Eircom Router & Apple Home Sharing

Elbow

Hi

I've got a problem setting up home sharing and i think i've it narrowed down to my eircom router (zyxel P-660HW-T1 v3).

In the house we've got 2 macbooks, apple TV, xbox, and 2 phones connected wirelessly.

Everything works fine on its own but the 3 apple devices should be able to connect to each other quite easily but it aint happening.

According to apple i need to open 2 ports 5353 & 3389 on the router. I tried opening both but only 3389 is showing as open when i do a port check

Eircom refused to guide me through opening the ports so i worked it out from google but i may have done something wrong.

Can anyone offer some advice or help, Half the point of the apple tv is connecting it to our macbooks

Frustrated Thanks
Clohane

watty

no,
nothing to do with ports. Ports is only for sharing on Internet (which is daft).

Ports are nothing to do with sharing between LAN devices.
If each Appple can access Internet, then it's only a apple config problem

Please close any ports you opened to internet. There are enough Zombie bots already.

Elbow

watty wrote: »

no,
nothing to do with ports. Ports is only for sharing on Internet (which is daft).

Ports are nothing to do with sharing between LAN devices.
If each Appple can access Internet, then it's only a apple config problem

Please close any ports you opened to internet. There are enough Zombie bots already.

That was my basic understanding alright hence the confusion but i taught i'd try what apple suggested anyway, sorry networking is far from my strong point ,

Can someone help me setting up the LAN so that everything will talk to each other?

jor el

This is not a broadband issue, so moving this to Nets & Comms.

Elbow

Thanks jor el, apologies for that

razork

Hi all,
have the same problem, have an Apple Tv2, Macbook pro and iphone with home sharing turned on on all. Can't get any of them to see each other. The all work individually but bought the Apple TV to stream photos, music etc.. Also have an eircom zyxel P-660HW-T1 v3. Anyone any suggestions how I might go about it. Regards R.

redlane

Hi, I'm having the same problem as the previous poster and others. I have both the new and old apple tv, I'm using zyxel P-660HW-T1 v3 modem on eircom broadband and home sharing is not working between my 2 macs or either of the macs and my apple tv gen 2. Neither can i communicate between my apple tv gen 1 and my macbook. I have tried everything that I can think of, with no luck. I just moved from the UK and had home sharing and apple tv working on my home wifi there without any issues. Can anyone help? I feel it must be to do with eircom, everything else seems fine, has worked on other networks, etc.

Thanks!

Morf3h

Hey,

I assume when you say 'home sharing' you guys are talking about new iTunes feature? As far as I know (and you may know this already), but iTunes needs to be open on two devices at once if they are to communicate through home sharing.

In addition, if you have home sharing enabled on a computer with a number of accounts, the user who's media you require must be logged on (with iTunes open) to communicate.

I've a new Eircom Zytel router with 4 mac devices and don't have problems.

Hope this helps

ted1

anybody able to sort this yet??

cbr954

ted1 wrote: »

anybody able to sort this yet??

for sharing files, go to system pref -> sharing and select what you want to share on each mac. Then select a mac in finder, login as owner / guest and you will be sharing files, printer, etc.

for iTunes, go to menu, advanced and select "turn on home sharing" on each mac. Once this is done, every mac that is awake will show up in the other mac's iTunes sidebar.

ted1

i'm trying to connect from itunes on a my laptop to an 2nd gen Apple TV. it seems to be a common problem especially with the newer eircom modems.

nickwilk

I have the same problem. When I connect everything via my Airport Express, sharing works fine, including using multiple speakers in Itunes10, so it's not simply an apple gear problem, but a setting in the eircom router. I've tried adding the airport express to the eircom network, but to no avail. Next option is linking a four year old airport extreme base station to the eircom router via ethernet and setting a new wireless network up with that. Worried my broadband will be even slower over the old base station though. Anyone who has got their apple home network to share using the zyxel, please post your settings here. Cheers!

redlane

Thought I'd post back with my resolution, although it's not a happy one.

After many calls to and from eircom and apple where both blamed each other, I was finally told by eircom that they "don't support apple products". Absolute crap considering how many people have at least one in a household today. I gave up and bought an a Airport Extreme (at a bargain price of 99euro) which I'm no using successfully to run my network via the xyxel.

nickwilk

redlane wrote: »

I gave up and bought an a Airport Extreme (at a bargain price of 99euro) which I'm no using successfully to run my network via the xyxel.

Thanks for the update. When you connected the Airport Extreme to the zyxel, did you disable the wireless function on the eircom router so that you just have one wireless network in the house?

~Rebel~

Hey chaps, this does actually have a bit to do with ports. TCP port 3689 needs to be open for the AppleTV and iTunes libraries to be able to see each other.

(for more info on the AppleTV ports, have a look here; http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2463 )

Port forwarding on the router should allow this. How it's done for this model I'm not quite sure, but i'm gonna give ZyXEL a call tomorrow and I'll post up if I get any interesting info for you folks.

I get the impression this issue has come from Eircom being once bitten after their last netopia router's were so easy to crack by default. I get the impression they've told ZyXEL that this model is to be as secure as possible by default. (My own theory of course!)

Therag

Hi Lads,

Just to let you know guys have been trying to sort out this problem with apple/eircom/zyxel since last july.... Its a Disaster. It's Seems there is bug in the WIFI Security measures that stops apple products connecting over wifi. If you connect apple tv, laptop.... etc to the lan all products detect each other instantly... I my self went to aldi bought the wireless usb hub for €40 ran that throught the lan on zyxel. Created a wifi network through usb hub for iphone, apple tv etc. all work fine... eircom are a disgrace zyxel told me they would look into it..... still waiting that was oct

Shamo

It seems the Eircom Zyxel doesn't do multicast traffic too well/at all over Wifi. I can discover the shared itunes library perfectly fine over cable but not Wifi.

