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

DECEiFER

TheFatHombre wrote: »

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

On the EPC, I'd just knock off the firewalls in the "Security" menu and see if that helps. There's no NAT type setting in the EPC, however. When in bridge mode, can you connect the PC directly via Ethernet to the EPC and get Internet? And when you're behind the router, can you access the EPC via 192.168.100.1 when the EPC is in bridge mode?

TheFatHombre

TheFatHombre wrote: »

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

What devices do you have attached directly to the Cisco?

TheFatHombre

I have my xbox one directed through Ethernet, and a few devices such as laptop and iphone connect through wireless, would it be anything to do with the ports?? or static ip?? i read somewhere else it could be with that?? i appreciate the help

TheFatHombre

TheFatHombre wrote: »

I have my xbox one directed through Ethernet, and a few devices such as laptop and iphone connect through wireless, would it be anything to do with the ports?? or static ip?? i read somewhere else it could be with that?? i appreciate the help

You probably shouldn't be using bridge mode so. You'd only use bridge if you had another router connected to the Cisco. You'd be completely disabling your firewall and leaving your devices out in the open otherwise. Also, only three devices could go online at one time, hence why you're losing connectivity.
Is there a UPnP option on your Cisco? If so, try enabling that.

DECEiFER

TheFatHombre wrote: »

I have my xbox one directed through Ethernet, and a few devices such as laptop and iphone connect through wireless, would it be anything to do with the ports?? or static ip?? i read somewhere else it could be with that?? i appreciate the help

The EPC3925 is not supposed to be very good with consoles. If you have the firewalls switched off like I said and UPnP switched on, there's no reason why it wouldn't work only that the device is a load of crap - which we know it is.

This is why if you have a better standalone router, you should use it with the EPC in bridge mode. We'd need more details about what's going on in order to help you. Can you try the two things I asked in my previous post and let us know?

DECEiFER

Karsini wrote: »

You probably shouldn't be using bridge mode so. You'd only use bridge if you had another router connected to the Cisco. You'd be completely disabling your firewall and leaving your devices out in the open otherwise. Also, only three devices could go online at one time, hence why you're losing connectivity.
Is there a UPnP option on your Cisco? If so, try enabling that.

Absolutely, I assumed you have a standalone router in addition to the EPC. If you don't have one, forget about bridge mode. I'd recommend you do get one if you don't, however.

TheFatHombre

I tried connecting directly with Ethernet when in bridge mode but it wont connect, as for turning of firewall security I done that aswell and still no luck:(.. my UPnP is enabled, what does DHCP stand for?? and would I be better of creating a static IP so that my xbox is not always finding new IP's when I go online??

TheFatHombre

no all i have is the epc modem, It worked on xbox 360 my nat type was open on there but ever since i got the xbox one its been moderate

DECEiFER

Yeah they're crap routers. The only reason you'd need a static IP is if you're forwarding ports for the device connected to it. DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, and it's basically a server inside the router that automatically leases IP addresses to clients (devices). ISPs use them to assign public IPs to clients also. You don't need to get into it really. AFAIK, there is no way to set the NAT type on the EPC3925. On my (slightly aging) Netgear WNDR3700 there is such an option and I use that router with my EPC in bridge mode. I wouldn't have it any other way! So I'd recommend you get yourself a nice standalone router for no less than €80. If you need help shopping for one, let us know and we'll do our best.

In the meantime, however, you can try one thing but I wouldn't recommend it as a permanent solution. In the EPC, assign the Xbox One a static IP and stick that IP into the DMZ. Let's see if that makes a difference. The DMZ stands for De-Militarized Zone and it's a common networking term to describe the process of allowing all traffic through to/from a specific LAN IP address without blocking it. It's not secure, so again, if it does solve your issue, I wouldn't rely on it permanently.

TheFatHombre

when im in the epc menu were do i go i dont see any options for xbox there is an application and gaming section?

TheFatHombre

Ohh i think i have it, it says dmz hosting? would that be it, what ip will i put in??, sorry for been a noob ha

DECEiFER

TheFatHombre wrote: »

when im in the epc menu were do i go i dont see any options for xbox there is an application and gaming section?

The DMZ option is in that section, yeah. You still need to give the Xbox One a static IP first and put that exact IP into the DMZ box. It may or may not solve the issue, but it's worth a try. Are you okay to assign the Xbox a static IP?

