UPC Cisco EPC3925: Enabling True Bridge Mode - A Simple How-to Guide

ThisRegard

Karsini wrote: »

I've also encountered funny issues in the field with double NAT, such as not being able to use VPNs on double NAT'ted F1000s or even one case where a client's double NAT connection was dropping constantly until we bridged it. When it comes to IT I'm a purist, I always try to do things properly.

I connect to 3 different VPNs using this method with no issues (on the Technicolour to be fair). Might be all down to how they're set up and their type, stopped using Ciscos a while ago so these are via F5.

ThisRegard

ThisRegard wrote: »

I connect to 3 different VPNs using this method with no issues (on the Technicolour to be fare). Might be all down to how they're set up and their type, stopped using Ciscos a while ago so these are via F5.

In my case it was with Sonicwalls on the Eircom F1000.

The IP passthrough option seems to be missing from the TC7200, I would have accepted that as a workaround if I had it.

DECEiFER

Karsini wrote: »

In my case it was with Sonicwalls on the Eircom F1000.

The IP passthrough option seems to be missing from the TC7200, I would have accepted that as a workaround if I had it.

The thing is, I can't live with that. It'd be fine if we changed to Eir and got a max up to of 100Mbps. For me it's the psychology of knowing that I can get 240Mb except when using IP Pass-through and that would always be at the back of my head, nagging at me. Maybe I'm a special case?! Anyway, I'm not going to accept it and will be pressing for bridge mode for the next week or two. Then, if possible, I might just move on. A big obstacle for me is that I keep my router upstairs and I'm wired into it. The phone socket is downstairs in the hallway. I'd need to either wire it upstairs myself or have Eir do it (so long as they don't charge). That's my only reason for hesitating.

In the meantime I am using DMZ mode by default to make sure I get most of my throughput and will use IP Pass-through when the need arises. Again, this isn't a suitable arrangement in the long-run.

I called in again today - don't worry, I was perfectly civilized but forceful on the issue - and spoke to someone who wasn't Irish, so it's possible that it was an Asian call center, and I'm not 100% sure that she understood my explanation and certainly didn't have any answers for me. She did, however, say that she switched my modem to bridge mode. I'm not at home to verify this and wasn't planning on making my way home until 10pm tonight (long day ahead!). If it's true, then the router will need to be reconfigured again, and I have housemates who will be wondering where their internet is gone when they're home after 5 or so. However, I suspect that she's wrong and that it's still in router mode because I can still ping my IP assigned when I was in router mode last night but not the IP I was assigned in bridge mode and when using IP Pass-through, which wouldn't have changed by now due to the long lease times. I intended on leaving a PC on at home for remote access but completely forgot before leaving the house this morning. But I'm pretty certain nothing has changed based on the pings.

I will call back soon and see if I can speak to someone based in the Limerick call center. The funny thing is, the organization I'm with is based right behind that building and we're VM business customers - rockin' an EPC3925 with a special firmware flashed to natively put it in bridge mode (got it flashed upon request days after we signed up), which makes it accessible through the public gateway IP internally (static IP assignment), and not through 192.168.100.1.

DECEiFER

DECEiFER wrote: »

I will call back soon and see if I can speak to someone based in the Limerick call center. The funny thing is, the organization I'm with is based right behind that building and we're VM business customers - rockin' an EPC3925 with a special firmware flashed to natively put it in bridge mode (got it flashed upon request days after we signed up), which makes it accessible through the public gateway IP internally (static IP assignment), and not through 192.168.100.1.

I think I missed the bit about the speed drop, oops. Groggy early morning head on me!

Yeah I talked to someone in VM Business the day after the change was done; after I told my boss and he e-mailed them. I was told that bridge mode is not guaranteed on residential connections and they advised me to move to the business package. Not really something I want to do though.

One of the guys in work told me I'd be mad to leave VM over this. Not really sure I think that, myself.

Never knew about accessing the VM-bridged Cisco via the gateway IP, cheers for that!

DECEiFER

Karsini wrote: »

I think I missed the bit about the speed drop, oops. Groggy early morning head on me!

Yeah I talked to someone in VM Business the day after the change was done; after I told my boss and he e-mailed them. I was told that bridge mode is not guaranteed on residential connections and they advised me to move to the business package. Not really something I want to do though.

One of the guys in work told me I'd be mad to leave VM over this. Not really sure I think that, myself.

Never knew about accessing the VM-bridged Cisco via the gateway IP, cheers for that!

Business accounts are expensive and you're paying for extras that you don't need, and because they know they'll get the money from businesses. They're also competitive when comparing to the other ISPs so it's cha-ching for them.

You wouldn't be mad to leave. Overall the service is good but so long as your phone line isn't in bad shape and you're near a cabinet, you'd be fine with VDSL. And again, even though there's a speed drop, it's not the same thing as when you can get 240Mb using bridge/router mode without IP Pass-through. There'd always be that nagging feeling that you're under-utilizing what you've been given.

