Topic 'FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?' in forum 'Verizon FIOS TV' - dslreports.com

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:54:30 EDT

More Fiber posted : The FAQ editor doesn't understand <OL> tags. :(
I'll go through and number them manually.

I've added the ASCII table in place of the one that was there.

Secondary changed to primary.
--
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:44:15 EDT

rmurphy posted : The first comment I have is that the steps show up as an unnumbered list (bullets, not numbers) meaning that the step references can't be understood.

The second is an error in the last paragraph - the second sentence should read "your primary router should be on a battery backup" (i.e. primary, not secondary.)

Finally, the table after step 2 is a bit busy. I don't know if we can put something like ascii art around it to make it look better or not..


+---------------------+----------------------+------------------+
|localhost            | Verizon FiOS Service |  AT Management   |
|127.0.0.1            | Tcp Any - > 4567     |                  |
+---------------------+----------------------+------------------+
|192.168.1.100:63145  | Application          | First DVR        |
|                     | UDP Any -> 63145     |                  |
+---------------------+----------------------+------------------+
|192.168.1.103:8082   | Application          | First STB        |
|                     | UDP Any -> 35000     |                  |
+---------------------+----------------------+------------------+
|192.168.1.101:8082   | Application          | Second STB       |
|                     | UDP Any -> 35001     |                  |
+---------------------+----------------------+------------------+
|192.168.1.105:8082   | Application          | Third STB        |
|                     | UDP Any -> 35002     |                  |
+---------------------+----------------------+------------------+
|192.168.1.102:8082   | Application          | Fourth STB       |
|                     | UDP Any -> 35003     |                  |
+---------------------+----------------------+------------------+
|192.168.1.104:8082   | Application          | Fifth STB        |
|                     | UDP Any -> 35004     |                  |
+---------------------+----------------------+------------------+
|192.168.1.100:8082   | Application          | DVR Again        |
|                     | UDP Any -> 3500      |                  |
+---------------------+----------------------+------------------+

Thanks for the reformatting.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:25:54 EDT

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:40:48 EDT

rmurphy posted :

said by half_1 :

Is this possible to do using the nim100. I currently have my own router and use the nim100 for the vod/guide stuff for the stb

My understanding of the NIM is that you can't have remote DVR access using it - it's a simple bridge between the MOCA hosts on the coax cable and the local ethernet LAN. Remote DVR requires the TR-069 host (the Actiontec) to mediate the traffic from the Verizon systems and the set-top boxes. Unfortunately, the technique described here is very dependent on having the Actiontec in the loop.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:34:25 EDT

anon posted : Is this possible to do using the nim100. I currently have my own router and use the nim100 for the vod/guide stuff for the stb

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:11:05 EDT

rmurphy posted : Thanks. I know it's a fair amount of work to reformat but just wanted to make sure you got the pointers to the new files.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:05:02 EDT

More Fiber posted : Yes, I received the PM. Will try to get to the updates this evening.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:04:00 EDT

rmurphy posted : More Fiber, I sent you a PM over the weekend with updates to the FAQ. Did you get that message?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 13:58:01 EDT

Rattler posted :

said by rmurphy:

said by Rattler:

I have no idea what takes it in and out of functionality.

What seems to take it out (assuming AT on the outside, stock setup) is your external IP changing. All that has to happen is a power outage for long enough. It'll eventually fix itself as the Actiontec periodically reports to VZ, including the new external IP. However, I don't think it does that often enough. IMHO it shouldn't take more than a day to recover but seems to take a week or two for no good reason.

The worst case is when VZ detects that you have an external router. It can be a chore to get that status cleared.

We did have a 4 hour power failure about 3 weeks before I posted my comment. I do not know if the WAN IP changed (never checked). But, I do recall having similar problems (a while back) when the WAN IP block completely changed, not just the last octet but the whole kit and kaboodle.

I know about the business when V* detected the Linksys I used to have as my primary router, when they first started with Remote DVR. It took about 4 months to get that straightened out.
--
Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected. -- Red Buttons

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:14:31 EDT

solarein posted : No problem, thanks for discovering this method in the first place. Without you we would all either be without remote DVR or stuck with the Actiontec.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:04:03 EDT

johnpa56 posted : Thanks for posting your experience with this problem on the forum. I spent the better part of last evening trying to squeeze blood from a rock talking to support at Verizon. Pretty much a waste of an evening.

