Superhub : Real advantage(s) of 'Modem Only' mode?

[sam-vm]

Hi.

I’m just 3 days into my VM cable broadband service and so far, am loving the speed (on average, even using Wi-Fi, I’m getting at least 60 meg down/2.6 meg up and with a direct Lan connection, I’ve actually hit over 66 megs down!) so after years of ADSL broadband and at best, 6.5 megs download speeds, these sorts of speeds are just amazing

I’ve seen quite a few topics in the forums about using ‘modem only’ mode with the SuperHub and I’ve actually tried that when I first got the service a few days ago and although things were fine, I wanted to use the Lan sockets on the SuperHub to connect to my Sky HD box and to my Blu-Ray player and with the SuperHub in modem mode, the Lan ports from the SuperHub are switched off?

So, my question is, are there any real advantages to using modem only mode, or as in my case, just switching the Wi-Fi off in the SuperHub seems to work fine(I have a TP-Link WDR4300 dual band router that puts out a good wi-fi signal all over the house, even on the higher 5 gig band)?

[qasdfdsaq]

If you want to use your own wireless AP then you'll need to either switch the router off in the Superhub or on the WDR4300. Which you do is up to you.

[sam-vm]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

If you want to use your own wireless AP then you'll need to either switch the router off in the Superhub or on the WDR4300. Which you do is up to you.

Thanks for the reply.

All I've done is switched off the Wi-Fi in the SuperHub ... everything else is still running, as far as I know.

The SuperHub connects to my TP-Link router via a Lan cable of course (into the WAN socket) and then I have a Lan cable from the router, to an 8 port gigabit switch.

All seems to be working fine as it is at the moment, but I was just wondering what advantages there might be to just run the SuperHub in Modem only mode?

Thanks again for the quick reply

[qasdfdsaq]

Putting it in modem-only mode would make it actually work properly, since port-forwarding, double-nat, and firewalls are going to be a right pain or completely broken with two NAT routers in a daisy chain.

[sam-vm]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Putting it in modem-only mode would make it actually work properly, since port-forwarding, double-nat, and firewalls are going to be a right pain or completely broken with two NAT routers in a daisy chain.

All noted but as I mentioned in my reply, all is working fine with just the Wi-Fi turned off in the SuperHub

I'd read about the poor Wi-Fi in the SuperHub plus, I wanted the advantage of using the dual band from the TP-Link router so of course turning off the Wi-Fi in the SuperHub was one of my first ports of call.

I've not tried any port forwarding yet using the TP-Link router (it's very easy to set up and like when I first connected my ADSL modem, the SuperHub was automatically set up by the WDR4300) so I guess that could be an issue but I was thinking that there may have been other advantages to using Modem only mode?

Cheers

[ShadowTD]

Hi Sam.

What you're currently doing is basically 'cascading' two routers (the 'double-nat' that qas refers to). Whilst this might be working on the surface, it can cause real problems if you're using Skype or Xbox Live and is generally just bad practice for networking.

If you want to use your TP-Link as the router (and checking the link it's a quality bit of kit!) you should put your Superhub in to modem mode and connect port 1 of the SH to the WAN port on the TP-Link. All other hardwired devices should be connected to the TP-Link. Effectively, you're turning off the router in the SH and just using the modem.

Hope this makes sense!

[sam-vm]

Originally Posted by ShadowTD

Hi Sam.

What you're currently doing is basically 'cascading' two routers (the 'double-nat' that qas refers to). Whilst this might be working on the surface, it can cause real problems if you're using Skype or Xbox Live and is generally just bad practice for networking.

If you want to use your TP-Link as the router (and checking the link it's a quality bit of kit!) you should put your Superhub in to modem mode and connect port 1 of the SH to the WAN port on the TP-Link. All other hardwired devices should be connected to the TP-Link. Effectively, you're turning off the router in the SH and just using the modem.

Hope this makes sense!

Hi ... thanks for the info and yes, that all seems to make good sense.

Thing is at the moment, it's just the most convenient way to run things because my setup is that the SH is in one room, along with my main TV/Blu-Ray and a (Cat6) Lan cable runs through the wall from the SH to the Wan port on the TP-Link which is where I have the rest of my computer gear (two desktop PC's and a Nas).

Switching the SH into Modem mode meant the other Lan ports on the SH were off and I then had a problem of getting the connections to the Sky box and Blu-Ray

I guess I've been lucky not to have experienced any problems or conflicts while 'daisy chaining' the two devices but while it's working out ok, I guess I'll stick with the setup.

I've only had the TP-Link about a month and was surprised at it's (low'ish) price compared to other gear on the market but it was very easy to set up... the dual band Wi-Fi works a treat all over the house and set up is a doddle.

As an example, it's default local IP address is 192.168.0.1 but when it detects a modem/router or devices like the SH that uses that address, the TP-Link automatically switches itself to the IP address of 192.168.1.1 and dishes out IP addresses then in the 192.168.1.x range.

Wi-Fi tx levels are adjustable with lots of other 'tweakable' settings making it, for the price I think, a very attractive bit of kit. Certainly it's Wi-Fi performance compared to what I'd been using before (Netgear DGN2000) was much better with signal strengths much better and higher bandwidth.

