Cincinnati Bell → ZTE ZXHN_H368C Issues

Hello guys,
As most of you probably have suspected, Cincinnati Bell has given me the absolute worst internet setup known to man. I currently have the ZTE ZXHN_H368C router and it has nowhere near enough power to support all of my devices. This router controls my internet as well as my cable TV which if you ask me is the dumbest thing invented. I need help!

I bought a netgear router a couple months back but have had trouble correctly replacing the terrible ZTE device. Since the ZTE controls my cable, I cannot directly replace it without losing access to TV. I have done a little research that involved a solution of putting this device in bridge mode. But i wasnt able to correctly figure out how to do this because of the terrible interface of the router.

Right now, we currently have the netgear branching off of the ZTE for our WiFi, which was collapsing quite frequently before we bought the netgear. In my current situation our Wifi is fine, but it is the wired aspects that our causing trouble. The ZTE just cant support the amount of devices that we have. I dont understand why Cincinnati Bell would give us 50/10 speeds but then give us a router that cant even support them.

So in a nutshell, I need to find a way to replace the ZTE router with my netgear router. I need to do so without losing access to my cable TV which i find to be problematic. Here are a few pictures of the setup they gave me, I apologize for the clusters and mess:

The ZTE router should be able to support 50/10.

Does your Netgear router support IGMP? Model?
Are the routers really hanging by their connections in mid air?

Need some clarification on this. Are you not getting 50/10 speeds? Are you expecting multiple connected devices to get 50/10 speeds simultaneously?

I have my ZTE running behind my Asus ac68. Only connection on the zte is the moca connection feeding two tvs.

How did you set this up because I want to have my netgear control my wired and wireless internet and have the ZTE only control the TV

I have the netgear N750 and it should support IGMP. Yes the routers are hanging my midair lol only because they will not stay on their hangars and it is annoying to have to keep hanging them. They put the boxes in the most random corner in my apartment, so i am limited on space.

My issue is that the ZTE cant support 50/10 speeds when a few people are using devices simultaneously.

Its cat5 from ONT to Asus Wan port the cat5 lan to my computer, pap2, and one cat5 line to the WAN port of ZTE.

In the IPTV section of Asus I have following settings. Have no clue how this would work with netgear

Select ISP Profile: None
Choose IPTV STB Port: LAN1 (This is the port the ZTE is connected to.)
Use DHCP routes: Disable (Works with any setting as far as I can tell)
Enable multicast routing (IGMP Proxy): Enable
Enable efficient multicast forwarding (IGMP Snooping): Enable
UDP Proxy (Udpxy): 5555

Don't think I changed anything on the ZTE. TVs still show the 192.168.200.x range

So basically your just substituting the netgear as your main router and branching the zte off of that??
If so i have tried that and was unable to maintain the access to my cable tv

Which actual model do you have? N750 refers to which 802.11n standards it supports - it isn't the model number. e.g. The WNDR4300 does support IGMP. In the posted images it looks like you are using the MoCA capability of the ZTE - is that correct? The routers hanging by their connectors is a bad idea. The images show several Ethernet cables but it isn't totally clear where each Ethernet or coax goes - perhaps you could draw a simple diagram.

Do the STBs have Ethernet connections or are they using MoCA (co-ax).

I have an Asus router but other than that yea. I haven't tested it but from what I have read I can take the ZTE out of picture completely if I either run cat5 to the tvs (No easy way to do this) or purchase my own moca device.

Correct i have the WNDR4300. I am using the MOCA coax cable to control my cable box but im pretty sure i can also use an ethernet cable to power the box. Ill explain the setup as clearly as possible for you:

I have the coax, a cat5 going into the WAN port , and power cable going into the ZTE from the modem they supplied me
I also have cat5 cables for the other rooms in my apt going into the ZTE's LAN ports
I then have a final cat5 cable going from a LAN port of the ZTE into the WAN port of my netgear.

I just need to find a way to use the netgear as my primary router without losing access to my cable TV

Most of our cable boxes are located near an ethernet port in the wall. Would it be possible to run a switch from the wall that would still be able to power all of my devices??

The STBs can be connected to Ethernet instead of MoCA.

The connections you want are:

ONT (Alcatel) -------- (WAN port) Netgear (LAN port) -------- STB

I suggest trying one as above and once cabled switch the devices off/on. Check if you have internet access from a Netgear LAN port. If you do then check TV on the STB. If it works great. If it only works for 15-20 secs or so then freezes then check the IGMP setting on the Netgear. If you get it going on one then cable up the others similarly.

I just tried this and was unsuccessful.I removed the ZTE completely and connected the cat5 cable from the modem to the netgear WAN port. I then tried connecting my laptop to the netgear via cat5 cable and was unable to connect to a network. Any solutions??

I also tried getting rid of the MoCA cable completely and connecting the ZTE router to the STB via ethernet but was also unsuccessful.

It you aren't getting internet service from the Netgear then I wouldn't expect TV to work so focus first on getting internet to work.

On the Netgear it probably has a status page. Is it getting an IP? Is it set to DHCP on the WAN port? Are you using the same port on the Alcatel (ONT) as was used before?

What i tried to do was connect the netgear to my zyxel modem. I then ran a cat5 cable to my laptop to try and configure my netgear. I used the www.routerlogin.net command in my chrome browser and it displayed that i could not access the page. Not sure what the problem is??

What I suggested you try is connecting the Netgear WAN port directly to the port currently used on the Alcatel ONT. The actual network feed is entering the Alcatel on fiber.

If multiple devices are using the connection at the same time they are having to share the bandwidth, thus you aren't going to actually get 50/10 speeds on any one device in that situation. A different router isn't going to change that. If only one device is using the connection do you get 50/10?

I understand the fact that no device will get these speeds if other devices are sharing bandwidth, but a different router will help reduce the effect of these devices and can better support a great amount of multicast

Im a little confused on what you have just said. Are you suggesting that i take the fiber cable from my zyxel modem and move it into the netgear or are you simply stating to connect the cat5 from the modem to my netgear??

The fiber is not plugged into the ZyXel. It is plugged in to the Alcatel-Lucent box in the enclosure below where the ZyXel and Netgear are. Look at my original suggestion and read again. The Alcatel ONT device is that lower device in your images.

Yeah so are you saying that i connect a Cat5 cable from the netgear to the Alcatel box and replace where the fiber enters??

No - you plug into the Alcatel box at the port which currently has an Ethernet cable plugged into it.

Don't touch the fiber line. Use port 1 of the ONT (alcatel) all the other ports on the ONT are disabled

Right, that what i tried doing. I connected the cat5 caable directly from that ONT to my netgear but was unable to start to configure my router

Yes i tried this during my initial trial but was unable to configure my router. I connected the alcatel to my netgear WAN and but was unable to configure my netgear

It isn't clear what you mean by this. You can't set the Netgear to DHCP on its WAN port? It doesn't get an IP on its WAN port?

I am unable to access the router online interface when i connected my laptop to the netgear.