Orbi RBR20 is blocking HomeKit

[chrisbrummel]

I am using Home Assistant and I used to have it integrated with HomeKit prior to upgrading my network. But after updating, I can't add Home Assistant as a bridge to HomeKit.I've tried running it through my ISP's modem/router and I can get it to work, so it's exclusive to my Orbi setup.

Does anyone have any recommendations for what settings might be afflicting this? 

Thanks!

-Chris

Wireless settings:

2.4GHz band — Enable SSID Broadcast, Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence, Enable WMM (WiFi Multimedia Settings), CTS/RTS: 2347, Preamble Mode: Automatic, Transmit Power Control: 100%

5GHz band — Enable SSID Broadcast,  Enable WMM (WiFi Multimedia Settings), CTS/RTS: 2347, Preamble Mode: Automatic, Transmit Power Control: 100%

Enable Daisy-Chain Topology, Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING, Enable MU-MIMO

[ekhalil]

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@chrisbrummel wrote:

........I've tried running it through my ISP's modem/router and I can get it to work, .........

........

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This is probably the reason, if both Orbi and your ISP modem are doing routing, many devices will get confused.

1. Is Orbi in ROuter or AP Mode?
2. Does the ISP modem have routing capability? What is the make and model or the modem?

Recommendation is either to keep Orbi in Router Mode and set the ISP modem in modem-only or bridged mode, or change Orbi to AP Mode and keep the ISP modem as the main router.

[chrisbrummel]

Ekhalil, thanks for replying!

1. Is Orbi in ROuter or AP Mode?

It is in Router Mode

2. Does the ISP modem have routing capability? What is the make and model or the modem?

Yes. It is the "technicolor C2000T".

In the C2000T's device table, the only connected device is the RBR20, and in the Port Forwarding I'm passing all ports onto the IP of the RBR20. This worked for my previous router (Netgear R6400) and I was able to get this working that way. But it doesn't seem to be happy with the Orbi.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[ekhalil]

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@chrisbrummel wrote:

I am using Home Assistant and I used to have it integrated with HomeKit prior to upgrading my network. But after updating, I can't add Home Assistant as a bridge to HomeKit.......

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How is this done, is there a page describing this procedure? At what stage do things get wrong?

I guess that you are attaching the Raspberry Pi as a wireless device, Does it support both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands? What channel does Orbi use for the 2.4 GHz? Is it set to auto?

[chrisbrummel]

This page explains the process under "Setup": https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/homekit/

Step 6 is where nothing happens. I expect to see the Home Assistant bridge in my Home.app, but nothing appears.

The Raspberry Pi is wired to the Orbi. The Orbi supports both 2.4 and 5GHz and is set to auto. I'm guessing that this isn't an issued since it's wired, yeah?

Thanks!

[ekhalil]

I think this has to do with ports not being passed through to Orbi by the ISP router.

So when you say that you are passing through all ports to Orbi, do you mean that it's set to DMZ hosting (please see attached picture)?

Can you please instead set it to "Trasparent Bridging" instead (please see attached picture)?

[chrisbrummel]

That's set to "Automatic" and any time I attempt to change it, it snaps back to automatic. I will write to CenturyLink and see what they say about that. That's to set it to Bridge mode, I assume?

[ekhalil]

Yes, I think you need to set the Technicolor router to Trasparent Bridging.

For me the issue you're seeing is caused by ports being blocked by the Technicolor router and not reaching Orbi.

[chrisbrummel]

Okay, I was able to change the router to "Transparent Bridging 201" on my technicolor, but then the internet conenction goes out. What is the setting on my Orbi RBR20 that I need to change to maintain the internet connection after the Technicolor C2000T is set to bridge mode?

Thanks!

[ekhalil]

I think that you need to configure PPPoE in Orbi:

1. Please connect Orbi's WAN port into one of the LAN ports on the Technicolor modem.
2. Use Orbi's web GUI  to browse to >> ADVANCED >> Setup >> Internet Settings
3. Select YES for "Does your Internet connection require password". You will need here to know your DSL username and password to configure Orbi.
   