If you have a business account or know someone who does and they haven't availed of the special firmware, tell them to get on to business tech support and they'll be able to flash it there and then for you, while you're on the phone. They told me at the time that using normal bridge mode was buggy (though I failed to see how) and that the special firmware was more optimal. So I let them go ahead. They wouldn't do this for residential customers, though. It was also at the same time that they gave me the static IP assignment so I went through the setup of the router with them (static IP setting using the public gateway IP also - which doesn't end with a .1 but instead one instead digit down from the IP we have).

Yeah I set up the UPC connection in work at the time. I phoned them to enquire about a static IP and they could see that I had manually bridged the Cisco via the web UI. They told me it wasn't stable and that they could do it instead. So I just let them at it.

You're right though, I don't need the business extras.

DECEiFER

Karsini wrote: »

Yeah I set up the UPC connection in work at the time. I phoned them to enquire about a static IP and they could see that I had manually bridged the Cisco via the web UI. They told me it wasn't stable and that they could do it instead. So I just let them at it.

You're right though, I don't need the business extras.

Aside from the current issues, it was never unstable for me. I said that to the guy and he didn't have any specifics to give me. I figured I'd take advantage of what was on offer, seeing as we're paying for it.

They tend to go a step or two further for business customers. We needed them to do a bit of work to get the cable running along a wall behind our building (about 5 meters or so) into our building which wasn't cabled before we moved in. I know it's only 5 meters but they had to get the Sierra crew in to split the cable, duct it under the pavement and in through the exterior wall of our building. They waived our install fee, too, under the condition that we sign up for three years and take a 100Mb or higher package (100Mb was what we had our eye on so it was fine by us). They wouldn't go so such an effort for a residential customer.

The funny thing is, the cable on the wall behind our building is in full view and someone could come over with a scissors and cut it at any time! Surrounding the grounds we're on is a rough enough area so I'm shocked it hasn't happened yet!

We're paying €60 ex. VAT for 100/10 (about €73 inc. VAT) and we don't have a call package so we're paying for each call on top of that. The call packages are expensive enough and don't offer a hell of a lot for what you'd be paying. We're a non-profit so we're not taking in enough to cover extras like that, at least not at the moment.

Alun

Panic's over guys ... Brian has confirmed on the Talk to ... thread that it was an unintentional side-effect of other changes and will be reinstated.

DECEiFER

Alun wrote: »

Panic's over guys ... Brian has confirmed on the Talk to ... thread that it was an unintentional side-effect of other changes and will be reinstated.

Holy shiii...! Brilliant. Hopefully it'll be sorted soon but to see that admission is somewhat reassuring but taken with slight skepticism just in case the said changes won't work with bridge mode no matter what they try. I know, I'm one to bring a downer on things but I'm the type of guy to hope for the best but not to get too hopeful while expecting the worst, until shown otherwise. It's a philosophy to help avoid taking the maximum hit on the disappointments in life!

Here's the post Alun was referring to:
http://www.boards.ie/ttfpost/97599745

Vikings

Looks like I'll just hang on until that's sorted and pick up my new modem then rather than rush into it - never know when that fix will arrive.

DECEiFER

It occurs to me that we've only got so long left with our 3925s because we're going to want the latest and greatest that DOCSIS 3.1 offers and we'll have to get the new Connect Box for that. With no specs released for it, we don't know if it will allow bridging at all, or if it will in the UK and not here, etc., etc.

dirtonth

Yes I confirm my Bridge Mode is holding as well again. I didn't have time to try it yesterday but I changed the mode today and it the Cisco EPC3925 held the configuration this time without rebooting and going back to Router Mode. So happy to be again in control of the Public IP.

Working very well on a MikroTik with GiG ports!

Cuddlesworth

dirtonth wrote: »

Yes I confirm my Bridge Mode is holding as well again. I didn't have time to try it yesterday but I changed the mode today and it the Cisco EPC3925 held the configuration this time without rebooting and going back to Router Mode. So happy to be again in control of the Public IP.

Working very well on a MikroTik with GiG ports!

Seems like it, restarted Monday due to lockup and realized it was double Nat when my VPN tanked. Moved it back to bridge there and it retained it.

DECEiFER

New update from Brian at VM - which supports people's success in bridging again:
http://www.boards.ie/ttfpost/97611467

Though he did say it was in testing so you have to wonder if it will to and fro. At least it's progress and it's happened quickly so far.

degsie

Ok, might be a silly question... is there a quick way to verify bridging on a 3925 without directly connecting into it with a pc?

DECEiFER

degsie wrote: »

Ok, might be a silly question... is there a quick way to verify bridging on a 3925 without directly connecting into it with a pc?