Thanks again for the info

[ferretuk]

If you need to use both the SH and the TP-Link router in the way you describe, turn off the DHCP server in the TP-Link router and plug the SH into one of the LAN ports instead of the WAN. Setup this way the SH is your only router and the TP-Link box becomes a wireless access point.

[sam-vm]

Originally Posted by ferretuk

If you need to use both the SH and the TP-Link router in the way you describe, turn off the DHCP server in the TP-Link router and plug the SH into one of the LAN ports instead of the WAN. Setup this way the SH is your only router and the TP-Link box becomes a wireless access point.

Hi ... thanks for that and sounds like good advice.

I'll give that a go later with the suggestions you make

Thanks again

[ShadowTD]

The other option would be to put the TP-Link into the same room as the SH, and have a gigabit switch in your computer room, but that would involve an extra purchase.

[Sephiroth]

Hi Sam

What you want to do is perfectly feasible and all to the good if double natt-ing isnt a worry for you. SH in one room acting as a router with Wireless (and I hope Firewall switched off), TP-Link bridged in another room via a long ethernet cable.

You get the extra ports and reliable wireless. The SH should remain stable. I'm in modem mode now but I tried what you did just recently for a couple of weeks so that I could know what I was talking about on the forums! It worked perfectly fine.

Keep us posted.

What Sephiroth said - I have that setup (but with wireless still on), with the shub in one corner of the house downstairs, and with the other wireless router at the diagonally far end of the house upstairs, and everything works fine.

[sam-vm]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Hi Sam

What you want to do is perfectly feasible and all to the good if double natt-ing isnt a worry for you. SH in one room acting as a router with Wireless (and I hope Firewall switched off), TP-Link bridged in another room via a long ethernet cable.

You get the extra ports and reliable wireless. The SH should remain stable. I'm in modem mode now but I tried what you did just recently for a couple of weeks so that I could know what I was talking about on the forums! It worked perfectly fine.

Keep us posted.

Hi... thanks for the reply and info.

I've tried a couple of different configurations this morning based on suggestions from forum members (all good info )... all suggested configurations appear to work, as does of course the original way I had it set up.

I'm now testing another, slightly different configuration, similar to what you've suggested with the SH in one room with a 20 mtr (Cat6) Lan running to the WAN port on the TP-Link router and the SH also feeds the Sky HD box and Lan port on the Blu-Ray.

Wi-Fi is switched off in the SH and it's local IP address is 192.168.0.1 and upon detecting this, the TP-Link changes it's default address (192.168.0.1) to 192.168.1.1 and then DHCP in the TP-Link dishes out address in the range 192.168.1.x

The Sky HD box and Blu-Ray have IP address in the 192.168.0.x (dished out by DHCP in the SH)and with this setup, things seem to be running smoothly with no conflicts so far.

I'm just wondering if I'll need to turn of the Firewall now in SH but again, all seems to be working fine but I also appreciate that I might run into difficulties if I wanted to use something like Skype/Xbox etc. ... but at the moment I don't run anything like that.

In the past I've tried experimenting with spare modem/routers... turning off their DHCP etc. and utilising the router ports and Wi-Fi bridging and it can be a bit of a nightmare but with the TP-Link WDR4300, I have to say that it's set up is very easy, just using the auto-detect mode so top marks to TP-Link for making our live's easier

Cheers

---------- Post added at 13:40 ---------- Previous post was at 13:34 ----------

Originally Posted by Hugh

What Sephiroth said - I have that setup (but with wireless still on), with the shub in one corner of the house downstairs, and with the other wireless router at the diagonally far end of the house upstairs, and everything works fine.

Similar setup here but in my case, I'm not using the Wi-Fi in the SH. The dual channel Wi-Fi in the TP-Link works very well and I can adjust the TX output from the menu (Wi-Fi output ranges from Low, to High) and using my Laptop upstairs, even on the 5 gig band, it's about full strength and really good bandwidth.

I guess I'm lucky in that just about all the configurations I've tried with regards hookup for the SH/TP-Link Router/PC's/Laptop/NAS etc. have all seemed to work fine which is a nice change from the usual frustrations of configuring multiple devices around the house

Cheers

[Eeeps]

Originally Posted by ferretuk

If you need to use both the SH and the TP-Link router in the way you describe, turn off the DHCP server in the TP-Link router and plug the SH into one of the LAN ports instead of the WAN. Setup this way the SH is your only router and the TP-Link box becomes a wireless access point.

That's the way I'd do it or perhaps using the DHCP in the TP-Link with it switched off in the SH.

One point to note about this is to ensure you set up a static address in the device that has DHCP switched off. This should be within your local subnet but outside the DHCP range.

If you don't do that then you won't be able to access the management web interface pages.

[Sephiroth]

The reason for my suggestion to turn off Wireless & Firewall in the SH is to assure stability of the device. The less you give the SH to do, the more reliable it is.

Of course there are advantages to keeping wireless on; for example 2.4 GHz in one router, 5 GHz in the other. If the SH remains stable and doesn't tend to reset or reboot itself, then fine and you're among the lucky. Worth a try, perhaps.

As regards the firewall in the SH, my own view is that the thing simply doesn't have the legs for all its functions. However, if wireless is off, then firewall isn't competing for as much. Yiu may well have devices attached that the firewall must protect; I don't and I have firewall turned on in my PCs.

Hope that helps as well.