Port Forwarding on the SMART/RG non-functional, yet still charged $10 a month

Internet access discussion, including Fusion, IP Broadband, and Gigabit Fiber!
6 posts Page 1 of 1
by enoch » Thu Jun 11, 2020 4:57 pm
SO what's the deal with the SMART/RG and the monthly rental?

I have worked with Support a few times trying to get basic port forwarding working, and each time they just state "we don't support that functionality." My 2 other routers handle port forwarding just fine, yet I have to keep this router around, in a box, for support potential "fiber troubleshooting" or risk $75 an hour support costs if the Fiber experiences issues/truck roll.

Why?

If the Sonic router does not support port forwarding, nor can Sonic Support assist with the functionality of the device/feature, why must I be charged $10 a month for a brick? At $120 a year, it just seems silly.I'll risk the $75 per 1/2 hour truckroll to port forward UDP/TCP 2502-25016.

My $0.02

Enoch
by ngufra » Thu Jun 11, 2020 5:08 pm
I don't have anything sonic supplied apart from the ONT and i understand if i something goes wrong after the ONT it will be my problem.
You can consider that you are paying $10 a month for support service which includes a free residential gateway.
If you think it's not worth it, you can stop. Be glad you have the option to not take it.

It is weird that port forwarding is not working. i have also found that sonic was usually happy to assist even on things that are not officially supported.
Can you describe what you are trying to achieve and what you did and the result; maybe we can see what is wrong.
-Francois
by enoch » Thu Jun 11, 2020 5:31 pm
No problem!

I host a couple of game servers on my network. The ONT is fine naturally. However, attempting to forward the following ports on the SMART/RG fails multiple tests from inside the LAN and WAN:

UDP/TCP 27000-27037
UDP/TCP 2302-2320
UDP 4380

The host server naturally has a static IP forwarded to, as do most systems on my LAN. I adjust service settings for dynamic as needed, but Sonic rarely changes my dynamic IP on Fusion unless I reboot the ONT or another service is scheduled by OPS.

Interestingly, the SMART/RG router has multiple settings for port forwarding, as well as a plethora of other WAN settings that are not well explained in the GUI, manufacturers website, nor supported by Sonic Support. However, as soon as I swap over to 2 of my civilian Linksys routers, or my Cisco, I have no problems.

I am no super genius network God, but did allot of network administration over the years. The SMART/RG doesn't seem to support basic TCP/UDP forwarding, thus no good for my hosting needs.

I guess I keep it around as based on the "we can't support your Fusion line unless you have the SMART/RG router on your network" angle. My IW and everything is great, and was installed by awesome Sonic techs.

I actually just got an email from Billing threatening me that if I needed support for the Fusion line, it would be $75 for the 1st 30 min $25 for each additional 30 min if I return the SMART/RG. I understand that IW and other physical infrastructure issues can occur, but I guess keeping the SMART/RG is insurance? Just don't get it if the thing is a brick. I'm happy to pay for a truck roll if it comes to that.
by ngufra » Thu Jun 11, 2020 5:51 pm
I do not know how is the smart RG port forwarding configuration page.

Typically, you can specify
-tcp/upd or both
-port number (or ports range) on the WAN side
-local ip to forward to
-port number (or ports range or starting port) on the local ip
Instead of setting a static IP on the computer, i prefer to leave the computer in dhcp, and to tell the router to always assign the same ip to a specific mac address. this ensures i don't get multiple devices on the same IP.
Also, on fiber you cannot ask sonic for a static ip, what works well for me is to use no-ip dynamic dns service.
i have a small program running on one of the machines that periodically check the public ip and updates no-ip and they serve this ip with a short ttl. this ensure a reliable fqdn to my router.

Traffic inside the lan does not even get to the router. it would stop at the switch. If you cannot access one computer from the other on your lan on the same subnet, i suspect it's an issue with a firewall. try to temporarily disable it.

If you are happy with your non sonic-issued router, i would say use it but know that you are in charge or keeping it updated etc.
by enoch » Thu Jun 11, 2020 6:05 pm
I've tried using MAC as well, but the SMART/RG GUI does not allow that. My other routers can roll that way though, and I have used that config before. My static assignments make it easier, but, yeah using MAC might be better. I could try that on my other routers, but the SMART/RG certainly can't do that, or I am missing something in that config.

Thanks for the advice! Ill check that idea.

Also, I curious about the ttl usage. Got a link that I could look into? I like the idea of using MAC IP assignment, thats a nice method on a home LAN dude! Not sure why I didn't think of that!

Still the SMART/RG I certainly don't think will jive with that since it can't do basic TCP/UDP static routes :(
by ngufra » Thu Jun 11, 2020 6:23 pm
if you set static ip in a device, if you use 192.168.0/24, use e.g. 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.10 for your static allocation, and tell the router to do dhcp from 192.168.0.11.

to ensure i have a reliable reference to my router from the internet, i use https://www.noip.com/
you create an account, select a name, and install a small program on one machine, this way dns requests for youraccount.no-ip.com will return the current public ip of your router.
The short TTL ensures that it is not cached too long by other dns servers in case the ip changes.
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