Yeah, absolutely. Put it in bridge mode and if you can access it via 192.168.100.1 with your router set up properly behind it, great success!

degsie

DECEiFER wrote: »

Yeah, absolutely. Put it in bridge mode and if you can access it via 192.168.100.1 with your router set up properly behind it, great success!

Thanks, never occurred to me to just put put the 192.168.100.1 ip into the browser...happily my cisco is still bridged

DECEiFER

Mine's been working consistently since the night of the 4th (the day that Brian announced the fix was in place). Here's hoping it stays that way and I hope VM decide to open up the bridge options via the GUI on the other modems like the Technicolor, etc.

ThisRegard

The GUI option doesn't work on the Technicolor. I was hoping too that it would be corrected after the reinstatement but you still have to jump through hoops to get it working.

DECEiFER

It seems as if they're prepared to allow bridging without encouraging it. If they didn't break it unintentionally, contrary to what we were told, then our outrage was certainly was what made them reconsider; perhaps they didn't see it being a big of an issue with only a few whingers to contend with. That being the case, they were wrong, and boy did we whinge! So if all that is true, they would be very reluctant to put it in plain sight (with an exception being the EPC3925). I still think this Wi-Free nonsense is what has them against bridging. That and they stupidly think that the bridgers will inundate them with support calls. All the more reason to encourage it as an unsupported feature so they can plug their extortionate €2/min premium helpline to help anyone in difficulty who doesn't decide to post here! Overall, it's hard to know what way they're thinking about it and all the theories while plausible just make no sense, but then, that's what happens when a suit without any experience decides things like this.

ThisRegard

It's in plain sight on the Technicolor, just doesn't work as it should.

I can see why they don't want to support it. It's a simple matter for them putting it in bridge mode but the problems begin after that when there's such a variety of equipment bridging to their modem so you'd have people complaining about their internet quality when Virgin are only passing data back and forth.

The wifi free can be opted out of anyway so I don't see that as being too big an issue.

DECEiFER

ThisRegard wrote: »

It's in plain sight on the Technicolor, just doesn't work as it should.

I can see why they don't want to support it. It's a simple matter for them putting it in bridge mode but the problems begin after that when there's such a variety of equipment bridging to their modem so you'd have people complaining about their internet quality when Virgin are only passing data back and forth.

The wifi free can be opted out of anyway so I don't see that as being too big an issue.

I didn't know they put it in the menu of the Techicolor. Last I used one it wasn't there.

Most folks bridging would have some clue as to what's going on or have the sense to stick it back into router mode if the cable router doesn't take to it. They also tell anyone with issues, such as port forwarding, to call their premium line, which would be a money-maker for them if they get calls about bridging.

Most folks won't bridge and that's fine. Win-win for them and us. Also, most folks won't know how to opt-out of Wi-Free or know it's there in the first place. The fact that it's not opt-in means they're aggressively pushing it - similar to how Microsoft is aggressively pushing Windows 10. I've jumped on it but apparently those holding out will have to opt out in time or they upgrade will be forced onto them? It's preying on ignorance, really.

You also have to factor in that VM in the UK allow and instruct customers how to bridge. They did the same with the Technicolor in The Netherlands - from the menu.

ThisRegard

Actually, hold on, I may be confusing my modems! It's there on one of the screens but I don't think it can be got to from a menu option, it's hidden. Apologies.

redman

Do you still need to edit the script on the 3925 as per the first page of this post to enable Bridging or do you just disable the other features and click enable bridge?

thanks
Redman

DECEiFER

redman wrote: »

Do you still need to edit the script on the 3925 as per the first page of this post to enable Bridging or do you just disable the other features and click enable bridge?

thanks
Redman

No, you shouldn't need to HTML inject anymore but there are a few modems that still require it, I gather, from some posters down through the last few years. Once the modem is fully booted, you can switch to bridge mode from the Management page and it'll be fine. Wireless works in bridge so I'd disable that either before or after you go into bridge mode (the Wireless menu is still available in bridge mode).

TheFatHombre

can anyone give me some instructions on how to open my nat type its on moderate, my modem is the cisco epc3295.

degsie

TheFatHombre wrote: »

can anyone give me some instructions on how to open my nat type its on moderate, my modem is the cisco epc3295.

Is it bridged?

TheFatHombre

when i try and bridge it, my connection just stops altogether and i cant even get online .. Connection mode: DHCP, Working mode: Router Mode thats what it says

DECEiFER

TheFatHombre wrote: »

when i try and bridge it, my connection just stops altogether and i cant even get online .. Connection mode: DHCP, Working mode: Router Mode thats what it says

Are you looking to use a standalone cable router? If so, you need to change the working mode from Router to Bridged Only and connect your router via its WAN port up to one of the the EPC3925's LAN ports.

TheFatHombre

yes but when i change it to bridged only, i cant connect at all, is there a simple way of changing the nat type im not well versed in electrical devices