That said I would like to create a graphic of the solution you have been discussing once it gets worked out. I will be following the thread and will configure my LAN to LAN configuration to the specs outlined in the updated FAQ.

Once I am up and running I will put together a graphic and submit it for your review.

Thanks again for the contributions of everyone on this thread. I look forward to getting all the features up and running.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 10:49:08 EDT

rmurphy posted : The remote DVR was working again this morning, so I just flipped my setup to LAN-to-LAN. Remote access via the fiostvcentral website worked as well as the Verizon FiOS DVR application on my Android phone. Both of those have always worked just fine for me.

What's good news is that the FiOS Mobile Remote application now works and I'm pretty sure that it didn't work before without the LAN-to-LAN connection. I'm sure that this will get Media Manager as well, just as you said.

I'm going to work on updating the FAQ tonight. Solarein, thanks for helping me to see that "good enough" (some features working) wasn't really good enough.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:16:31 EDT

rmurphy posted : I've just done the factory reset. This is probably the best as I can document the steps to get this working LAN-to-LAN and know that it works right. Unfortunately, this may mean that I've got a few days before it's all back to normal.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:32:47 EDT

solarein posted : If I remember correctly, I reset the Actiontec to factory defaults and powered it up as the primary router with no other routers on the network, then powered on each STB and waited until all the DNS assignments and port forwarding rules have been automatically configured on the AT, then checked that remote DVR and caller ID are working with this default setup. I think it took a day before all the STBs started getting caller IDs. Then I disabled DHCP on the Actiontec, deleted its DNS assignments, released its public DHCP reservation, and changed its LAN IP. Then I connected its WAN port to the backend router, powered up the backend router, and gave the backend router a static WAN IP in my primary LAN subnet. Then I connected the LAN port of the Actiontec and the WAN port of the backend router to the primary router, powered up the primary router, let it get a DHCP lease from Verizon, then gave the backend router a LAN IP that's the same as the default gateway that the primary router just got from its DHCP lease, and made the backend router assign to the Actiontec the same WAN IP as the WAN IP that the primary router just got, and set the backend router to forward port 4567 to the Actiontec's WAN IP, and set the primary router to forward the appropriate ports to the STBs and port 4567 to the backend router. Then I restarted the Actiontec and waited for it to initiate a TR-069 connection to Verizon. At this point remote DVR should be working, but it took another day or two for all the caller IDs to come up on all the STBs.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:14:51 EDT

rmurphy posted : Ah well. Tell me again how you have this working?

I turned off my set-top boxes, changed the DHCP server on the Actiontec to range 192.168.1.x, and powered up the STBs in order. Then I disabled the DHCP server, changed the LAN address of the AT and connected it to my LAN. I then changed my router to forward UDP 63145 to the DVR's LAN IP.

Doesn't work. Bad Gateway at fiostvcentral, and the DVR Manager can't communicate either.

tcpdump shows UDP 63145 going to the STB. Am I going to have to start over again to make this work?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:52:24 EDT

solarein posted : The 63145-6315x ports are also used for caller ID. I was never able to figure out what the 35000-to-8082 port forwards are used for.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:25:20 EDT

rmurphy posted : Yup. I also forgot (it's been a while since I tried this) that the STBs will have a default route pointing to my new primary router, not the Actiontec. Because of that, you've got to set the port forwarding rules to hand UDP 63145 to the DVR's LAN address, not to the Actiontec's LAN address. Also the caller-id ports, correct?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:12:27 EDT

solarein posted : Sure, you can forward the ports the same way, but I don't think you should. Why make an extra hop when you don't have to?

But this should be a nonissue if you are just going to revise the original method to reflect the LAN-to-LAN method. Since you are just rewriting it, you can modify the port forwarding steps to make the primary router forward directly to the STBs, bypassing the backend router, right?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:03:42 EDT

rmurphy posted :

said by More Fiber:

Wouldn't it make sense just to switch the current tutorial to the LAN-to-LAN method?

If everything works as expected, then I don't see any reason to keep the original since it doesn't offer any advantages.

That's pretty much where I've gotten to - since you can run the three-router LAN-to-LAN with very little extra work, let's just do it that way.

