Transparent Bridging with Centurylink pk5001z

[davidlr]

In order to get my RBR50 to work with my DSL modem in tranparent bridging mode, I had to turn off the satelite, which is meh, slightly annoying.

The rest of the story.

I live in a area that has had extended periods (hours to days to weeks) of no power, while not longer than a few hours lately, it can happen again.  I picked the Orbi, because it is not cloud based, and your internal network comes back with the power.  This means your printers and other WiFi connected deviced will work.  I am using the latest V2.1.2.18 software.  My first attempt at setup failed completely, I had tried to change things to look like my old network, and it just didn't work.  The biggest mistake I had made was changing the SSID prior to setup of the RBS50.  I reset everything to factory and changed as little as possible except the SSID (after everything was up and happy), which I kept short and simple.  Only change WAN or Internet settings to get connected to your provider until your entire network is up and the versions are synced.  I have in the last 2 months had to reset the Satellite (RBS50) once.  As I have seen posted, if your Router restarts, you need to restart the satellite.   Things are as reliable as my lousy DSL will allow.  
I am using the firmware that everyone is screaming about, and it seems to be fine. 

After a blackout yesterday lasting longer than my UPS, the Centurylink DSL modem came up in an unhappy state.  It said it was in Transparent Bridging, but the internet status light was flashing red and green ( should be off).  If the DSL modem is power cycled, it will do this almost every time.

To get things to work, I had to get DSL working with my static IP settings first, turn off the RBS50 and RBR50, flip the modem settings back to Transparent Bridging, turn off the wireless on the pk5001z and using the pk5001z admin utlity, reboot the modem (not power it), turn on the RBR50, tho I  think I also just rebooted it from the Orbi admin one of the successful attempts.

Then you can turn on the RBS50.  I can't tell if this is an issue with the DSL Modem (probably), or the RBR50 doesn't push thru the static IP settings, but I don't understand why the Satellite would come into play, but it seems to.

Thanks

[FURRYe38]

Seems like your ISP modem is having the issues. 

Yes, it's recommended to have the ISP modem bridged. You should contact the ISP for help and information regarding this. 

WHen you do bridge the ISP modem, you do need to have your PPPoE ISP user name and PW account info entered into the Orbi router. 

If yor having odd issues the the modem, it maybe a good idea to get a new updated modem. 

If your having problems with bridge mode, you can use the modem in router mode and use it's DMZ for the IP address the Orbi router gets from the modem. Which maybe an easier method to help you keep the two configured and working correctly during power outages. 

[davidlr]

Thank you for the reply!

My ISP setup is with a static ip, and there is no PPoE, nor login.  
Centurylink will not provide assistance on bridging.  The modem is brand new, with the latest software.  I had been using my old Embarq DSL modem which Bridged flawlessly until it's demise in early 2018.

I want to avoid a double NAT, wouldn't setting up a DMZ and putting the Orbi in the DMZ do that? Is this a Myth to avoid a double NAT?  My work VPN's have in the past failed to work when there is a double NAT.

If anyone has a way to get a Centurylink pz5001z modem to behave after it is powered, I'm all ears, but I don't think this is NETGEAR's problem, except that I have to turn off the Satellite to go thru the process.

Maybe I need a new ISP.

David

[FURRYe38]

Ya, thats what ISPs will say, there supposed to support bridging, it's there responsibility. 

Yes, DMZ will handle the double NAT issue. Your still in a double NAT configuration however using DMZ for the Orbi router will mask this and allow for public facing IP addressing to be passed from the modem/router to the Orbi router. I've set a few routers up like this. Easy way and works well. Perferred way is full bridge mode, however sometimes these features don't work well. So DMZ is the next best thing. 

Try it, it works. Just set up a reserved IP address for the Orbi router on the modem/router first. So the IP address doesn't change. Then input this into the DMZ. Save and apply. I would probably reboot both modem and orbi router.