Idiot's guide to bridge mode

[#1]

@MisterW 

I was going to reply to @Junkman other thread here:- https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Billion-BiPAC-8900AX-R2-Setup-Guide/td-p/1327048 which will help explain the background.

Dangers of opening another thread for basically the same issue

HTH

EDIT: I thought it was a FTTC connection which is VDSL not ADSL 

[#2]

@Dan_the_Van  guilty as charged.  But at wit's end and after posting didn't think anyone would see it there - in a thread with a different title - and there's no option to delete or I would have done!  And yes, FTTC

[#3]

@Dan_the_Van thanks. I think the mods are doing some 'tweaking' to combine the threads ?

[#4]

@MisterW I think not seeing the connection stats might be a deal breaker.  They actually didn't mention doing anything remotely they just left a ticket to call me back a week today.  TBH the Plusnet guy I was talking to didn't seem to know even the basic terms that I as an IT numpty know.  Kept having to refer to his boss.  So if this is gonna make no difference I'd rather avoid the likelihood of hair-tearing!

[#5]

I think not seeing the connection stats might be a deal breaker.

@Junkman I guessed that might be the case

I suspect that to get any traction on progressing a line fault (which is probably what it is!) you're going to have to 'bite the bullet' and replace the 8800 with the Hub 2 , at least for a little while so support have the ability to run remote diagnostics.

I appreciate its a pain to re-setup reserved addresses and port forwards but I'm not sure there's any other way to progress a fault.

I understand where you're coming from , I've been with PN for many years and have always used my own router. I actually do have a Hub 2 but since I'm on FTTP, PN can run diagnostics direct to the ONT so there's no additional tests that a Hub 2 would help with.

[#6]

@MisterW not what I wanted to hear but c'est la vie.  Don't think this is going to be much fun when I run 2 NAS units for LAN streaming + other devices that need virtual servers and open ports.  I'll need to figure all that out in the Hub 2 and I'm guessing it will be much more opaque than my existing router.  Thanks very much again for your assistance

[#7]

@Junkman 

I currently use a Hub Two as a modem/router, happy to help with specific questions if you have any, PM me if you to keep anything off a pubic forum.

I not about 14th though

[#8]

@Junkman  a thought that MIGHT work if you really want to continue with the 8800.

Change the Hub 2 LAN subnet from the default 192.168.1.x to 192.168.2.x to make it different to the default 8800 LAN.

Then Add a WAN Ethernet interface on the 8800 set for DHCP.  Connect its WAN to a Hub 2 LAN port as before. The 8800 should now get a WAN IP in the 192.168.2.x subnet from the Hub 2. On the hub 2 set the 8800 allocated IP as the DMZ.

Yes, you've got a double NAT but the DMZ should eliminate the need for any port forwarding on the Hub 2 and all your reserved LAN ips are still handled by the 8800.

It MAY not work satisfactorily but its worth a try, as it means support can still see the Hub 2 for diagnostics and you should be able to get to the Hub 2 gui on 192.168.2.1 to see the stats.

[#9]

@Dan_the_Van thank you.  I don't have the Hub 2 yet think it's only been posted today, but I'll probably try to set it up in bridge mode first then see what Plusnet say when they call me.  I'm not around 17-18th so there's a chance it might not get done until Sunday

[#10]

@Junkman 

That's fine, I've just seen @MisterW last post.

Suggest to perform a backup on your Billion before attempting any reconfiguring,

[#11]

@MisterW I think I get what you're saying there apart form the DHCP bit.  My 8800 subnet is already different to 192.168.1 so I can leave the Hub 2 as is.  Edited to add I don't get the DMZ bit either!

[#12]

@Junkman 

What @MisterW is saying is to change the Hub Two to be a different IP Address range to the Billion or nothing will work. I changed mine sometime ago to 192.168.10.0/24, the IPv4 setup looks like

HTH

[#13]

 I've just seen @MisterW last post.

@Dan_the_Van any thoughts ? Yes, double NAT is not ideal but as a means of satisfying PN support in using the Hub 2 ?

@Junkman I think I get what you're saying there apart form the DHCP bit.

If you add a WAN ethernet interface on the 8800 but with the type set to DHCP ( I'm assuming it has that option ) then the 8800 will get an WAN IP address allocated to it by the DHCP server on the Hub 2. The Hub 2 will then 'see' the 8800 in its network and you can set it as the DMZ  so all unsolicited traffic will go direct to the 8800.

[#14]

@MisterW 

not put a device in the DMZ for a while, but I thinking you still need the port forward rules, I might be wrong though.

[#15]

Doesn't seem to give me anything about DHCP or DMZ on this page or the next one.........