Apex Wireless Adapter and ATT UVerse

[customdusty]

I have my Apex hooked up to my network with a TrendNet wireless adapter and to my Cisco (lynksis) router. Everything worked great, and I had all of the port forwarding set up so I could access the Apex from anywhere via the internet.

I just switched to ATT Uverse and they require me to use their Modem/wireless router 2Wire unit. I just can't get the port forwarding to work with this router and wanted to see if anybody has this router and if they got it to work. I have local access so I can acess the Apex through my computers in the house, but the offsite internet access to the Apex through the Uverse router isn't working.

[elahav]

I am using the ATT Uverse . At first I have problems setting up, but I got the static IP address (5) for $15 , and since then it’s working great and very fast. You also can do port forward in the router itself, once you log into it.

[customdusty]

I have the port forward working, but when I access from the outside using my IP address (which I have not yet paid for a static), it connects me but sends me to my wireless adapter and not the Apex itself. It is unusual because I only have the port forwarding set up for static IP address I assigned to the Apex, and my router does not "see" the wireless adapter, it only shows the Apex.

Is yours set up with a wireless adapter also?

[tamu]

Here is a test to try...
If you are using a Windows PC. Open up a command prompt (Start->Run and put 'cmd' in the box)

1) ping the ip address of the wireless gateway 'ping x.x.x.x'
2) ping the static ip address of your apex 'ping x.x.x.x'
3) look at the ARP table on your PC 'arp -a'

Are the MAC addresses (Physical Address) different for each IP (Internet Address)

[elahav]

I don’t understand how you can log in without static ip?? I know that it can be done only with static???
Also, did you confirm in the router that the port forward is real active in the “View Network Summary” under the “Local Devices”. It has to state there. (Its happened to me during set up of the router)
I am not using wireless adapter. I use only direct connection.

[tamu]

If you have a public address that is dynamic and changes often, there are sites out there that can track that information for you for free.

One such site is dyndns.com . You create an account with them and create a DNS name such as MYREEFTANK. You install a client on your computer or put your account info in your router (if supported) and it will monitor your public IP. If it changes, your DNS record will be updated with the new address.

So even though your IP is changing, you don't care because you only access your tank by http://MYREEFTANK

No need to pay for a static address.

[customdusty]

I'll try out the tests when I get home tonight. I need to check my IP when I get home anyways, because now I can't seem to reach my network at all, so maybe the IP has changed. I'll set up an acct. with dyndns so I don't have to worry about the dynamic IP.

I created a "new application" in the firewall settings called Apex that specified the port forwarding details. To test it out, I applied this setting to my laptop and tested it with the program from www.portforward.com and it said my port was open.

Like I said, everything worked fine when I set it up on my Linksys router, but this 2Wire thing from ATT is a piece.

[tamu]

I 100% agree with you about the 2 wire gateway. It is very very limited.

I had almost the same issue you were seeing. My port forward worked great for some time, but just stopped one day. I would see the see the MAC of my bridge coming in for the IP address of my controller. Not good on a Layer 2 network.

You can hang your own router off of the 2wire and put that device in the DMZ, so that it passes all inbound traffic to your router and you can then put your rules there.

[customdusty]

I tried hooking up my Linksys router behind the router, and set it up as DMZ enabled through the 2wire. It doesn't work. I can't even get into the Linksys to change any settings there.

[customdusty]

Finally got the router behind the router working, and also the wireless adapter hooked up to the Linksys router, not the 2wire. I went in and turned on the port forwarding for the IP address of the Apex in the Linksys router as well. I called my brother to have him test it, and nothing. Using my interent IP address doesn't get to my device login, nothing happens.

[tamu]

What does the Linksys router show in the status page for the WAN IP? The public address??

[mpiermar]

Some ISP's actually block *incoming* port 80 (http, and others) at their end. So, no matter what you do, http traffic will never reach your router. I don't know if ATT actually does this, but a lot do. You can try to port-forward TCP 8080 (or any other port besides 80 & 443) to local apex:80. Then on the internet, use http://ip:8080/.