When I discovered that you had to use the DHCP server in the Actiontec to make the setup work from a factory reset, I assumed that you always had to use the Actiontec's DHCP server. That's not the case. That allows you to use the AT's server once, get remote DVR working, then turn it off and bridge your LANs together. Easy, and seems to allow everything to work as designed.

Solarein, you can forward the ports the same way (through the backend to the Actiontec) even though you're running LAN-to-LAN. That's why it's a few extra steps (and a few changed steps).

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:45:44 EDT

solarein posted : I think that's not a bad idea, but I think rmurphy is opposed to that because the LAN-to-LAN method does not preserve the Actiontec as Verizon configured it, and would require more effort to re-configure if you have an extended power outage. It's best used in conjunction with a UPS.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:27:38 EDT

More Fiber posted : Wouldn't it make sense just to switch the current tutorial to the LAN-to-LAN method?

If everything works as expected, then I don't see any reason to keep the original since it doesn't offer any advantages.
--
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:44:04 EDT

solarein posted : Isn't it more of a replacement of a few steps, rather than the addition of a few steps? Specifically the steps for doing the port forwardings are different, with the LAN-to-LAN method you need to do fewer port forwards since only port 4567 is going through the backend router.

But I'll defer to you for writing up the alternative method since you were the one who came up with it in the first place.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:56:05 EDT

rmurphy posted : I'm running that way (LAN-to-LAN) at the moment to see if there's any side effects or if things keep working.

Based on what Solarein has figured out there's at least one real error in the assumptions that I made when writing the FAQ. That's the fact that the Actiontec does NOT need to be the DHCP servers for the Set-Top boxes other than after a factory reset and during the initial setup. Once you have the remote DVR working, you can disable the DHCP server on the Actiontec, wire it to your LAN, and get everything working.

I'll be willing to take a crack at an update to the current FAQ as it's really just a few extra steps at the end.

Solarein, do you agree?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:19:03 EDT

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:46:32 EDT

bigdaddy posted : Please Update and Make a New Step by Step Tutorial outlining the method that give's you All the Feature's that you would have with a standard Actiontec Router but in the Three Router Config.

I'm Willing to give it a Try. I'll need two Gig-E Router's the new Tutorial and some time to figure it all out on a Actiontec Rev. G. Would saving the Configuration File on the Rev G Help in Any Way ?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:31:04 EDT

solarein posted : As a note to option 8, or as a separate option?

I still feel that the LAN-to-LAN 3 router method requires a sufficiently different configuration procedure that it warrants a separate option.

To elaborate a bit more, the difference between the two three-router configurations is as big as, if not bigger, than the difference between options 6 and 7. They also have different properties in the tradeoffs table: one supports MediaManager streaming, the other doesn't. Also, if the alternative method is listed as a sidenote to option 8, it would read something like "refer to the above steps, then at step 4 do this instead of what it says, then skip step 5, then add this step, then at step 6 do this instead...", it would be very hard for someone to follow it as a step-by-step guide. I think for all these reasons it would make more sense to list this alternative three-router config as a separate option.

Oh and I would be willing to write up this FAQ, since it seems the original designers of the three router method are not interested in having people learn about this alternative configuration.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:23:55 EDT

More Fiber posted : If someone wants to write up a couple of paragraphs outlining the LAN-LAN variation, I'll include it in the FAQ.
--
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:56:40 EDT

bigdaddy posted : Thank You For Clarifying Issue.

Can Someone Please Update The F.A.Q's to Reflect the accurate Information Please ?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:19:09 EDT

solarein posted : I see that you never added a note to the three router config that explains the alternative way to set it up with the Actiontec on the same subnet as the primary router and connected LAN-to-LAN to the primary router. This is a shame, really, as without this method, the three router solution becomes just another option with trade-offs. To me, the main thing that is attractive about the three router option is that it comes with NO trade-offs. Configured appropriately (i.e. with the Actiontec on the same subnet as the primary router), every single feature works: Media Manager, remote DVR, caller ID, everything. Indeed, the wording in the trade-off FAQs for the three router option suggests that this is the case. However, since the FAQ currently only lists the method that leaves the Actiontec off the primary LAN, this is in fact a false claim. As it is, the only way to get absolutely every feature working is not explained in the FAQ.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:51:43 EDT

solarein posted : I'm not sure if restoring the config file will work. Tonycpsu was working on something in that vein, perhaps he can chip in.

