"A single silent firmware update crippled our entire business network. Level-1 support didn't even know what an IP bridge was."
Following an unannounced over-the-air firmware push to customer's Airtel optical gateway, Bridge Mode and DMZ features were permanently locked down behind proprietary administrator passwords. Site-to-site VPN tunnels for remote staff collapsed. Level-1 support technicians repeatedly insisted that 'bridge mode does not exist' and refused to escalate to Tier-3 network engineering.
Evidence on Record
Router web GUI screenshots showing greyed out Bridge Mode toggle; support chat transcripts where executive states bridge mode is unsupported; SR-5102941.