TheFatHombre

ye i will give it ago how will i give it a static ip?

DECEiFER

TheFatHombre wrote: »

ye i will give it ago how will i give it a static ip?

There are a couple of ways. You can do it either from the EPC or from the Xbox. I'll go through the EPC method as I'm not familiar at all with the Xbox One (I still have a 360 and but I'm really a PC [master race] gamer at heart). I'm not in front of a EPC in router mode at the moment so I'll do my best to describe it.



That's the page you need to be on and you go into "Pre-assigned DHCP IP Addresses." A window will pop up. Your Xbox should be connected at this stage. You can assign it an IP address by the Xbox's MAC address within the DHCP range, which by default is anything from 192.168.1.10 onward. When whatever static IP address you assign is the one you stick into the DMZ. The part I'm foggy on is when you go into "Pre-assigned DHCP IP Addresses" and whether you have to get the MAC address for the Xbox manually or if it shows it there, so if you want help on that, screenshot that window and post it here.

P.S. That screenshot above shows DHCP disabled. Ignore that. It's just for illustration purposes.

PixelTrawler

Anyone recommend a good solid ac router to get to bridge my 3925?

DECEiFER

PixelTrawler wrote: »

Anyone recommend a good solid ac router to get to bridge my 3925?

What kind of a budget were you thinking of?

PixelTrawler

Good question. Under 200. Under 150 even better. House is a 4 bed semi, so good range for that and solid ac and n/g speeds as ive a mix of devices in the house.

DECEiFER

PixelTrawler wrote: »

Good question. Under 200. Under 150 even better. House is a 4 bed semi, so good range for that and solid ac and n/g speeds as ive a mix of devices in the house.

Perfectly doable. AC devices will connect via 5GHz while N devices can use either 5GHz or 2.4GHz and G devices can use 2.4GHz only. So your G devices won't use the same frequency as your AC devices, which is obviously a good thing.

I would suggest looking at AC devices from Netgear, ASUS, or Linksys. If you want to head to Amazon or wherever you prefer to shop online and find some devices from those manufacturers within your budget, we can help you make a decision. I won't have time until tomorrow to do that so I'm suggesting you go ahead and do that to speed things up.

PixelTrawler

Thanks very much, will do. No rush, just something ive been meaning to do for a while. Ill post a few options tomorrow. In general are tp-link any good or do you get what you pay for?

DECEiFER

PixelTrawler wrote: »

Thanks very much, will do. No rush, just something ive been meaning to do for a while. Ill post a few options tomorrow. In general are tp-link any good or do you get what you pay for?

I've never been a fan but I must admit that I'm ignorant on their current consumer product line. I used to find them crap back in the late '00s along with Belkin. But that's me and it's a while ago now at this stage. Anyone else can jump in and throw some suggestions out.

DECEiFER

Also like with anything if you go cheap you get cheap but that's not to say that there aren't crap options in the higher-end tiers. €150 would get you something pretty decent and €200 likely even more. So yeah, in general, you do get what you pay for. I'd always say don't go lower than €80 but I still feel that going over €100 is best. That said, I also believe that if you went for something for €80 it'd still beat the EPC3925 (although I guesstimate that you'd need to be looking at 802.11n to get anything all-round decent at that price - as there's more to consider than just the wireless speeds).

PixelTrawler

A friend just got himself an Asus 68U

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-DSL-AC68U-Dual-Band-Wireless-Gigabit/dp/B00O27PHGY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1447096051&sr=8-2&keywords=asus+68u

As usual amazon its hard to know what to think as theres always people who will have an issue and give it one star... he only has it a week so cant give much of a review yet

Another option - although this is getting outside what I want to spend on a router, especially since VM/UPC are going to be rolling out their own new wifi router "soon"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linksys-WRT1900AC-Gigabit-Processor-Ethernet/dp/B00IGL3L2E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447096235&sr=8-1&keywords=linksys+1900

DECEiFER

PixelTrawler wrote: »

A friend just got himself an Asus 68U

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-DSL-AC68U-Dual-Band-Wireless-Gigabit/dp/B00O27PHGY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1447096051&sr=8-2&keywords=asus+68u

As usual amazon its hard to know what to think as theres always people who will have an issue and give it one star... he only has it a week so cant give much of a review yet