You shouldn't have to worry about the Actiontec losing its configuration as long as you have a UPS powering it. I've been running the three-router setup using my primary router for DHCP assignments to the STBs and the Actiontec on the same LAN as my computers for almost a year now and I've never had a remote DVR outage.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:48:07 EDT

bigdaddy posted : Yes I use a UPS. I have The Actiontec Rev G will the three router Option work with this new Router ?

And if So Can I Just Save the Config File and Export it to my PC then restore it in the Event the Actiontec loses It's STB Port Mappings. ?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:49:16 EDT

solarein posted : You don't lose anything. Doing it this way is the only way to have every single feature that FiOS offers. You will probably want to put the Actiontec on a UPS so that during an extended power outage it doesn't lose its STB mapping. The difference between this method and the method in the FAQ is that your primary router manages the IPs and port forwards to the STB, not the Actiontec. Doing this requires first letting the Actiontec configure the STBs, then disable the Actiontec's DHCP server and copy the configuration from the Actiontec to your primary router, thereby reducing the Actiontec to just a Ethernet-MoCA bridge. The problem with this setup is that if the Actiontec forgets its original STB configuration, restoring it means essentially starting over a lot of the work you did configuring everything, hence why you want to put the Actiontec on a UPS.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:49:21 EDT

bigdaddy posted : So What do I Gain and What Do I Lose ? Disabling DHCP on the actiontec ? Please Clarify.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:28:15 EDT

solarein posted : Media Manager will work if you disable DHCP on the Actiontec, put it on the same LAN as your main network, then put the static DHCP assignments for the STBs on your main router mirroring those on the Actiontec, and set its port forwards to forward to the STBs directly

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:50:31 EDT

Zero posted : True, but the real point is that this whole 3 router configuration shouldn't be necessary.

Verizon's incompetence is the real problem. They can make all the other features of the STB (widgets, Media Manager, FiOS Digital Voice on TV, VOD, etc.) work regardless of what router is being used. Yet, Remote DVR and Caller ID on TV are still configured so poorly that end users have to go through hoops just to get these simple features working - even with Verizon's own router in its default configuration!

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:15:54 EDT

rmurphy posted : You could, of course, hook the PC running Media Manager (I don't have this software installed so can't verify) to the Actiontec's LAN switch. Or to it's Wireless (ew!) network.

If you DO turn on the wireless network of your Actiontec, don't use the default settings. WEP should never be used, and the VZ default password is reversable from the SSID.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:41:00 EDT

More Fiber posted : Good catch. The way it was worded, I should have said yes.

So to be clear, Media Manager will not work with the three router solution because the STBs and the LAN are on different subnets and Media Manager can not cross subnets.
--
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:37:17 EDT

Zero posted :

said by More Fiber:

No. The STBs and the internal LAN are on different subnets.

Are you sure you didn't mean to say yes? Since they're on different subnets the Media Manager software won't be able to communicate between STB and PC.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:36:05 EDT

rmurphy posted :

said by Rattler:

I have no idea what takes it in and out of functionality.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:39:51 EDT

Rattler posted :

said by vousdew:

So I've been following this thread for a while and trying the different solutions but can't seem to get the remote dvr to work.

Not that I want to be a "nay-sayer" but... I have a straight-up Actiontec (Rev C) router hooked up as my primary router (Ethernet from the ONT to the router, MoCA LAN from the A/T to the STBs) and Remote DVR had not been working for a couple of weeks (until this past weekend). Then, all of a sudden, it started working again on Sunday.

So, even with the system "plumbed" as V* envisions it, Remote DVR can be sporadic. I have no idea what takes it in and out of functionality.
--
Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected. -- Red Buttons

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:59:45 EDT

More Fiber posted : edit:
~~No. The STBs and the internal LAN are on different subnets.~~

See clarification below.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:41:13 EDT

bigdaddy posted : When you use the three router option, do you lose the ability to use the VZ Media Manager Software ?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:52:29 EDT

rmurphy posted : I don't know. What I DO know is that Verizon hasn't a clue how to get to your STB without going through your public router.

