Double NAT issue: from Hitron Chita to Nest Wifi Pro to Screens 4 / desktop Mac

[skafte]

Hi everyone 👋

Hope you are well.

I'm trying to access my desktop Mac remotely through the app 'Screens 4'. So far I've been unsuccessful and the app is saying that there's a problem with double NAT.

I've tried the methods outlined by the developers of Screens 4 (here), but with no luck.

Here's a breakdown of my setup:

• Router: Virgin Media Hitron Chita
• Static IP
• Connected to a Nest Wifi Pro
• Connected to a desktop Mac

I'm aware that the problem happens because I'm using the Nest Wifi Pro router as an extension of the Hitron Chita ISP router/modem, but I just can't work out how to solve the problem?!

Of the methods mentioned by Screens 4 (here), here are the results of my attempts:

1. Configure a PPPoE Connection Between the Router and Modem

I don't believe Virgin Media and/or the Hitron Chita router supports PPPoE.

2. Use the Router in Bridge Mode

This didn't seem to work. I enabled bridge mode as described here, but it didn't allow me to connect through Screens 4 even though it didn't produce the double-NAT error when in Bridge Mode.

3. Add the Router to the Modem's DMZ

Tried doing this, but it didn't seem to have an effect. I also believe it's not recommended to do this for security reasons(?).

4. Forward the Modem's Port 5900 (or 22) to the Router

Did not work either.

I should say that I have not had any success with making changes to the settings on the Nest Wifi Pro router and I'm not sure if I need to anyway; I believe that all the settings should be set on the ISP modem and not on the third-party router, right? That said, strangely, I cannot change the Nest Wifi Pro router to use a static IP even though I've got it 🤔

Has anyone in here got any experience with making this setup work? If so, I'd be eternally grateful for any help that you can offer!

Hope to hear from someone and many thanks in advance!

[Roger_Gooner]

Reset the Nest to factory, configure the Hitron to ‘Modem only Mode’ and connect the Nest by its WAN port to the Hitron. All broadband and WiFi will now come from the Nest which will allocate IP addresses to connected devices from its DHCP server.

[legacy1]

...all the trouble VM want for business side of things and it still a FU use modem mode...should be possible for them to do IP Passthrough instead of double NAT   

[skafte]

Thanks @Roger_Gooner ! I'm going to give this a try. Would you recommend the same approach if you have a static IP and aren't using DHCP?

[legacy1]

You have to use DHCP in RG function modem mode

Your useless static IP must be with the hub in router mode

[skafte]

Hi again, many thanks for your quick response!

Interesting – so are you basically saying that I cannot use Bridge Mode when I've got a static IP? If so, I suppose there is no way that I can make this (using Screens 4 to access my computer remotely) work without changing to dynamic IP...?

It's ironic as I specifically asked for a static IP from VM so that I could access my computer from afar as I thought that was a requirement (if the IP keeps changing then my laptop wouldn't know where to look when trying to get access to my desktop computer). At this point I wasn't trying with the Screens 4 app though, but was simply trying with the approach outlined here: https://youtu.be/4rAD3DyBnKo – it might be that Screens 4 can work with a dynamic IP.

Thanks again for your help!

[legacy1]

Its why No-IP and others are about you have a subdomain like bridgemode.bounceme.net that maps to your IP even when changed and even then DHCP on VM can be static for years.

[skafte]

Aha! I see! Thanks for sharing this. No-IP seems like a good solution. However, it's really silly of VM if a static IP with them doesn't allow you to do things that static IPs are meant to enable you to do!?

[skafte]

Also, what's strange is that when I look in my router settings under 'STATUS' → 'DOCSIS WAN' → 'IP Address', then I get a different IP address than when I look it up at https://www.whatsmyip.org/ – makes me wonder if a VM static IP really is a truly static IP...?

[legacy1]

They should be the same....