Port forwarding to Nighthawk RAX70? trying to bridge two routers

Question

I'm trying to bridge from a Telus T3200M Router to the Nighthawk RAX70 AX6600 Router but having great difficulty.
Wifi Router set-up appeared to work through browser... but when we tried to connect internet from Telus Router it didn't work. Netgear support suggested the router was defective and to ask for a refund... but when I called Telus, they suggested the Telus Router needed to have Port Forwarding setup. In Firewall tab of Telus Router, I see port forwarding and Netgear Router LAN IP Address is listed as option to connect to - but the prompts are asking for External (WAN) Start Port: , Ending Port, and Internal (LAN) Start Port:, and Ending Port as well as Protocol: TCP, UDP, GRE.

I tried to get help from Netgear support with this and was put on hold and transferred 3 times before my call was finally disconnected.
When I try to use the default 192.168.1.1 - there appears to be a conflict with the original telus router as well as it uses 192.168.1.254... so I can never access the network Router Set Up, unless I discount Telus router and do a factory reset on Nighthawk with computer plugged in before my computer can find the 192.168.1.1 login.
Any help is appreciated

michaelkenward · Answer

Litron&nbsp;wrote:
I'm trying to bridge from a Telus T3200M Router to the Nighthawk RAX70 AX6600 Router but having great difficulty.
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No surprise there. You are trying to do something that is not recommended. Two routers make bad company when bolted together.
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Two routers on your network can cause headaches. For example, you can end up with local address problems. Among other things, the other router can misdirect addresses that the Netgear router usually handles, such as routerlogin.net or the usual IP address for a router, 192.168.1.1.This explains some of the other drawbacks.What is Double NAT? | Answer | NETGEAR SupportWhat does "bridge" mean as you see it?
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The "bridge mode" term means different things in different contexts. In a modem/router like yours, it usually means putting the device into "modem only" mode, disabling the router bit of the T3200M. Is that what you are doing.
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Another "bridge" is as a wifi connection between two devices.
... but when I called Telus, they suggested the Telus Router needed to have Port Forwarding setup.
Maybe that is their idea of bridge mode.
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This might offer some clues:
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telus t3200m bridge mode - Google Search
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Port forwarding isn't usually a part if the process.
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What do you want to achieve at the end of this process? What do you want to do on the RAX70?
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If it is essentially there to give you the wifi, then you can put it into AP mode and leave the T3200M to do the router's work.
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How do I change my NETGEAR router to AP mode? | Answer | NETGEAR Support
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You might want to turn off the wifi from the T3200M to avoid clashes.
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michaelkenward · Answer

Litron&nbsp;wrote:
I was having security issues with the Telus combined Router/Modem - I was finding strange devices in my list on the Telus Router Webpage... and my internet would drag down to a halt when these devices were connected. I am familiar with secure network names and passwords, hiding SSID to form a Hidden Network, etc. - but without fail - after 3 or 4 days of doing a Router Factory Reset, then creating a new Hidden Wifi network and password... my internet would begin to drag and I would see these strange devices again.

If I were you I would go back and investigate that.
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There are many reasons why "strange devices" appear in a router's settings.
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The "three or four days" thing could be down to the two routers renegotiating the connection between them. To my mind this is the heart if your problem.
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The moves you refer to mean nothing to me, mostly because I don't know why you decided on "hiding SSIDs", a famously useless way of protecting a network.
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As to the rest of your message, I have a hard time unravelling a near on 900 words.
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not secure according to network IT people I've talked to.
I have no idea who you talked to but I find it hard to believe that Telus sets out to create an unsafe network.
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You appear to have a complicate problem. It is probably beyond the expertise that you will find here. Which may be why no one else has chipped in.
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You might find it more useful to pay your own network expert to create the bulletproof network that seems to be your objective.

michaelkenward · Answer

Litron&nbsp;wrote:
* An IT guy specializing in network design was the one who told me that combined modem / router combinations were less secure than the separate Modem and separate Router combo... not sure why.
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Me neither.
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I can think of various scenarios where that might be the case, but they boil down to the way in which brands make modem/routers.
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For example, until recently, Netgear made cable modem routers that had just one set of firmware, for the modem bit. Cable ISPs do not allow brands or individuals to update firmware. They insist that they are the only people who can do that.
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More recently Netgear, and maybe other brands, have created devices with separate modem and router firmware. This leaves it to the ISP to handle the modem firmware while Netgear and user are free to update the router's firmware. In that way, new firmware can handle any security issues that might arise.
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Along with giving a better choice of router features, this is one reason why experienced users prefer to have separate modems and routers.
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While many ISPs, including my ISP (BT), like to insist that users must have a combined modem/router, and one that they provide, there aren't many networks where this is true. It is usually possible to buy a modem that will work on the network. Then you can add your own router.
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Then there are the combined modem/routers like the one you own. Many have a modem only (bridge) mode option. Do that and you have effectively two separate devices with as much security as the router would deliver in its own.
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The option that you were offered, messing around with port forwarding, looks like the ISP's usual "we know best" regime that is actually more complicated, and possibly less safe, than the bridge modem option.
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The choice is yours. Believe what the ISP says and this network design expert, who may not be that familiar with domestic hardware, or follow the sort of suggestions that you will find here, from people who have seen many users in the same boat as you.
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When people turn up here asking for instructions on how to do complicated things in a router, like port forwarding, the solution is often to ask what the user wants to achieve and to forget about their idea of the solution.
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Litron · Answer