VPN? Unlikely. Extremely.

What happens if you telnet from your outside IP to port 4567 on your public IP?

You should see something like:
(Note: I typed "GET / HTTP/1.0" after the "Connected" message..)

Connected to xxx
Escape character is '^]'.
GET / HTTP/1.0

HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized
WWW-Authenticate: Digest realm="ActiontecBHR", qop="auth", nonce="c5cc42485a30a1d71d5ca4c5eaf4a9c1a60d6c8e", opaque="0"
Content-Type: text/html
Cache-Control: public
Pragma: cache
Expires: Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:35:10 GMT
Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:35:10 GMT
Last-Modified: Sun, 03 Jul 2011 05:57:01 GMT
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Connection: close

{html}
{head}
{title>401 Unauthorized{/title}
{/head}
{body bgcolor="ffffff"}
{h2}401 Unauthorized{h2}
{p}

{/body}
{/html}

What I get when I NMAP my public router UDP 63145 matches you:
PORT STATE SERVICE
63145/udp open|filtered unknown
.. which is unsurprising.

When I log traffic to my public router, I can see the 63145 UDP traffic. What I'd do in your case is to try to log the traffic getting to the Actiontec - I use tcpdump on my router and the logs on that router to tell what's happening. In your case, there's something on your public router taking the UDP 63145 packets and somehow pushing it to either the Actiontec or the DVR on your behalf. If as you say you have no port forwarding rules, you can't trust that device since it's doing stuff behind your back. Maybe there's something using UPNP (Universal Plug and Play) making this work, but you should still be able to see the rules. And I seriously doubt that anybody at VZ added this when they've otherwise done everything to detect when the Actiontec isn't the primary router.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:58:46 EDT

watice posted : Thanks for your reply, it shed a little more understanding. There are no port ranges set up, as I haven't had time to configure fwds yet. This is a brand new router. The AT does not have a dhcp server, and is acting as a DHCP relay, with my primary router running a DHCP server. Could there be another way that verizon has to establish a connection with the AT? There seems to be a L2TP port triggering rule on the AT, and my router is configured to allow vpn passthru, for my own purposes.

I initially did not have remote dvr access. I set up a temporary router and provided a 63145 fwd to the DVR, but did not check to see if it had worked on the web in the meantime. I'd attempt to break this myself, but the misses as well as myself rely heavily on remote dvr.

from a dedi outside my network (all ports show up as open/filtered):
PORT STATE SERVICE
63145/udp open|filtered unknown

from inside my network:
Interesting ports on frankyDVR.WATICENET (192.168.2.16):
PORT STATE SERVICE
63145/udp closed unknown

should also note that the dvr is using listener2 instead of listener1. When Listener1 was up, 63145/udp was open in the past. Could this possibly be accepting traffic via a vpn?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:11:34 EDT

rmurphy posted : I don't see how what you're saying is possible, specifically the lack of port forwarding rules.

Your Actiontec is apparently connected to your LAN - the WAN port is down, but with a static IP that probably matches the WAN side of your primary router. I guess you have the Actiontec on your LAN, perhaps providing DHCP for that network. That doesn't much matter unless you have to reset for any reason. In that case, the DHCP server on the AT needs to be enabled to allow Verizon to portmap.

Whatever router you have connected to the ONT must be forwarding UDP 63145 to the Actiontec. Verizon sends remote DVR commands to your WAN router's public IP using that port; if the router isn't set up to forward those packets, how does that traffic get to the Actiontec? I'm going to assume that something that you've set up previously is still in place to allow that forwarding (port ranges, perhaps?).

You're in unknown territory at the moment - with the WAN port of the Actiotec down, you may or may not keep working. If you keep working for a few weeks that way, then you've proven that the back-end router isn't needed beyond initial setup and that once the STBs are mapped, you can remove it. Indeed, if you have a working setup it may be that LAN-to-LAN is enough to keep it working if done carefully.

