Port Forwarding Not Working on EE Smart Hub—Fix Needed

[LiamStevo]

I've been trying to open specific ports on my EE Smart Hub, using a TP-Link RE700X range extender. My setup is identical to my previous router, but now the ports won't open. I’ve manually configured them in the EE Hub and in Windows Firewall, set up a static IP for the extender, disabled DMZ, and tried full resets. EE support was unhelpful—they just suggested restarting the router and re-following the guide, but nothing worked. Has anyone had this issue or found a fix on EE?

[bobpullen]

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@LiamStevo wrote:

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That will 100% affect port forwarding. The network connection needs setting to 'Private'. This is a fairly common issue when a router is swapped out, Windows 'sees' it as a new connection and 'helpfully' defaults the connection to 'Public'.

[JimM11]

@LiamStevo Also remember to pull your IP back out off the DMZ once you have adjusted your Network profile.

[LiamStevo]

@JimM11 @bobpullen 

@bobpullen @JimM11

I tried setting it to private but unfortunately that didn't fix it.

Just copying what I've tried so far because I can't attach properly:

I'm trying to host game servers (Rust, Minecraft, Sons of the Forest, etc.) from my home network. I recently switched to an EE Smart Hub 7 Plus and since then I haven't been able to get a single port to open through normal port forwarding.

My setup is:

EE Smart Hub 7 Plus → TP-Link RE700X (connected over 5GHz Wi-Fi) → PC connected to RE700X via Ethernet

Things I've tried so far:

Followed the official EE port forwarding guide step-by-step

Created manual forwarding rules for Rust, Minecraft and other ports

Tried both TCP and UDP where required

Added inbound and outbound Windows Firewall rules

Confirmed game servers are actually running and listening

Factory reset the EE Hub

Rebooted router, extender and PC multiple times

Disabled UPnP completely

Removed auto-created UPnP rules

Flushed DNS

Tried forwarding both to the PC and extender during troubleshooting

Disabled DHCP on the RE700X

Set static IPs where possible

Recreated forwarding rules from scratch multiple times

Updated rules whenever IPs changed

Checked firewall settings repeatedly

Tested with multiple port checker websites

Also tried manually setting IPv4 settings and disabling DHCP/LAN settings on the extender

One strange thing:

The EE Hub device list shows the RE700X but does not seem to show my PC correctly. I can manually enter an IP for forwarding though.

The biggest clue:

DMZ ON = Ports open and servers reachable

DMZ OFF = Ports closed even with forwarding configured

This makes me think:

Servers are working

Windows Firewall isn't the issue

General network setup mostly works

Something about the EE Hub port forwarding itself seems broken

Questions:

Does this sound like a router firmware bug or configuration issue?

Is there anything else worth trying before replacing the router?

Is leaving my PC in DMZ reasonably safe if it's only used for hosting game servers and Windows Firewall stays enabled?

Has anyone else seen Smart Hub 7 Plus behave like this?

I've spent days troubleshooting this and I'm genuinely running out of ideas. Any help would be massively appreciated.

[XRaySpeX]

Take the TP-Link extender out the equation.

Connect the PC directly by Ethernet to the SH 7+, fix its IP & set up Port Forwarding to it.

[JimM11]

@LiamStevo Do as @XRaySpeX suggest's to you, also say what the system is reporting IP wise to the RE700X that the EE is seeing in the properties for the Advanced or Network Address Table configuration. 

Once you know the IP of the Tp-Link you should be able to get to it through the web manager, my Tp's are 192.168.50.22 and 23 as i have two off them and the wired one only shows the single IP as 50.19, All the Ip's are set STATIC on in my case the Asus Hub, but it's the same way as doing it on the EE Hub....

Edit Inserted picture if it get's cleared.

Tp Lan settings assigned from the router DHCP

[LiamStevo]

So set the IP to static and thats all sorry little confused im on the TP Link Panel and EE Panel

[JimM11]

@LiamStevo You set the EE Hub to static IP, not the TP....

[LiamStevo]

Thanks for the advice. I've checked the EE Hub and can access the TP-Link web manager.

The RE700X is showing as connected in Range Extender mode and has a reserved IP address on the EE Hub. The extender is linked to the router over 5 GHz and appears to be operating normally.

My main goal is to get port forwarding working. As the RE700X is only acting as a range extender, I understand the port forwarding rules need to be configured on the EE Hub rather than on the TP-Link itself.

Is there anything else on the RE700X I should check, or should I focus solely on the EE Hub's port forwarding configuration?

[JimM11]

@LiamStevo There is nothing for you to do on the Tp-Link, an Ethernet cable direct to the Hub from the PC would be helpful to know if that works, not sure how easy or difficult that is to do for you.

As you said the system worked fine prior to the replacement EE Hub, but got NO idea how well the Tp will play with the EE.

Is the Tp-Link not showing both the 2.4Ghz and the 5Ghz connected on it?

On my Tp's i edited the ssid/password to match the EE Hub, i also set the Tp-Link password for admin to match that of the EE also, 

[LiamStevo]

I've checked the TP-Link status page and it appears the RE700X is connected to the EE Hub over the 5 GHz band. The extender is online and showing a client connected.

Unfortunately, I can't easily test with a direct Ethernet connection from the PC to the EE Hub as the router is downstairs and my PC is upstairs.

The setup worked correctly before the EE Hub was replaced, which is why I'm trying to determine whether there's a setting on the new EE Hub that's affecting the port forwarding. At the moment the RE700X appears to be functioning normally as a range extender.