Using the MF271 as a modem with an external router

[jramsay]

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to set up my rocket hub (MF271) as a modem and then use an external router to broadcast the signal with a better range than the MF271's built in one. But I can't seem to get it to work. When I plug the ethernet cable directly into the d-link router i can't seem to get it to work. 

I don't know if there's a way to put the MF271 into Bridge mode or if I have to use port forwarding or something along those lines. Hopefully someone can give me some pointers any help would be greatly apprecieated

***Edited Labels***

[RogersArthur]

Yes @B0bD, the Wi-Fi function under the settings tab for the ZTE MF271 Rocket Modem was disabled. This will allow any connected router to serve IP addresses as the dedicated DHCP router.

Thanks,
RogersArthur

[B0bD]

I understand about disabling the wifi.

However, under the "router settings" tab, should I disable the DHCP server as well?

[RogersArthur]

Hi @B0bD,

Thank you for your patience.

Yes under the same settings option disable the DHCP server to allow your router to manage all local IP addresses on your network.

Thanks,
RogersArthur

[B0bD]

Thanks

A followup question:

With such a setup, would port forwarding behandled by the 271 or b the router.

Also, would the 271 be transparaent and allow the router to handle DDNS?

[RogersAliciaG]

@B0bD

To help answer your question, it would be B, your router would handle all the configuration settings.

Regards,

RogersAliciaG

[jmyching]

Is there a way to turn off DHCP or change the IP range on the MF271? I see the Router Settings but they have all been greyed out? I need to use a different range of internal IPs to eliminate conflict with a VPN at work I have to connect to. Thanks.

[Geezer]

You will probably need to disconnect first ("Home" tab, Disconnect). Then make your changes; following this you reconnect.

[jmyching]

Found the Disconnect button and was able to turn off the DHCP on the hub. Thanks.

[the41stside]

Ha it sounds like a great suggestion, but we all know how little Rogers values the opinions of its high paying customers. Been a nightmare on the hub and rogers network... Anyway...

ive been running the zte as a modem wi thmy own apple wifi network for 3 years now. The problem, which is the same no matter what router you choose... Double NAT, or double "network address translation". What this means is you shut off wifi on the zte hub and via Ethernet you connect port 1 on the zte to the uplink port on your router, or port 1. Now what you have because of the inability to bridge the zte is two sets of IP address ie. 192.168____ + 10.0.1____. Further you must make sure that in your zte and router settings that your are using different sets of IP translations, if the zte and the router are both using 192.168______ then it simply won't work. Most routers allow you to change this, but the zte is stuck on 192.168.1.___ for anyone who's wondering. 

So 

PRO's

-if your network is only for simple things you can now connect as many devices as you would like., 

CONS's

where to start.

-No range extenders, double NAT won't allow proper translation

-no port forwarding, meaning no remote access, double NAT it isn't possible to forward ports thru three networks (the web, the zte, and your own router)

-NO remote access means.... No remote door locks, no remote thermostats, no remote camera viewing and on and on.

all in all this is a joke. But given that it took me three years of paying for 100gb a month when rogers would only give me 30 (do the math 300$+ monthly for Internet.) all because we're rural. Now they're telling me they only do static IP's for business account holders.

so for all of you in this situations with a double NAT, living in a rural area with only the zte as a broadband option. Escalate your case. We all have a right to properly working broadband without nonsense like static IP's for business account holders, and fair data caps comparable to DSL accounts. Don't let rogers tell you "sorry mam, sorry sir,me don't offer that" yes they do, their the ones putting stupid restrictions on like 10 device limits etc. 

hey rogers, canada is coming for you, look out you greedy ___________ <<---------------- insert true feelings here.

Mike, your friendly neighbourhood anti big Telecom IT support. Ask for anything, cuz rogers doesn't know. I'm here

[gwmacdonald]

@the41stside

Some comments on the issues you've raised.

1.  If you're still paying $300+ monthly for 100 GB, then you should switch to one of the new flex plans that were introduced a few months ago.   See the thread "New Flex Rate Plans for Mobile Internet" in this forum.

2.  You don't mention which RocketHub ZTE model you have, but you can certainly change the IP network from the default 192.168.1.0 on the ZTE 28B model.    In any case, you can use any of the other 254 networks in the 192.168.x.0 address space for your internal networks (assuming a 255.255.255.0 mask).   You don't have to use the 10.x.x.x address space, but there's nothing wrong with using that address space either.

3.  Notwithstanding the static IP issue, you should be able to connect all your remote access devices (to a maximum of nine) to the Ethernet ports and WiFI network of the RocketHub, thus avoiding double NAT.    It's not necessary to disable the WiFi on the RocketHub if you're using a downstream internal router.    (BTW, I've always assumed that the device connection limit of ten is because of limited RAM in the RocketHub devices.)

4.  To avoid the cost of a static IP and the problem of port forwarding, you could set up a computer on your internal network that has access to all your remote devices, and then use Teamviewer (free for personal use) to connect to that computer from the outside world.

5.  I have no personal experience with simple range extender devices on my internal network, but I have had no issues with a secondary router, a wireless access point and a switch all attached to my main internal router (which is not an Apple product, so your mileage may vary).

