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BE6500 and Port Forwarding
I am new to the Netgear forums so, please forgive any ignorance on my part.
TDS has been sending out notification about installing Fiber optic internet in our neighborhood. My understanding is that this is only a box to give me internet access (there is an acronym for it I have forgotten) and I still have to have my own router to do that part. I am considering the BE6500 router for this.
My current situation is this: I've had AT&T for my ISP for over ten years. I had their Internet 24 (copper wire) plan up until like, 4 months ago when they started adding promotions on my home page there for their Internet Air 300 (relies on cell towers) for just over $10 a month more. I thought it was a no brainer so, I went ahead and got it.
That is where and when this issue evolved. I belong to a few "music sharing" mIRC sites, which require Port forwarding to be able to share files back and forth. Each of these "Scripts" suggest to have at least 5 ports forwarded for sharing purposes. with the old Internet 24 modem/router I had no problem setting this up properly. When I got the new hub/router I started having issues sharing so, I called the AT&T Technical support team. I spent over an hour and a half the first time trying to resolve this with a tech I couldn't really understand. He finally set me up to get a replacement hub assuring me that would resolve the problem. I got the replacement over a week later, plugged it in, set it up and found I had the same issue. So, I called AT&T AGAIN and spent over 2 hours with a tech running me through the same steps the first one did three times over. He didn't understand it either! So, right now, I've learned I can open one port per application. This is barely getting me by. If someone requests more than one file at a time, it refuses the send. If I request a file from others, it is spotty. Some times they will send, other times, it will just hang.
My question for members or Netgear staff is simply this: Will the BE6500 allow me to open more than one Port per application? Can someone assure me they have used this feature and knows it works?
TDS has been sending out notification
Is this the correct reference:
https://tdstelecom.com/shop/internet-services.html
And, is it correct to assume that the point of the Original Post was whether the Netgear BE6500 will support port forwarding using the TDS Optical Network Terminal (ONT)?
i.e. the extensive discussion about AT&T Internet Air is "off topic"?
Netgear routers support Port Forwarding. Page 164 of the RS200 User Manual describes how to set it up.
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RS200/RS200_RS150_UM_EN.pdf
Each of these "Scripts" suggest to have at least 5 ports forwarded for sharing purposes.
Netgear Port Forwarding connects each specific port to one specific device on the LAN. (It is not clear to me what the point would be of having five different ports forwarded to the same device on the LAN.) The most common reason for forwarding multiple ports is when providing access to multiple resources. For example, if a security camera accepts connections over port 80 and a person wants to access three separate cameras from the internet using Port Forwarding, he would set up three 'rules':
- External port 1 (how about 81?) to internal device 1 port 80.
- External port 2 (let's use 82) to internal device 2 port 80.
- External port 3 (let's use 83) to internal device 3 port 80.
9 Replies
My current situation is this: I've had AT&T for my ISP for over ten years. I had their Internet 24 (copper wire) plan up until like, 4 months ago when they started adding promotions on my home page there for their Internet Air 300 (relies on cell towers) for just over $10 a month more.
Their Internet Air service uses Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT). That doesn't allow port forwarding. The BE6500 won't help.
You could ask for a public IP address - if they can do that, they would likely charge.
There are a couple of VPN companies that you could use which support port forwarding (most do not). They are not free.
I would guess so if the port number is different for each application you need PF for.
ONT is what maybe your TDS ISP maybe installing which you'll need to ask them if this has any build in router, then having the RS router connected would be in a double NAT condition. Not recommended. If the ONT doesn't have a built in router, then the RS router will work fine behind the ONT.
Be sure to check with the mfr of the application to see if PF configurations is needed or if using uPnP can be used instead.
ONT is what maybe your TDS ISP maybe installing
Rico73: Can you confirm if you ended up with AT&T Fiber or with mobile broadband (AT&T Internet AIR) ?
Generally US mobile broadband services use CGNAT - which is fundamentally not compatible with port forwarding. Using uPnP to open the ports won't work either.
FURRYe38, Yes, ONT (Optical Network Terminal) is the acronym I was looking for. I have NOT contacted them to question if it has a built-in router. I've just addressed this on Reddit and was told there they only provide the ONT. I am trying to do my homework before spending the money to get me to where I need to be.
StephenB, I currently have Internet Air. AT&T fiber is not yet available in our area. There is no fiber in the area as of yet. There are spools of orange tubing all around the area, I am assuming is for future installation of the fiber lines. I am currently trying to educate myself on what the future is bringing. I am 72 years old and still kind of old school as far as all this goes but am still trying to learn.
TDS has been sending out notification
Is this the correct reference:
https://tdstelecom.com/shop/internet-services.html
And, is it correct to assume that the point of the Original Post was whether the Netgear BE6500 will support port forwarding using the TDS Optical Network Terminal (ONT)?
i.e. the extensive discussion about AT&T Internet Air is "off topic"?
Netgear routers support Port Forwarding. Page 164 of the RS200 User Manual describes how to set it up.
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RS200/RS200_RS150_UM_EN.pdf
Each of these "Scripts" suggest to have at least 5 ports forwarded for sharing purposes.
Netgear Port Forwarding connects each specific port to one specific device on the LAN. (It is not clear to me what the point would be of having five different ports forwarded to the same device on the LAN.) The most common reason for forwarding multiple ports is when providing access to multiple resources. For example, if a security camera accepts connections over port 80 and a person wants to access three separate cameras from the internet using Port Forwarding, he would set up three 'rules':
- External port 1 (how about 81?) to internal device 1 port 80.
- External port 2 (let's use 82) to internal device 2 port 80.
- External port 3 (let's use 83) to internal device 3 port 80.
Happycat;
Is this the correct reference:
Similar but, not "online" offers. Been getting them snail-mail.
And, is it correct to assume that the point of the Original Post was whether the Netgear BE6500 will support port forwarding using the TDS Optical Network Terminal (ONT)?
i.e. the extensive discussion about AT&T Internet Air is "off topic"?
Netgear routers support Port Forwarding. Page 164 of the RS200 User Manual describes how to set it up.
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RS200/RS200_RS150_UM_EN.pdf
YES! That is exactly what I was looking for!
i.e. the extensive discussion about AT&T Internet Air is "off topic"?
What I had meant to say was that as StephenB pointed out, AT&T "Air" simply will not do what you want with any router. You seem to have two choices:
- Go back to the original AT&T wired service, or
- Wait until fiber becomes available (and do without the media sharing until then)
(It is not clear to me what the point would be of having five different ports forwarded to the same device on the LAN.)
Not unusual. For instance, an FTP server behind NAT requires at least two ports - one for control and one port for data transfer. If you want to transfer multiple files at the same time, or allow multiple remote users, then you need more data ports. I've generally recommended 4 data ports per remote user for ReadyNAS. So 5 ports total if there is only one remote user.
This use case is similar. mIRC has one port for chat (in this case requesting file transfer), and at least one data transfer port (generally more than one, so you can receive files in parallel).
You seem to have two choices:
1. Go back to the original AT&T wired service, or
2. Wait until fiber becomes available (and do without the media sharing until then)Or (as I pointed out earlier) subscribe to a VPN that supports port forwarding at the VPN server until fiber becomes available. Might be a good idea anyway, even after fiber becomes available.