Hi&nbsp;michaelkenward&nbsp;,Thanks for your reply!I was having security issues with the Telus combined Router/Modem - I was finding strange devices in my list on the Telus Router Webpage... and my internet would drag down to a halt when these devices were connected. I am familiar with secure network names and passwords, hiding SSID to form a Hidden Network, etc. - but without fail - after 3 or 4 days of doing a Router Factory Reset, then creating a new Hidden Wifi network and password... my internet would begin to drag and I would see these strange devices again.I had a "Network Expert" look at my setup and he thought that I was doing my due diligence to keep the network secure. He recommended adding a Netgear router to my setup to handle hardwired connections and wifi, and dumbing down the Telus Router to a Modem... this was my intent. BUT, Nighthawk App setup does not appear to work in bridge mode... and recommends against it.So I leave the Telus Router as is, do a factory reset to ensure the network is on default settings... turn off the router. Then connect computer to Nighthawk router - do a factory reset - so I can access 192.168.1.1 - which works. I can start the Nighthawk router setup and get to the point where the setup asks for a) Determine Settings, b) manual settings, etc... at this point I am asked to connect to internet... so I turn on the telus router and Nighthawk setup sees the internet connection and proceeds with setup to a point - then crashes.The problem, I believe, is that the Telus Router uses 192.168.1.254 IP for its router setup and Netgear uses 192.168.1.1 - so I think the telus router IP is overwriting and crashing the Netgear IP - because, after the setup crash... only 192.168.1.254 is available...I managed to get Netgear browser setup on a) Best Settings to work once - where the Telus IP remained at 192.168.1.254 and Netgear Router reassigned it's IP to 10.0.0.1... both hardwired internet and wifi worked... but of course, I wanted to make the default Netgear Wifi name and password more secure, and turn off SSID from showing for hidden networks... once I did this, the hard wired devices still had internet access, but my Nighthawk App lost connectivity to Wifi and kept saying it couldn't find the router... because of the different default Netgear network name my phone apps could no longer connect to the wifi to reestablish router connect.I've seen in other forums - that the reason Telus Router page 192.168.1.254 replaces Netgear page is because they are both using the same Subnet Range of 255.255.255.0 - so one person recommended changing the subnet of one router to 255.255.0.0 to prevent conflict... another option was suggested to give either the Telus Router or Netgear Router a Static (non-conflicting) IP address..I am unfamiliar on how to create a Static IP or change Subnet Mask. While I can look this up, and walk through the steps, on which device do I do this...? I am at trial and error stage at this point because neither Telus nor Netgear Tech Support seems willing or qualified to help... they seem to suggest the problem lies with the other vendor.I have some familiarity with network security... and I am an intuitive self learner - but so far I haven't found any definitive answer and I am unfamiliar with best practices / rules regarding Static IPs and Subnet Masks - so I am tentative as to which approach to try.. and what the consequences of each might be.The other issue is, I like to turn off the wifi at night to reduce EMF as I am sensitive to it and work reasonably close to the routers in my office all day... but turning off the Netgear router seems to lose connectivity and settings... Telus Router is Plug and Play - I turn off the power and the router resumes when I plug it in... but as mentioned, Netgear seems to require a complete setup each time the router is shut down? If I have to do a network setup every morning, then I will be returning the router... as I am fastly losing patience.Hopefully this explains my process... I don't think Telus provides a simple modem anymore - and every new Telus setup is given this Router / Modem combo - which is convenient, but not secure according to network IT people I've talked to.To sum it up, my main concern is security... I want a setup that prevents exposure of my wifi/wired devices to the internet... As I understood, using a modem with a password and connecting to separate router with password (with wired and wifi devices plugged into the Netgear router) was the best solution to keep the devices protected behind a firewall. My execution hasn't been great so far.Thanks for your help.

Litron · Answer

Appreciate the help.* The strange devices on the Telus network happened prior to purchasing the Netgear router - and was the reason why I purchased the NG Router - to add an extra layer of security.* An IT guy specializing in network design was the one who told me that combined modem / router combinations were less secure than the separate Modem and separate Router combo... not sure why.&nbsp;I was able to get the network working - now. But after much trial and error. I had an issue with Nighthawk Router losing internet after using the power off button... and wasn't able to get it back... so had to do reset and start over.I'll puzzle through it.Thanks for your help.

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Port forwarding to Nighthawk RAX70? trying to bridge two routers

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