[the41stside]

So, I'm not currently paying that much anymore, as I said eventually the Rogers Office of the Ombudsman gave me a fair deal and told me that I should never have had to fight as hard as I did to get it. I will look at the new flex plans but I'm certain my package is better anyway.

I'm not sure which ZTE I have but it defaults to 192.168 addresses and I never needed to change that. One of many details I would have left out of my post would be that the Rogers ZTE wifi is insufficient for my network, 9 devices isn't enough. Also, the Rogers ZTE as a master router doesn't handle any of Apple's protocols as they come through repeaters/extenders, only if the device is directly on the ZTE wifi can it handle apple protocols, this is the same for most high end routers and isn't surprising. There's no qos, limited and restricted network controls and further, the ZTE is just a dinosaur at this point when it comes to local networking.

In order to use bonjour automatic discovery over wifi range extenders as well as other apple related tools like AirPlay over range extenders the entire master network MUST be apple. Making the ZTE a nightmare of a modem.

That said, I don't believe anyone I've spoken to yet is getting as much out of their ZTE as I am. Further, this weekend I was able to eliminate the double NAT thru some wiring and settings on the Apple end of my network. For this I was extatic. Unfortunately I'm still unable to resolve the remote access issues. Although the "teamviewer" is an option, it just not good enough for me, I want the real thing, I pay way too much even with a better deal to accept a workaround like that.

I just want to add also... 1 my goal here was to help, because Rogers tech support has never helped me to get anywhere and often they tend to learn something from me. So hopefully this content leads to further investigation from other users. 2 at this point I'm generally satisfied. Thanks to myself, and a few chat forums here and there. I'm sure I'll be able to use my Macmini server computer to handle a VPN or something that will allow me to gain remote access. At which point I'll post here. 😉

Thanks for your suggestions though. Maybe we can help some other people get to where we are.

[the41stside]

It may have seemed easy. But you are running a double NAT. My router (apple) has the logic built in to identify a double NAT and tell me. It's not possible to turn off routing in the ZTE out of the box from Rogers. A double NAT isn't a big deal for everyone, but for me it became a huge problem as soon as I started home automation. It can also cause problems with Apple's bonjour protocol. Maybe other problems too, I'm not on Windows anymore, but I suspect with Microsoft's a** backwards OS there's got to be some issues there.

Good luck all

[jmyching]

Also the MF271 does not have an external antenna input so there is no way to use one.

[jmyching]

It's true you cannot turn off the NAT on the MF271, but you can avoid double NAT by turning off NAT on the second wireless router and only use the second router as a wireless access point. In that case you have to connect the Ethernet cable from the MF271 to one of the LAN ports of the second router, not the WAN port, and turn off the wireless feature on the MF271. The downside is the MF271's router features are much weaker than most dedicated routers so you might lose some critical functions you depend on. But this is one way to avoid double NAT. The plus side is that you circumvent the 10 wireless user limit and gain a wireless AP with much more powerful signal and range.

[the41stside]

That's entirely correct jmyching and thats what I did. I was actually able to run the wifi on the ZTE dedicated to my security cameras. While using a downstream apple router to handle all the rest of my wireless. Doing it this way leaves everything on the same NAT and because said NAT is handled by the ZTE one can also use the wifi in the ZTE as well as their own downstream router. Just watch the wifi frequency channel if you want to do this 😉

[the41stside]

Using the MF271 as a router for my network it burned out in 3 months. I confirmed on the phone with tech support today that my 271 was likely overloaded because its not meant to handle as much routing as i was doing. About 30 devices, most hard lined to a switch.

This begs the question, why have a router that can't be bridged if it can't handle routing? 

You may say, "It can handle routing, just not on that large a scale". To which i say.. IT CAN'T.

if it can't handle 30 devices while it's wifi isn't even on and it's only being used as a router and modem... IT'S NOT A ROUTER!!

[markchamp]

Hello... I was reading your post about the ZTE MF271. I would like to hook up a security camera and monitor it with my Iphone. Normally this requires that I can access the MF271 Wan IP address and possible port forward the camera. Has anyone been able to do this succesfully ?

[danpoleary]

Yes, it will work,

How I did it, was to use a separate router to reduce the load on the slower MF271

First, I got a public routable IP address from Rogers.  Then I set up the LAN as 192.168.1.255 with all radios off. Then had my main netgear router hooked to the mf271. Port forwarded all ports to the netgear. I then used the netgear as both firewall and router for all devices in the house.  With some fireall rules and port forwarding on the netgear, I had cameras, media, etc available to me wherever I am via mobile.

I don't know your knowledge level, but I can help you if you get stuck.

Dan

[BillKmet]

Alternative Rocket Hubs

Are there other routers that could be used with the rogers sim card that are faster, better range, battery strength, and handle more devices or are we locked in using only what rogers offers?

[RogersYasmine]

Greetings @BillKmet!

Thanks for participating in the Rogers Community Forums! We're happy you are here! 😁

Have you had an opportunity to review the helpful posts within this thread? And especially post #14 which may answer most of your questions. Just to summarize, yes you can set-up your Rocket Hub with a third-party router and there is a good chance it will work the way you want it to, if done right. Please keep in mind, however, that this type of set-up would be unsupported by Rogers. 

Cheers!

RogersLaura