Question about Telus ADSL modems

[Azure]

Say a user has Telus internet and Telus has employed an ADSL modem/router on their network.

Now, my clients want to employ my router instead, and I want it setup from remote access obviously.

If the Telus ADSL modem/router is in place, would I still be able to remote access my router? It would be plugged in behind the ADSL modem/router.

Telus technical support says I would be able too, provided that my router is setup for remote access.

I don't believe it. Because right now I have a client in the states that is using my router on his network, but the ISP plugged in another router right before mine. So the internet comes in, gets plugged into his router, then a cable goes into my router. And I can't remotely access my router.

Or am I completely out to lunch?

[Rathji]

Should be able to forward the appropriate ports on the 3Wire (or whatever the Telus router is) to the IP address of your internal router, which would then need to be configured to forward to whatever machine you needed remote access to.

If Telus says it is possible, then they should either have the documentation to do so, or be able to walk you through configuring it. I have a hard time believing that a router a telecommunications company provided would not support port forwarding.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Azure

Say a user has Telus internet and Telus has employed an ADSL modem/router on their network.

Now, my clients want to employ my router instead, and I want it setup from remote access obviously.

If the Telus ADSL modem/router is in place, would I still be able to remote access my router? It would be plugged in behind the ADSL modem/router.

Telus technical support says I would be able too, provided that my router is setup for remote access.

I don't believe it. Because right now I have a client in the states that is using my router on his network, but the ISP plugged in another router right before mine. So the internet comes in, gets plugged into his router, then a cable goes into my router. And I can't remotely access my router.

Or am I completely out to lunch?

With all due sincerity, you really need to work on your basic networking skills and knowledge. You can’t be sending out routers or other networking gear, and not intuitively know what the issues are here. It’s not effective use of your time, and its unfair to your clients. You ask quite a few questions like this that demonstrate you need to bone up on this stuff.

I say this only because you obviously have an interest in the field, and some formal education would really, really help you.


The answer is that your router needs to be in the DMZ on the Telus router, which is a suboptimal solution as there is still a NAT traversal in play, or the Telus router needs to be switched to bridge mode, which is completely unsupported by Telus.

Router-in-the-DMZ works OK, but expect certain things to function weirdly from the client side of the network, such as broken traceroutes, etc. You can also expect the efficacy of this solution to vary depending on the model of router that Telus is employing at any given site. The 2wires handle this configuration pretty well, other models may not.

[Azure]

We had a problem here in town with a guy that wanted to manage his DVR server over the internet. Had cameras up at a car wash he owned, set up remote configuration on the DVR server, but couldn't get into it. Called Telus about the bridge mode and they said it shouldn't be a problem without it. No need to configure the router. The modem/router had no port forwarding feature, nor did it have a DMZ. So obviously it wouldn't work. Called Telus and they, again....said it shouldn't be an issue. Even told them there was no port forwarding or DMZ feature on the modem/router they were using, and the tech guy STILL said it should work WITHOUT those features.

Ended up just buying an ADSL modem without the router feature. Telus had to approve the MAC address of the modem though, which is another headache. Works fine now.

Admittedly the Telus tech guy confused me today. I even explained the situation with the DVR server and he STILL said it shouldn't have been a problem. I've dealt with this before, and came to the same conclusion. One would need to setup port forwarding on the router/modem or use the DMZ.

I can't help it if I ask a Telus tech guy and he tells me it should work.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Should be able to forward the appropriate ports on the 3Wire (or whatever the Telus router is) to the IP address of your internal router, which would then need to be configured to forward to whatever machine you needed remote access to.

If Telus says it is possible, then they should either have the documentation to do so, or be able to walk you through configuring it. I have a hard time believing that a router a telecommunications company provided would not support port forwarding.

Yeah, that is what I figured too.

But the Telus guy I talked too today when I asked what modems they use along with some documentation on them to see if they had port forwarding features or a DMZ said that none of that stuff was necessary.

I tried to explain to him why it wouldn't work but he kept insisting that by default without any configuration, if remote access is setup on a 3rd party device behind the modem/router than you should be able to get in from the outside without configuring the modem/router in any way.

After I asked him 3 times and him telling me each time that it should work I figured that ADSL modem/routers might be in bridge mode or something by default.

[ken0042]

I really don't know much about port forwarding or DMZs other than the basic concepts behind them. However yesterday I needed another router to troubleshoot a wireless issue at home so I went into my Telus setup.

Looks like they "updated" the software on their routers, and there is no ability whatsoever to do any sort of setup other than wireless security, etc.

[FanIn80]

There's a way to switch a telus router into passthrough mode. This essentially makes it the same as a regular modem from shaw. Of course, I can't remember what the setting is for it.

I just switched back to telus from shaw, and this time around I told them to keep their crappy "router" and just send me a little black passthrough modem. Their routers are a waste of time. They're also a waste of money, and they're free, so that should tell you something about them.


Edit: Whoops. Didn't see Ken's post about the firmware update disabling the passthrough setting. Even more reason to treat their "routers" like the second coming of the black plague. Well, the black plague + some sort of modern-day medical amnesia... Otherwise the black plague probably doesn't sound very scary...

[Azure]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I really don't know much about port forwarding or DMZs other than the basic concepts behind them. However yesterday I needed another router to troubleshoot a wireless issue at home so I went into my Telus setup.

Looks like they "updated" the software on their routers, and there is no ability whatsoever to do any sort of setup other than wireless security, etc.

Would DHCP also be disabled?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

There's a way to switch a telus router into passthrough mode. This essentially makes it the same as a regular modem from shaw. Of course, I can't remember what the setting is for it.

I just switched back to telus from shaw, and this time around I told them to keep their crappy "router" and just send me a little black passthrough modem. Their routers are a waste of time. They're also a waste of money, and they're free, so that should tell you something about them.


Edit: Whoops. Didn't see Ken's post about the firmware update disabling the passthrough setting. Even more reason to treat their "routers" like the second coming of the black plague. Well, the black plague + some sort of modern-day medical amnesia... Otherwise the black plague probably doesn't sound very scary...

Yeah, from what I read you just switch it to bridge mode and it acts as a modem only.

But it sure doesn't help if all that is going to be disabled.