What do the lights on a Vodafone router mean?

For those using Vodafone as their broadband provider, your router (whether the black or white model) has three different lights on it. But what do they indicate? Here is our guide to the rather confusing set of status lights on Vodafone’s broadband equipment and how to even turn them on!

Status lights on a Vodafone router

This is the light that runs along the bottom of the router (unless you’ve turned this off in the Vodafone Broadband app or the online portal). It can be in one of three states:

Solid red – all is good.

Slowly pulsing red – your router is connecting.

Rapidly flashing red – Ah. Your router has a problem. Give it a restart and, fingers crossed, it should resolve the problem.

Internet lights on a Vodafone router

The light on the top of the router labelled “internet” is turned off by default to save power. If you hold your hand above the router for a few seconds, they will turn on.

Solid green – your router is connected to the internet.

Slowly pulsing green – your router is connecting to the internet.

Solid red – your router it isn’t connected to the internet.  Check that your cables are fully plugged in and then restart the router.

Wi-Fi lights on a Vodafone router

Again, this light on the top of the router labelled “Wi-Fi” is turned off by default to save power but you can switch it on by holding your hands over the router.

Solid green – Wi-Fi is active.

Slowly pulsing green – there are no Wi-Fi devices connected to the router.

Flashing green – the router is establishing a WPS-pairing connection.

Confusion reigns

Just as a final though, it’s worth commenting on the confusion with the colours used here. On the top lights, red indicates a problem, which is consistent with other routers on the market (and most other electrical devices).

However, the front light displays as red when everything is working correctly. Now, I know Vodafone’s corporate colour is red, but for the sake of branding this seems a rather confusing decision. Hopefully, Vodafone will correct this in future hardware releases.

Now reads this: What does ping mean?