IP address questions
 

Hi! I am having problems with my modem & the ports, whereas I cannot participate in online gaming or use any torrent client as the modem has NAT mode enabled, and no matter what port I try to use, i get the same problem.

Just spoken to TS, and they said I need to fork out on £10 for a fixed IP address, and this will surely solve the problem.......

The thing is, in the modem config pages, there is nothing at all in the way of Port Forwarding options, the status says NAT mode enabled, but no option to turn it off, can ANYONE help me plase?

Re: IP address questions
 

AFAIK, Virgin don't offer fixed IPs on their residential services. Also, a fixed IP will make no difference at all if you aren't running a server. If you are, it just makes your server easier to find.

Also. AFAIK, Virgin's modems don't do NAT.

Re: IP address questions
 

Sorry Stuart, I forgot to mention its the 10Mb business broadband package!

Damn modem, why couldnt they enhance the built-in webserver to include port forwarding & NAT options as routers do

Re: IP address questions
 

Fair enough. The comment about the fixed IP being unlikely to make a difference still applies though.


Which modem is it?

Re: IP address questions
 

Its the NTL: branded 2050, its just like the new VM 255's but with an added USB port.

Tech Support seemed to think that a static IP address would be the ticket, as a while ago he helped out a cyber cafe by charging them the 1-off £10 payment for a fixed IP address, and aparently it worked, but Im not convinced myself...

Re: IP address questions
 

Unless NTL route their fixed IPs differently (and I am pretty sure they don't), a fixed IP will make no difference.

Also, the resdential NTL 250 (which is the 255 with USB port) doesn't do NAT, or have a firewall. Not too sure if the business one does.

Re: IP address questions
 

Hold on a few mins & i will get some screenies of the config pages!

Re: IP address questions
 

Pics attatched :)

Re: IP address questions
 

Well, I did say I wasn't too sure.

Re: IP address questions
 

If anywhere it'd be in the firewall section.

Re: IP address questions
 

Unfortunately not, the only options are here:



EDIT:

I have tinkered around with all options in the settings, but it dont help, would I need to speak to TS again to see if the next agent has a clue?

Re: IP address questions
 

Are you using USB or Ethernet connection ?
Presumably you're using the 192.168.0.x/24 internally ?

Does "Protection against incoming connection requests on routed subnet" option make any difference ? (I'm guessing not - but worth asking.)

Re: IP address questions
 

I am using the Ethernet connection mate & yes your right, it does use the 192.168.0.x ip address.

Nope, no difference at all, when I first discovered this issue, I did try unticking everything, after all, I have a firewall on my laptop that has never let me down, but i really do not know, dont the business side have a 6hr SLA or something? after all, thats part of the reason this package is so expensive!

Re: IP address questions
 

I'd resort to calling them !!!

This page is very old ... but does show NTL Business modem (I appreciate not the same model as yours.) having a forwarding option ...
http://www.chetnet.co.uk/articles/in...v2&id=108&c=19

I'm run out of usefulness I'm afraid.

Good luck

Re: IP address questions
 

No worries and thanks for taking the time to try and help!

Looks like I shall have to call them up again (hopefully I will find someone that knows what they are doing & talking about there!)

Thanks again :)

Re: IP address questions
 

NTL/Telewest BB static IP's are not true static ones, they are fixed DHCP ones. My understanding of it is that when you pay your £10, the IP numbers are assigned to your account and the modem is sent a config file that switches off NAT and tells it how many IPs you're allowed to use. The IP's are assigned by directly connecting the device you want the IP number to the internet and it's MAC address is registered in their DHCP tables as being permanently assigned that IP number. That IP is then automatically assigned to that MAC address whenever it's connected to the network (you still have to set the machine to dynamically assigned IP address it will just be given the same one all the time).

It's frankly a really crap way of doing it and causes all sorts of problems if, like me you're running multiple machines as each one needs to be firewalled. Normally, I'd use a single linux box running stateful packet inspection iptables and sit the other boxes behind it, however on the NTL/Telewest system this wont work as the MAC address of the firewall is the only one their system sees and therefore it only assigns the one address and you are left resorting back to NAT with internal IP's.

The support team's only solution to this is to suggest plug the modem into a switch and plug the machines into the switch. They didn't have an answer when I pointed out the obvious "but then they are not protected in any way" fact.

My solution is three seperate firewalls, which is a bit excessive but allows me to use three of the IP's as I actually want to. I have the modem into a switch, three linux firewalls into that same switch, two of them running webservers, then behind each of those I have a windows mail server. The third one has my LAN sitting behind it. Means that currently I only use 3 of my assigned IP addresses but I have future plans for possibly more which will use the others.

By the way, if you pay the £10 one off fee, make sure you ask for a block of 5 IP numbers if you have use for them otherwise they will only assign you one.

HTH

Ian

Edit:

Screenshot of my config screen below, as you can see, mine is considerably different to yours (no NAT/Firewall/Forwarding etc options) and has the line "Maximum number of CPEs" which is the number of IP's the modem (also an NTL 2050) can use consecutively.

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

Re: IP address questions
 

Thanks 4 that Ian, thats the most sence I've recieved in this matter so far :D:D

When I sign up for this, do they need the £10 payment there & then, or will it just be added to the next bill?

Re: IP address questions
 

Dunno to be honest, I did mine when I first signed up for it so it all came out at once.

Re: IP address questions
 

Business Sales said that the £10 fixed IP charge would be added to the installation fee, though no idea if the fee is payable up front or it goes on the first bill.