   

[chrisbrummel]

Okay, I’ve done that, but the WiFi on the Orbi now constantly drops. I can’t go 4 minutes without it cutting out.

Also, I’m still not seeing my Home Assistant bridge inside the Home.app

[ekhalil]

In the same Internet Setup page in the web GUI, there is a TEST button, please click on that and see if this will make any improvement.

If not, please reboot both the modem and Orbi and see if it both will get stable after that.

[chrisbrummel]

I’ve run the “test” and rebooted both prior to responding. No luck 😕

[chrisbrummel]

I’m trying to see if I can just remove the C2000T from the equation but it seems that I need VLAN features that the Orbi just doesn’t have

[ekhalil]

In fact Orbi supports VLAN tagging, but I just saw this post https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Using-Orbi-with-CenturyLink-without-router/m-p/1789174/highlig... where people say that they failed to configure PPPoE in Orbi which is pity.

It's up to you to iif you want to keep trying with this or if you want to try the following two other options:

1. Remove the "Transparent Bridge" mode in the Technicolor and configure the DMZ hosting instead. I'm not sure if before setting "Transparent Bridge" if you had DMZ hosting or multiple port forwarding setup?
2. Change the Technicolor to Router mode and change Orbi to AP mode. In this case all routing fuctionality will be done by the Technicolor ISP router.

[chrisbrummel]

Things may have stableized. I am still in bridge mode on the C2000T and have my credentials plugged in via PPPoE on the RBR20, and the wifi cut-outs seem to have ceased.

Sadly, I still don't see the Home Assistant bridge appearing in the Home.app. Before abandoning the bridge mode idea, do you have any ideas for exposing the HA bridge to HomeKit?

Thanks for all the ideas!

[ekhalil]

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@chrisbrummel wrote:

..... Before abandoning the bridge mode idea, do you have any ideas for exposing the HA bridge to HomeKit?

.....

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I think the needed port is being somehow blocked. What default port number do you currently have in configuration.yaml?

Try changing this to something else, say 51829, and try differnt other ports....

[chrisbrummel]

I orignially didn't have "port: 51828" in the config, as it worked without it before. I have now tried  applying port forwarding to "51828" and "51829" to the IP of the Raspberry Pi and matched those in the config, with a restart of the Pi before each attempt. No luck.

I assume that you were suggesting that the Pi have those ports open, correct?

[chrisbrummel]

Okay, I've made it a step forward.

Unrelated to this, I grabbed a new ethernet hub with more ports and rewired everything through that. Something must have refreshed, because I tried the Home.app on a whim and the hub showed up for a split second. I tried it again and I was able to get a connection — BUT no accessories show up. Now I'm reading up to see if someone has a similar situation.

Thanks!

[chrisbrummel]

Bada-bing Bada-boom, all the accessories are showing up. Maybe it just took time like the bridge shifting over. I'm not sure how it all happened, but I'm really happy. Thanks for you help

[ekhalil]

That’s great. Glad that things are working as they should for you.

[chrisbrummel]

Sadly, in the two weeks I've had HomeKit integration, it's rarely worked. I get "No Response" for every Home Assistant device almost all the time. Every now and then it works, but it's very sporadic.

Strangely enough, I installed Hoobs for Homebridge and it is extreemly reliant in the Home.app, so I'm not sure what that says about the situation.

Any ideas? I’d appreciate the help. I’m pretty beat down with all of this and thinking of abandoning HA or getting a different router.

Thanks,
Chris

[ekhalil]

Do you have UPnP enabled in Orbi, or are you using port forwarding in Orbi?

If you use port forwarding, what port forwarding do you have configured now in Orbi?

[chrisbrummel]

@ekhalil UPnP is on, but it also looks like there's some port forwarding going on. Attached are 2 screenshots