Zab

"Port forwarding" on the router tells the router to forward traffic coming in from to internet on port X to one of the computers in your house on port Y. As all of the communicating computers are in the same house the internet doesn't come into it at all, so port forwarding isn't what you're looking for.

You can try posting up all of the wireless configuration options on your router. There are usually options that would stop something like iTunes working, such as blocking wireless bridging. Also, it's possible that a personal firewall or the built-in windows firewall could stop this traffic. Unfortunately, as Shamo says, it's also possible that the Zyxel is simply bad at forwarding the broadcast traffic that allows iTunes to communicate. I'm not sure if iTunes will allow you to enter an IP address for it to talk to, but if it does you should try to manually enter the other machine's IP.

Therag, are you saying it works on the Zyxel if you turn off WPA?

Squaredude

i suggest getting a new router as the zyxel router is absolute rubbish.

Therag

I know I have created a solution to ths problem using the usb wifi hub.... but my mind knows the problem is still there so i have to find a solution.


Right to narrow down the problem i have wifi unsecure, no firewall no wps nothing.. The Zyxel status page under "DHCP CLIENT LIST" i have the following 1) Appletv Connected via ethernet 2)laptop connected wifi 3)iphone1 connected wifi 4)iphone2 connected wifi. All items can access the internet no bother.

Now goto the wireless client list only thing listed is Laptop. ????????

Now if i plug the laptop in via ethernet appletv registers straight away with itunes...goto wifi it disconnects so on and so forth....

Eircom say to buy a third party router but i refuse as this should work its what suppose to happen plug your router and play.

Any ideas ?

jom1133

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Hey chaps, this does actually have a bit to do with ports. TCP port 3689 needs to be open for the AppleTV and iTunes libraries to be able to see each other.

(for more info on the AppleTV ports, have a look here; http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2463 )

Port forwarding on the router should allow this. How it's done for this model I'm not quite sure, but i'm gonna give ZyXEL a call tomorrow and I'll post up if I get any interesting info for you folks.

I get the impression this issue has come from Eircom being once bitten after their last netopia router's were so easy to crack by default. I get the impression they've told ZyXEL that this model is to be as secure as possible by default. (My own theory of course!)

Did you manage to get a resolution to this problem buddy? I've just asked a friend to get me apple tv in the states and am a bit anxious that i won't be able to use home sharing with this crap ZyXel modem from Eircom

jpt1980

I bought an Apple TV 2 in October and had these exact problems. I grudgingly bought an Apple Airport Extreme router for €169, it took three mins to set up and I was flying straight away. I know its an expensive option and it shouldn't be needed but at least you know it works.

brav

I had same problem with Eircom Zyxel router/modem, ATV, Apple Remote(on iphone) unable to see each other or other home sharing computer while on WIFI, if ATV is on LAN(which it is now) no problem, ATV can see every other device.

jaykay2

Hey. Just wondering if anyone has come across a solution for this problem? I just bought an Apple TV today and can't connect it to iTunes over Wi-Fi. Having just handed out 120 for the tv, i don't want to have to hand out any more because of this.

Surely Eircom can't just ignore this situation?

Bobadog

I'm having the same problem with eircom router so I decided to get a new one. Pc world recommended the Belkin n. I eventually set this up and low and behold home sharing worked on laptop and apple tv. Major problem, my wifi speed was terrible. I've now decided to return Belkin, anyone recommend any other router?

fr_ted

Having the same issue with opening a port.
Just going to shed to get hammer and nail to punch a port in the back of this zyxtel crap

Pricy... but cool hardware.
http://www.commsoft.ie/shop/4gr.php
when i win the gaa lotto this weekend I'll splash out

Johnboy1951

If it is a multicasting or other such setting issue over WIFI, you may be able to get at the setting in the modem using Telnet.

nickwilk

My solution was to use the zyxel solely as a modem (disable the wifi function on it), connect it via ethernet to an apple airport express router (80 euro). Lo an behold, now have a cool wireless music and home sharing network which works for different itunes and iphoto libraries and printers. Also dug out an older airport express to extend the wireless music to another room. It's so simple, it should work on the eircom router, but 80 euro was money well spent just to bypass all the eircom induced frustration.

fr_ted

got it sorted. I went into advanced -> remote management -> www.
I set the access status to wan and Lan. and he presto it works, I now can access lan from WIFI

The issue i was havin with the port forward was not an issue at all. it was a loopback problem .thanks to johnboy1951 for the tip as i could enable ip nat loopback on from the telnet. and bingo ....

BTW my earlier post

http://www.commsoft.ie/shop/4gr.php be warned this is not a DSL router.
its a 3G BB router

Johnboy1951

Glad to see you didn't have to resort to a hammer and nail

ajd1969

JPT1980 - I have having the same issues as others with the modem. I also have an airport extreme base station, which I used until recently with a Vodafone router. I just got the Eircom Zyxel modem and have been unable to set it up properly with the airport extreme. In your setup, have you set the airport extreme in bridge mode? I want to use the Zyxel modem as a modem only, and use the airport extreme as a DCHP server. This worked well with the Vodafone router and enabled all my apple devices (iMac, ATV1, ATV2, iPhone) to see each other - home sharing and airplay worked like a charm. However, I have not been able to figure out how to do this with the Zyxel DSL modem. I can set the airport extreme in bridge mode, but that results in the Zyxel modem assigning IP addresses to my devices, and doesn't seem to allow the apple devices to see each other on the LAN. Can you describe your setup? In particular, in the Internet tab in the airport extreme setup what options have you selected? Did you change any default settings on the Zyxel modem (other than disabling its wifi setting)?
Thanks