.

Is that correct? The principle benefit, I thought, was that diversion without pixelserv-tls sinkholes the request until it times out, while with pixelserv the request is immediately responded to. So pages load faster.

Now, only about 5% of the responses pixelserv makes, even with the cert installed, are accepted by the web page, for other reasons. So with pixelserv, 95% of the responses are rejected, and without the cert 100% are rejected, but the rejections are immediate and the page keeps loading. At least I thought that was how it worked.

The 1 pixel injection I agree is swallowed by the rejection.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Now, only about 5% of the responses pixelserv makes, even with the cert installed, are accepted by the web page, for other reasons. So with pixelserv, 95% of the responses are rejected, and without the cert 100% are rejected, but the rejections are immediate and the page keeps loading. At least I thought that was how it worked.

My numbers show a different story:

slh 47418 # of accepted HTTPS requests
slm 936   # of rejected HTTPS requests (missing certificate)
sle 297   # of rejected HTTPS requests (certificate available but not usable)
slc 779   # of dropped HTTPS requests (client disconnect without sending any request)
slu 12841 # of dropped HTTPS requests (other TLS handshake errors)