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Fish41's avatar
Fish41
Aspirant
Apr 08, 2020

Nighthawk XR500 & D6400

Evening Community,

Firstly I would like to thank anyone in advance for any assistance that can provide, I will admit I don’t possess much knowledge in this area so please bear with me!

I’m a uk resident who has BT ultrafast fibre broadband supplied into the house (new build), with the fibre connection connected into the bottom of a huweai echo life box on the wall.

Currently I have to run an Ethernet cable from the echo life box to the WAN connection on the BT smart hub 2

I purchased a XR500 router a few months ago and attempted connecting up today with an Ethernet cable running from the smart hub to the XR500.

Using the XR500 interface it stated I had internet connection but looking on the Xbox I had the double NAT issue, which I put down to not being able to use the smart hub in a “bridge mode”

Therefore I’m looking to purchase the netgear D6400 modem/router and basically replace the smart hub, however using the D6400 in modem only mode, but still keeping the same connections....as follows:

Ethernet cable from echo life unit to the WAN on the D6400

Put the D6400 into modem only mode

Run Ethernet cable from D6400 to the XR500 and use the XR500 as the router

Does anyone think this will work or am I gonna end up with a load of expensive netgear equipment that I cannot use?

Thanks

7 Replies

  • antinode's avatar
    antinode
    Guru
    Apr 08, 2020

    > [...] with the fibre connection connected into the bottom of a huweai
    > echo life box on the wall.

     

       Like this?:

     

          https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/access-network/echolife-eg8040h-pid-22464449

     

       That's an Optical Network Terminal (ONT), nothing to do with DSL.

     

    > [...] Currently I have to run an Ethernet cable from the echo life box
    > to the WAN connection on the BT smart hub 2

     

       Again, nothing to do with DSL.

     

    > Put the D6400 into modem only mode

     

       And connect its DSL port to what?


       You apparently (no longer?) have DSL service, so a D6400 would be a
    poor choice for any purpose.  It provides a DSL modem which would be
    useless to you, and its router stuff should be inferior to anything in
    an XR500.

     

       What happens if you discard the Smart Hub 2, and simply connect the
    XR500 (WAN/Internet port) to your ONT?

    • Fish41's avatar
      Fish41
      Aspirant
      Apr 08, 2020
      Hi Antinode,

      Firstly thanks for the feedback

      The echolife is what is on the link you attached so yes it’s an ONT box

      I have tried testing connecting the XR500 direct to the echo life but when I looked on the interface of the XR500 is stated that the internet was disconnected and the internet light on the XR500 was orange instead of white

      Could it be that the echo life unit needs reconfiguring if the D6400 unit is not going to do anything

      Thanks
      • antinode's avatar
        antinode
        Guru
        Apr 08, 2020

        > I have tried testing connecting the XR500 direct to the echo life but
        > when I looked on the interface of the XR500 is stated that the internet
        > was disconnected and the internet light on the XR500 was orange instead
        > of white

         

           I have no idea how your Smart Hub 2 was configured, or how you've
        configured the XR500.  Does the Smart Hub 2 use a PPPoE connection
        (which you haven't mentioned to the XR5000)?

         

           Have you asked BT about how to configure a third-party router with
        their service?  Web search?

         

        > Could it be that the echo life unit needs reconfiguring [...]

         

           I doubt it.  Its whole purpose in life is to convert optical signals
        in a fiber from/to electrical signals (Ethernet).