Kymmy

Re: IP address questions
 

No worries, be interested to find out how you get on :)

Re: IP address questions
 

Just got the fixed IP addresses sorted out so I thought I would post an update on how it went.

The £10 1-off charge for the fixed IP Addresses is added onto the bill, so dont need to be paid over the phone, which was a relief!


I had to have the cable modem de-registered & re-registered by NTL:Telewest TS on my account again as the new ip address I was given had previously been blocked from most of the forums I visit, so I needed to call them up again to get it sorted out.

I now have a 5 block of IP fixed IP addresses I can use (dont really know how Im gonna use em all as I use a wireless router between cable modem and my machines)

So all in all, it was sucessfull and, for the first time since I had this line installed, I have a username & password, AND I have the link to goto to check on the status of my account, including setting up email accounts, domain names etc..


A huge thanks to everyone that has replied to this thread, and I hope that now if anyone has problems with blocked ports & port forwarding on business broadband that now they know how to resolve it!

Re: IP address questions
 

I feel you've been misled by TS here into paying for a service you dont need.

What you should have had them do was switch the NAT mode on your cable modem off, so that it behaves like a regular domestic modem does. Then, on the wireless router you are using, all you needed to do was configure "port fowarding" so that whatever ports that torrent/games try to use are forwarded directly to your machine. In the case of BitTorrent, this means forwarding port 6881. Pretty much any decent router does this.

A set of fixed IPs for your machines WILL do the job, but it's an unneccesary cost.

The business modem's a bit useless if it doesn't allow port forwarding to be configured though! I think the idea is that the business modem also functions partially as a router, and is meant to be connected to a switch to serve multiple machines.

I must confess, I am wondering why you are using the business modem for what sounds like domestic use?

Re: IP address questions
 

Looking at their site, it sounds the TehTech is on an account with a managed connection. So, NTL:Telewest business actually take the burden of managing the router away from the business. Theoretically this is a good idea. A lot of businesses have a networked broadband connection, and no staff with the technical knowledge required to manage that network. That, combined with the fact that if a Business network is compromised, it can bankrupt the business. In this case, it would be better the leave the management of the router to someone who *should* know what they are doing.

As for why he is using a business modem, I suspect the answer is that you can, in thoery, get better service on a business connection (faster response in the event of a failure for instance).

Re: IP address questions
 

Because, like StuartC says, I am not using it for any business, I just want the speeds I am being charged for WITHOUT the silly STM nonesence!

And to be honest, the last few weeks it has been spot on, no matter what day or night, I get damn near the full 10Mb!

I did a speedtest (NOTE: not JUST a speedtest site, but also multiple downloads to confirm what the speedtest sites say) on the residential 20Mb broadband, I get a maximum of 3.5Mb during the day, dropping to nearly 1Mb during peak times, did the same tests with my 10Mb business broadband, bang on 10Mb, downloading at a maximum of 1.29MegaBytes a second, this I class as getting what I am being charged & paying for!


I just did another speedtest, and considering that I am doing a bit of down&uploading on my other desktop PC, this is the results I got:
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2008/02/54.png

Normally my pings are never higher than the lower 20's at most, with a high majority of them being around 15-19ms.

So all in all, is paying an extra £10 a month more than the 20Mb for 10Mb worth it? to me the answer is YES, and so far I cannot fault the speeds, can max out my connection anytime of the day or night, and all this is WITH going through a wireless router!

Bring on the 20Mb upgrade I say, totally happy with NTL:Telewest Business Broadband!! (shame residential bb dont follow suit!)

Re: IP address questions
 

OK, so basically you're on the business package so that you get an SLA (service level agreement). That's fair enough :) I honestly havent had an issue with my 4Mbit connection with regards to bandwidth, but it does seem to depend where you live. Mine is shared out to the whole family (4 of us!!), including a bandwidth hungry girlfriend and step son :)

But - what I would have asked them to do, which would have been cheaper and less hassle for you, is to assign you ONE IP, and disable NAT on your modem. This would then behave identically to a domestic connection, and you could configure your wireless router in exactly the same way as you would for a domestic connection - using port forwarding on the router to get BitTorrent and your games working.

Re: IP address questions
 

Oh trust me Jaycee, this is what I tried first, the response at TS; Im sorry sir, i understand that you cannot access the internet... NO, my ports are being blocked; So you require a new modem? NO!!! my ports are being blocked by you, can you please turn NAT mode OFF; Im sorry sir, I cannot understand what you are saying; Dont worry, I'll speak to some1 with half a brain cell, so I called up retentions as I really DID wanna leave, I mean I STILL havent recieved any sort of welcome letter or pack with user details & email addresses on, no Literature at all, such as the welcome pack you get with normal services, so it was retentions that put me forward, as usual, Indian Tech support -10!

Re: IP address questions
 

I've asked this question in a few places but can;t seem to get an answer, hopefully the people within this thread can give me an answer.

Are the 5 IP's sequential???

Also once an IP is allocated to a PC (MAC address) has anyone tried to then set the IP/Gateway/Subnet as manual??

Kymmy

---------- Post added at 14:55 ---------- Previous post was at 14:53 ----------

Does the NTL BBB moem not allow port forwarding??? Surely this is all you needed to do for any P2P/Torrent application. It's worked fine in the past for hardware and my current software routers.

[EDIT] Looking at the older Chetnet site for the older NTL bussiness modems they had an ADVANCED GATEWAY setup that allowed config of port forwarding, can anyone confirm that the newer NTL modems working in NAT mod dont have that option anymore?? [/EDIT]

Kymmy