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Ultra TV Internet Connectivity Concern

First, I am a rather advanced user. I have a Watchguard firewall in place utilizing a drag and drop VPN to my employer. I am on the IT team, and find it most useful to have always-on access to the office, especially in emergencies.

I am a current WOW user and have purchased a new TV today, this gives the house its third HD TV and I would very much like to get a whole home DVR solution like Ultra TV, however I have concerns about the way WOW has integrated the TV and the Internet portions together. Phone support assured me "My VPN will work fine once the settings are put into the gateway", but somehow I don't think they understand how it works.

The firewall is an extension of my work's private IP scheme utilizing 10.x.x.x. I would assume the WOW gateway will use the traditional 192.168.0.x that comes on all garbage low end home networking devices.

As I understand it, the Gateway acts as the hub for all of the TV boxes, and the wireless network provided by the gateway is what supplies the video streams to each TV box, in addition to being the wireless network for the household.

It really boils down to, can I place my firewall behind the Gateway and still have my tunnel to the office, and retain the IP scheme and functionality that the Firebox, and my own Wireless Device provides?

Alternatively, and what I would REALLY PREFER, is to get Ultra TV but have the Internet provided by a traditional modem INSTEAD of the Gateway. I realize the gateway is necessary for the function of all of the set top boxes, Im not implying I not have one, but I would rather it operate as my TELEVISION source, and my internet be provided by a traditional modem so I can retain the setup I currently have on my internet and internal network.

Does anyone have any experience using Ultra TV in this type of scenario, and if not specifically with a VPN, at least with some other Router or firewall device behind the "Gateway" running with no problems. I have heard rumors that using another Wireless device with DHCP could cause a set top box to get the wrong IP and stop communicating with the gateway. Though I'm having a hard time understanding how that is possible since anything I run in tandem with this would be locked down with a separate key that the WOW boxes likely would not be programmed to connect to, so the only network they should be able to connect to would be the gateway's.

But again, I'm looking for someone who has the equipment, and can better describe to me the precise set up and how it works so I can make a better decision on whether or not to get the service.

I already want the service, but not if it is going to be a nightmare to get my home network to remain the way it is.

Sorry for the long post. Any help or information is appreciated.

tech
@wideopenwest.com

tech

Anon

Honestly, if you are going to be doing the in-depth and high-end options with your internet service, I don't recommend getting the Ultra. The Gateway, while a decent piece of equipment, is very limiting as to what you can do with it unless you are extremely tech savvy. It does use the traditional 192.168.0.x. I'm not familiar enough with it to run you through the precise set up nor how it works, but I do have enough of a knowledge base to know it isn't what you need. Like most cable companies, the in-house wireless service is marketed more towards the less technologically minded people, as they are the larger share of the market. Unfortunately, this means standard issue equipment isn't as versatile as someone like yourself would want/need it to be.
alan92rttt
join:2012-02-27

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All of the media players are fed from coax.

I currently run all of my home network off a linksys router. The linksys is connected to the gateway. I use the gateway as if it were nothing more than a cable modem.

In your case you might have to set some things in the gateway to let the VPN connect but I would think it should work.

Wow does have a tech that checks the forums and he can probably provide the best technical response.

mix
join:2002-03-19
Romeo, MI
GL.iNet GL-B1300
Netgear CM500

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Frankly, with all the problems I've read on this forum, I would highly recommend you do not go with Ultra TV if you expect your internet connection to be stable, reliable or configurable. You want a plain old modem and your own router that you can configure as you wish.
alan92rttt
join:2012-02-27

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I've had ultra for over a year. My net connection is fast and stable.
Body Count
join:2010-09-11
Columbus, OH
Netgear CM1000
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter ER-4
Ubiquiti U6-Pro

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UltraTV internet is very stable at least for me.

It's the wireless that is crap. You want to turn it off and install your own access point.

I don't use VPN but I do know they fixed some bugs with it with the first firmware patch they did.

Just_Dan
Premium Member
join:2011-03-24
Denver, CO

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With an Ultra TV setup, you could hook your router up to one of the gigabit ports on the back of the gateway, assign a static IP address to your router inside the gateway that is within the gateway's scope of IPs, then add that static IP address to the DMZ host on the Ultra TV gateway. This is the closest you can get to having it setup like a traditional modem, the only difference being two instances of NAT on the network. All testing I have done with this method has proven to be stable.

AlexE4
join:2006-12-16
Chicago, IL

AlexE4

Member

I have this same setup. I had a Watchguard running behind my gateway for some time... the PSU died and I swapped it out for a SonicWall. I have my UltraTV gateway feeding the WAN port of my soinc wall, with the IP of the SonicWall in the DMZ on my ultraTV gateway. With the UltraTV gateway, you don't have to stick with the 192.18.x.x range, you can set it however you like it. Although I am not using the SonicWall to create a VPN connection a workplace, I frequently connect to the sonicwall using the VPN client from outside my home with no issue. Hope that helps... (like you, I also desperately wish I could have a seperate, standalone cable modem with this setup)
Desensetized
join:2013-04-20

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This is good to know. Wow called me yesterday to set up an appointment to install. So I am still nervous of how long it will take to get right, but I'm cautiously optimistic that it will work. I know my external IP will likely change, which kind of blows, I know it by heart and its been the same for 6+ years, but oh well. If it makes a more solid internet connection I will be ecstatic
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So I'm happy to report all is working well. I put the Firewall in the DMZ and set up my port forward for the FTP server I have to forward to the Firewall and it forwards it from there properly. Even the always on VPN I have to the office works.

I do not understand why the gateway is now not letting me access the config page with the password I just set yesterday and that I know is right. Now I am going to have to hard reset it and reconfigure it all again I guess.

But at least it works.
lanelander
join:2013-05-18

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With all you stated you needed I would have told you to pass. I have been trying to get port forwarding to function and so far I have only been able to forward 21, 80, and 3389. I have no clue what is going on and neither do the 4 techs that have visited my house. Congrats on being able to get it to work in your house. All I am getting from WOW so far is that my house doe not like Ultra.
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What is your setup? What ports are you trying to forward?