Port forward not working with EE smart hub

[freddy2004]

I just installed the EE smart hub. I'm having lots of problems when I copied port forward rules from the previous router. Most rules were not working. I could not figure out the be pattern. e.g. 9480-9499  udp/tcp worked fine while 5190-5199 udp did not.

Has anyone worked out what definitely works what doesn't?

Has EE got any firmware upgrade plan to fix the bug?  

[Derek_B]

I was also having issues with port forwarding not working on my new EE router (even turning on the DMZ didn't help) which had been working fine on my old BT router. Ended up talking to customer services for nearly an hour but no success, they wasnt aware it was an issue but said they would pass it to the technical team.

I've had to use my old TP-Link router which I had as an access point (comically was cheaper than an actual access point when bought) which works fine, just for first hour internet was a bit iffy but has settled down fine now. You can find info for 3rd party routers if you google search "EE 3rd party router", just note that support won't be able to run diagnostics on it.

So considering what everybody is saying it has to be an issue with either the hardware or firmware of the new smart hub as 3rd party and BT works fine.

[XRaySpeX]

@Derek_B : No need to Google! In Using & Configuring a Third Party Router you'll find everything you need to set up your router incl. the BB PPPoE creds. which are now the same as BT's.

[freddy2004]

Just report back my latest experience with this Hub again. 

I was trying to put another fixed IP into the hub's address table, but I could not log into the router:

I tried waiting for more than 10 minutes after hitting OK and power off and on again. It never managed to get out a dead loop to show the EE logo.

I had no choice but to hard reset it. I'm not going to manually enter ~60 lines of single-port forward rules again as I'm sure this is not the last problem. I cannot afford the time and interruption to my connection. I'm going back to my old BT hub. 

[freddy2004]

I thought I should give the Hub another try before the holiday ends. I think the chop error and the dead loop at the logo page may well be an upgrade not finished cleanly. After a hard reset, I  checked the FW version which is r1.35.0-R-1138091-PROD-83002. I cannot tell which FW it was running before, as there's no log of the upgrade if any.

I tried the range port forward again and I discovered that extern traffic for any port within the range will be sent to the lowest internal port of the range: e.g. if I open 1500:1509/1500:1509 and external traffic is trying to connect to 1505, the connection will end up at 1500! If the process at 1500 is down, then the connection cannot be made, even the process at 1505 is up.

I then tried to enter ~50 single port rules, I ended up with no connection to any of the ports I opened. 

My conclusion is I CANNOT use this hub as it is to do the job I need. 

[aviator56]

Interesting, but my port forwarding is definitely not working for IP addresses in that range.

There is definitely an oddity with my SH Pro router not believing devices are connected, but are clearly given IP addresses and are pingable, 

It’s making the router not fit for purpose, none of my security cameras are accessible.

[aviator56]

@bobpullen My SH Pro has a 2x firmware.

Devices in IP ranges above 192.168.1.64 are variously connected by WiFi and Ethernet via an 8 port switch or an 8 port POE switch depending on their location.

Of those devices the wired connections generally show as “connected” but not always, some are shown as “disconnected”, most of the WiFi devices show as “connected”, but not all very oddly, one being an Rpi running FR24 flight tracking software that is on WiFi, with manually entered port forwarding that just isn’t working - an external port prob shows the port shut, that is clearly accessible from the network internally.

[freddy2004]

I have a Linux server running various processes using wired connection with a fixed IP. Each of the processes has its own unique port number so it can be identified from external clients. 

[bobpullen]

@aviator56 - I'm a bit confused about your situation. Are you able to provide any more detail about what is specifically forwarded where, how the port forward rules are configured,  and how you have asssigned static IPs to the destination devices? Did you try using the IP address in your port forward rules rather than selecting a device from the drop down?

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@Ewan15 wrote:

@bobpullen Did you succeed in setting an IP address outside of the DHCP range? I suspect IP < 192.168.1.64 are reserved.

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As mentioned, I currently have the DHCP switched off on the hub but I've trieds and yes, I can forward trafffic to a local IP below 192.168.1.64. This is the outcome of me forwarding external TCP 22 to a local machine assigned the IP address 192.168.1.10: -

@freddy2004 - Not sure why the single rules haven't worked for you; must have taken an age to enter them all! Seems from other threads that there's definitely a firmware update on the horizon that might resolve the range issue. Bit of a catch 22 though as the hub will need to be connected and online in order to receive it 🤔

[freddy2004]

@bobpullen Thanks for the reply.

Maybe there's a maximum number on the port forward rules. But I don't know what that number is.

As far as I can see, the port range forward bug at the moment maps all ports within the external range onto the internal starting port.

I'll find a work around by reducing the number of ports I need for now until the bug is fixed. 

[freddy2004]

The Hub firmware has been upgraded to r2.68.11-R-1260390-PROD-83002 overnight.

The range port forward seems to behave properly now!  😍😍😍

Very eventful holiday period with everyone yelling at me. 

I thank everyone for the helpful discussions.