topic Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021 in Mobile Broadband

Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

jjjlm — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 19:11:41 GMT

Hi everyone.

We just got a EE 5G Router 2021 and were trying to configure our VPN server to work with it.

After some time checking the configs, it seems the ports are not open on the router, even if we do enable some port forward rules.

Tried to scan the WAN IP address and the only ports open are 21, 80 and 443.

This looks completely insane, as the manual downloaded from the 5G router itself mentions to use the Port forwarding functionality to: "allow external users to services inside the local network (LAN)"

Is there a way to open such ports?

BR,

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

XRaySpeX — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 19:25:57 GMT

You are finding yourself up against a limitation of EE's mobile network. The EE mobile network uses Carrier Grade NAT (CGNAT) & so you don't get your own public IP address but share it with other users. So you can't be uniquely id'ed on the Net & therefore your LAN cannot be addressed from outside for unsolicited accesses. This is unlike fixed BB.

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

jjjlm — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 20:13:48 GMT

Thanks for your reply.

So this would not be the case for all 5G providers?

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

XRaySpeX — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 21:09:22 GMT

I believe it will for all mobile networks.

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

EssexBoyEE — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 22:57:04 GMT

All UK Networks use the standard Shared IP over the Mobile Network, if your a Business or Corporate Account holder on EE, Voda and O2 then they can offer, as an extra, Fixed IP and Other Offerings but its a totally different Tarrif, Plan and Cost over the normal.

Things may change when the Networks go the Full 5G Standalone Tech over the current 4G/5G NSA but that's a few years away yet.

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

jjjlm — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 23:05:39 GMT

Hi, thank you for your reply.

That's interesting, as we inquired EE to know if we could get a fixed IP address and subscribed to a Business plan. Do you have any link for any additional information about that?

Thank you,

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

EssexBoyEE — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 23:16:42 GMT

Sadly not, it's one of those talk to your EE Business Account Manager requests, I know EE have been doing Fixed IP Sim Plans for Business for a while now (not cheap though), as I have used some for Customers in a Resilience / Fall Back senorios, Mainly VoIP and Static IP Cameras in remote locations.

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

jjjlm — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 23:19:17 GMT

Just accidentally bumped into this link:

https://shop.thetechnologydoctors.co.uk/products/unlimited-ee-5g-4g-data-sim-with-a-fixed-ip-address?variant=42826639900842

Does anyone from EE here know if a EE 5G sim data with Fixed IP is a reality?

Best regards,

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

EssexBoyEE — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 23:48:20 GMT

Actually £35 + vat isn't bad if it is a true Unlimited Data and Fixed IP Sim, a lot cheaper than the Offerings I got given a few years back.

The 5G Routers are just standard Stock items, so we'll worth doing your Homework on each one to confirm it will fulfill your needs and any additional trickery that you require of it.

Probably worth giving EE Business a call to see what can be offered directly from them.

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

jjjlm — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 23:55:01 GMT

Sorry, I might just be very tired, but where did you got that value from?

The link I've posted seems to mention:

EE Unlimited 5G Data SIM with a Fixed Public IP Address with 5G Industrial Grade Router

Regular price £749.99

Plus monthly £190+VAT (24 month) or £175+VAT (36 month)

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

EssexBoyEE — Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:09:11 GMT

I clicked on the link then looked at Routers Option's and Plans and it give me the 35+vat for the SIM Plan less the Router Cost.

But, just to check I put your Link into the Shopping Basket and comes up as £750 + vat plus the 24pm at 190 + vat per month, which is not so good.

Personally I would be sourcing your own 5G Router then give EE Business a call for the FIP SIM Only Plan.

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

jjjlm — Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:12:48 GMT

Thanks, will do!

Our current "broadband" is super slow with uplink speeds of less than 1 Mbps. Today when I connected and configured the EE 5G Hub in our network it was a very refreshing update with speeds of around 200 Mbps down and 50 to 60 up.

Will definitely try to get something like that but which allow us to get inbound traffic for VPN.

Best regards,

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

EssexBoyEE — Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:25:58 GMT

Your welcome J, if you get stuck on the Router Hardware side give me a shout I've evaluated quiet a few of the 5G ones now.

Rgs Chris

Re: Opening ports on EE 5G Router 2021

gazza72 — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 11:49:40 GMT

Bit late for a reply to this - I've been checking for any changes to the EE limitation.

As an FYI - Three supports port-forwarding (their UI for the NR5103E is also more feature rich).

I have the EE 5G router + Three 5G Router configured as Gateways in Pfsense. I use Three for web servers, vpn, etc.. and EE for most other traffic.

The Three router is also significantly cheaper than EE so a great deal for network resiliency if either network is down or busy. I've also found Three is faster but this is area dependent (so may not be relevant to everyone).

You could also rent a VPS from OVH to run a VPN Server then use that public IP tunnel back into your network. I did this before I had the Three router. Another solution is something like Twingate (if you trust Twingate with the keys to your network).