However, if it fails occasionally, then you'll need to keep calling the Fiber Support Center to remap and that's bad. That's going to cost VZ money and motivate them to make it harder for people to do this. They shouldn't care, however, if what you do doesn't cause them extra work. Time will tell in your case. With stable power on the external router (so the IP doesn't change) you could be OK for a long time.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:37:30 EDT

watice posted : I got this to work by following the instructions you detailed in this thread. I've sent you a message on here a while back hoping it would help figure out what I might have done differently, but I can't think of anything else I did but follow your instructions previously. A call to verizon was initially required to get remote dvr working with the default setup (AT up front) after the non default router message the first time only. What would help? Access to the AT, or my router? Wireshark logs? Of what?

AT (ip address listed there is incorrect/old): »img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/···ntec.jpg

No fwding (no DMZ either, didn't bother to take a screenshot):
»img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/···ards.jpg

upnp: »img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/···upnp.jpg

Remote DVR via web:
»img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/···/dvr.jpg

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:12:20 EDT

rmurphy posted :

said by watice:

Also, I have not added ANY port forwards yet (just checked), and upnp is enabled but there are no entries pertaining to the STB. If someone has been able to make this work without the 3rd router method, please chime in and make me appear less crazy since I haven't seen anyone write that they've done this with only the AT & their primary router.

As per the FAQ requiring a 3rd backend router, is this "backend router" doing any actual routing? I have other switches in my network, but none of them are routers.

Re-replying, since you've edited the message I've already replied to.

If you aren't forwarding traffic to the AT, remote DVR can't work. Verizon connects to your public IP to send traffic to the Actiontec, which then sends commands to your DVR to support these requests. Unless you've done something like put your AT into a "DMZ" from your router (DMZ being incorrectly defined by several mass-market router manufacturers as meaning a catch-all host that gets everything the router doesn't recognized), then there's no way for your router to understand how to get requests intended for the AT to that host.

Point two: Is the back-end router doing any actual routing? Yes, of course. I'm routing between the Internet -> back end -> Actiontec and back. Unless you're being pedantic about the back end doing NAT between those networks, the fact is that the back end needs to route that traffic - the low cost solution for that is a simple back end NAT router.

The questions in my original reply still hold - how are you making this work?

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:44:48 EDT

rmurphy posted : watice,

I'm assuming that you have the Actiontec running WAN-to-LAN, and that its WAN port has a local RFC 1918 (192.168.x.x) address. Also that you're forwarding the appropriate ports through your E2000 to the AT.

If the setup was working before you flipped the router, it will continue to work when you put it into place because the port forwarding is invisible to VZ, and they already know what public IP to use to communicate with your Actiontec.

It'll be interesting to see what happens over time, however. Once a week or so Verizon polls the Actiontec. If it reports that it has an unroutable WAN IP, I don't know what their systems will do.

Additionally, the Actiontec periodically reports the WAN IP to the Verizon systems so they can track the current IP for a given STB. When that report comes in with an unroutable IP, what's going to happen?

It's possible that these configuration updates will be rejected due to invalid IPs, with the DVR continuing to use the existing IP. You'll be fine in this case until your external IP changes. When it does, you'll have to move the Actiontec back outside and either wait for the polling to update your IP or have Verizon portmap you.

The advantage of the three router setup in this case is that all I have to do is update the IP address that the back-end router feeds the Actiontec and it'll just work. Since this doesn't happen very often (UPS on the Actiontec and the two routers), it's a question of cost. My back-end router was basically a castoff so it's a good trade off for me.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:52:26 EDT

watice posted : so I had to replace my router because of hardware failure, and I've replaced it with a cisco E2000, which is apparently working perfectly with remote dvr. No 3rd router.

My setup is ONT(cat5)>E2000>AT>7232

is anyone attempting to do this without the 3rd router method? Feel free to PM me if so, I'll gladly provide whatever info I can to help get this done. Note that this was not working previously as I mentioned in my last posting on this thread, and the STB is still using Listener2, but I've leased a new ip since then, and replaced my router. Those were the only changes since then, which puzzles me even more.

Also, I have not added ANY port forwards yet (just checked), and upnp is enabled but there are no entries pertaining to the STB. If someone has been able to make this work without the 3rd router method, please chime in and make me appear less crazy since I haven't seen anyone write that they've done this with only the AT & their primary router.

As per the FAQ requiring a 3rd backend router, is this "backend router" doing any actual routing? I have other switches in my network, but none of them are routers.

Re: FIOS TV Central website access with Non AT Router?

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:57:45 EDT