Another option - although this is getting outside what I want to spend on a router, especially since VM/UPC are going to be rolling out their own new wifi router "soon"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linksys-WRT1900AC-Gigabit-Processor-Ethernet/dp/B00IGL3L2E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447096235&sr=8-1&keywords=linksys+1900

Stay clear of that particular AC68U! It's a DSL model. You want this one (prefixed with RT and not DSL):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-AC68U-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-SharePort/dp/B00G323PG0

However, this one is only slightly more expensive and comes with an additional antenna and AC2400 instead of AC1900:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-AC87U-Dual-Band-Gigabit-Wireless/dp/B00NQY3WO8/

PixelTrawler

DECEiFER wrote: »

Stay clear of that particular AC68U! It's a DSL model. You want this one (prefixed with RT and not DSL):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-AC68U-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-SharePort/dp/B00G323PG0

However, this one is only slightly more expensive and comes with an additional antenna and AC2400 instead of AC1900:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-AC87U-Dual-Band-Gigabit-Wireless/dp/B00NQY3WO8/

Ha, I hadn't spotted I linked the dsl version! Good spot. I can see the asus routers do well in "top 10" roundups
I can also see it gets some horrible feedback on amazon. 50 one star reviews... mind you every router on amazon ive looked at have a load of one star reviews.
At least amazon are good for returns...

DECEiFER

PixelTrawler wrote: »

Ha, I hadn't spotted I linked the dsl version! Good spot. I can see the asus routers do well in "top 10" roundups

Yeah, they're very good. I'll be considering one for my next purchase but I will also be looking to Netgear and Linksys and checking both written and YouTube reviews, comparisons, etc. They're seriously good according to the research I've done so far on them and they are consistently at or near the top. And it doesn't hurt that they look pretty good!

DECEiFER

I'd go with the AC87U if you can stretch another €10 or so. I realize it brings you above the €200 mark but with such a small difference in price between it and the AC68U, it might not hurt the bank balance too much, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

BUT, that said, give this a read:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2597549/asus-rt-ac87u-wi-fi-router-review-yes-it-s-fast.html

I've skimmed through it and it might not be as black and white as one being all-round better than the other.

Let us know if you go for one of these or something else (like, perhaps, a Netgear R7500 Nighthawk x4 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-R7500-100UKS-Nighthawk-Wireless-Beamforming/dp/B00N2PPFDM as a possible suggestion - but it's more expensive again, so it's maybe not an option).

ED E

Its worth noting that if you're on a budget a good wireless N is plenty (115Mb w/ phone, 200Mb w/ Laptop).

Eg: Netgear

Not saying its the best option, but I'd rather a decent router and N than a poor router and AC (C20i for example).

Worth considering.

DECEiFER

ED E wrote: »

Its worth noting that if you're on a budget a good wireless N is plenty (115Mb w/ phone, 200Mb w/ Laptop).

Eg: Netgear

Not saying its the best option, but I'd rather a decent router and N than a poor router and AC (C20i for example).

Worth considering.

At that price point you'd be better off with N but looking at the budget here, there's room for both good quality and AC.

illingworth22

After spending the last few days reading up on VM internet I would like to ask a few questions re Bridging.....

1) If I bridge (not sure exactly the reasons are, other than being able to use an additional Router) my Cisco Cable Modem can I simply attach my Dual Band Router?

2) Would I be able to set up port forwarding and have access to my internal network still? I also have Rako automated lighting and I am keen to see if I can get this working via the Internet


I have purchased the TP Link Acher C9 (http://www.tp-link.us/products/details/cat-9_Archer-C9.html) Router is it just a case of setting up bridging and plugging the C9 into the current Cisco Modem? ................Or do I really need to Bridge?

I have a basic understanding but I don't want to get in a pickle and have no service and please tell me to leave well alone if you think my questions are a little stupid....

ED E

Simply:
No Bridging = Better wifi, same routing(Firewall, port forwards, poss performance issues)
Bridging = Better wifi AND better routing

Some of us find VMs kit likes to fall over(crash) when you have too many connections simultaneously or do certain intensive things. Using our own routers solves this. I also see slightly lower latency which is a nice plus.

The better routing control allows you to add forwards or rules to your hearts content. Want QoS? Cool. Need filtered keywords? Grand. Multiple subnets? Done.

So either way its better, but the more "work" of bridging can give you a better setup if you have the need of it.