They also usually do NOT block these ports if you have a static IP address, thus why it works for some.

Might be worth a shot.

[tamu]

Some ISP's actually block *incoming* port 80 (http, and others) at their end. So, no matter what you do, http traffic will never reach your router. I don't know if ATT actually does this, but a lot do. You can try to port-forward TCP 8080 (or any other port besides 80 & 443) to local apex:80. Then on the internet, use http://ip:8080/.

They also usually do NOT block these ports if you have a static IP address, thus why it works for some.

Might be worth a shot.

True, I was using a higher port number too.

[customdusty]

Thanks for all the help everybody. As you can tell, I'm quite the networking newb.

Should I see anything at all when I type in my Internet IP from a remote PC, even if port forwarding is not working?

[mpiermar]

And just another thought -- I don't know how accurate an application installed on your PC can determine (portforward.com) if a port is open on the internet side of your router. I like to use an external/internet based scanner to test my open ports. I use ShieldsUp ( https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 ). It will actually scan your router from their site, letting you know for sure what is open/closed.

[customdusty]

I changed the port to 8080 on the Apex and allowed those ports on my Linksys router. Now I can no longer access the Apex at all locally by entering the IP address for it.

I put the HTTP port on the Apex back to 80, and I get access again.

[customdusty]

And just another thought -- I don't know how accurate an application installed on your PC can determine (portforward.com) if a port is open on the internet side of your router. I like to use an external/internet based scanner to test my open ports. I use ShieldsUp ( https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 ). It will actually scan your router from their site, letting you know for sure what is open/closed.


I just used this site and it found no ports open when I tried port 80. Said stealth mode.

[tamu]

I changed the port to 8080 on the Apex and allowed those ports on my Linksys router. Now I can no longer access the Apex at all locally by entering the IP address for it.

I put the HTTP port on the Apex back to 80, and I get access again.

After you change the listening port on the Apex (ie 8080) then when you want to access via http, you would need to add :8080 to the end of your address.

examples:
apex:8080
192.168.1.50:8080

[customdusty]

After you change the listening port on the Apex (ie 8080) then when you want to access via http, you would need to add :8080 to the end of your address.

examples:
apex:8080
192.168.1.50:8080

I tried it a few times and it didn't work. I left and went to pour myself a glass of Crown and tried it when I came back and I get local access now. I guess everything needed a few mintues to restart and take on the new settings.

With Apex set to port 8080, and local access working through my Linksys router (behind the 2Wire in DMZ), I opened up port 8080 on the Linksys and tested it on the ShieldsUp site - Stealth mode again, does not say open or closed.

[mpiermar]

Stealth mode means the router/fw is actually blocking all inbound traffic. You actually tested port 8080 from that site? I think by default it does not check all ports. When you get to the test, type in 8080 and choose "user specified port probe". If you want to share your IP, I can scan it for you.

[customdusty]

Stealth mode means the router/fw is actually blocking all inbound traffic. You actually tested port 8080 from that site? I think by default it does not check all ports. When you get to the test, type in 8080 and choose "user specified port probe". If you want to share your IP, I can scan it for you.

I did user specified and typed in 8080. I'll PM you my IP so you can test me out.

[mpiermar]

I scanned your IP/port(s), and everything is blocked. You might want to try putting your apex itself in the DMZ and trying to access it directly. This will rule out any issues with the double router combo This might involve some re-config of you network, as I don't know which router the apex is actually hooked to. You'll have to hook it directly to the 2wire in order to put it in the DMZ.

[customdusty]

I'll give that a try tomorrow. Should my Linksys router also be in DMZ mode? Test my ports one more time if you can, I think I got them opened up now.

[tamu]

No.

[mpiermar]

Still all closed:

All 8888 scanned ports on 99-175-XXX-XXX.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net (99.175.XXX.XXX) are closed (8844) or filtered (44)
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 103.94 seconds

Try the apex in the dmz next...