Hub 5 Port Forwarding Issue

[arcovion]

Hello,

I recently received Hub 5 and wanted to forward a port, just like on Hub 3. The settings page showed UPnP had automatically decided to open the port I wanted, but when I entered my public IP and the port number into an online port checker it turned out to be closed. So I turned UPnP off and tried making a rule for it manually (which I think is how I had it set up on my old hub), but it was still closed despite the settings page saying it was being forwarded. I can't think of anything I missed: I made sure I have a static local IPv4 address (192.168.0.11) and I don't remember having any trouble forwarding ports on my old hub...

Googling shows other people have had this exact issue. Sounds like it may be a firmware problem or some other fault with Hub 5 itself:

https://www.reddit.com/r/VirginMedia/comments/10f3j70/hub_5_port_forwarding_appears_impossible/

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Port-forwarding/m-p/4971836

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Hub-5-Port-Forwarding/td-p/4911018

So I decided to do what was suggested by some, and bought another router. I put the Hub 5 into modem mode ok (logged into 192.168.100.1 to double check) and my new TP-Link router works fine with my wireless devices and everything. I logged into it (192.168.0.1) and saw it had automatically forwarded the port thanks to UPnP, just like the Hub 5. I also checked that the DHCP range (192.168.0.2 - 192.168.0.253) contains my local IP (192.168.0.11).

Yet once again, I tested the port with my new public IP and it's still closed.

Where do I go from here? My thinking was that all the Hub 5's must have this problem, and that I could either downgrade the hub (which means not getting gigabit speeds) or try modem mode with a new router, but that hasn't worked out. I already sent back the Hub 3!

I also had to spend this afternoon sorting out my phone as the SIM I had as part of the previous bundle was cancelled without me asking. I assumed the O2 SIM which is part of the 'Ultimate Volt bundle' would be free but they seem to have given me a separate Virgin Mobile plan that costs £6.00 a month extra. Ended up deciding to port out my phone number to another network and I intend to cancel said Virgin Mobile contract within 14 days. My previous 'Bigger Oomph Bundle' has TV/Fiber/Phone/Mobile listed but my new 'Ultimate Volt bundle' doesn't mention Mobile at all - is this in error? Imagine the hassle if after all this I end up having to go back to the previous bundle I had last week.

Will I have to downgrade my bundle and settle for lower speeds just to get port forwarding, or is my setup wrong? Troubleshooting tips are welcome, thanks.

[legacy1]

User problem with firewall on end device doing the blocking or no app on that port!

Port scans work for TCP as UDP checks may not show if it open or not.

Test with this

RJL Software - Software - Utility - Port Listener

[arcovion]

Thanks for the reply.

There is an app on the port, that's how UPnP detects it in the first place I think. I keep it open while I test the port. The app used to work fine, as did the port scan tool, and I'm on the same PC so the only thing that changed is the new hub. Likewise I don't recall having to configure firewalls on Hub 3, if I ever did it must have been many years ago, how do I check that?

[carl_pearce]

---

@arcovion wrote:

Thanks for the reply.

There is an app on the port, that's how UPnP detects it in the first place I think. I keep it open while I test the port. The app used to work fine, as did the port scan tool, and I'm on the same PC so the only thing that changed is the new hub. Likewise I don't recall having to configure firewalls on Hub 3, if I ever did it must have been many years ago, how do I check that?

---

I've been using port forwarding on my HUB 5 for some time, in router mode, with no issues.

Can you confirm you can connect to the port from a local device?

Do a netstat -a on the device in command prompt and check if it's listening on the expected IP address.

[legacy1]

Get Wireshark put in filter:
port xxxx
and do a scan

windows has this problem called profiles for networks it might be that is the problem

[arcovion]

netstat -a | findstr 24483
  TCP    127.0.0.1:24483        PC_NAME:0      LISTENING
  TCP    <MY PUBLIC IPv4>:24483 PC_NAME:0      LISTENING
  TCP    192.168.0.11:24483     PC_NAME:0      LISTENING
  TCP    192.168.56.1:24483     PC_NAME:0      LISTENING
  TCP    [::1]:24483            PC_NAME:0      LISTENING
  UDP    127.0.0.1:24483        *:*
  UDP    <MY PUBLIC IPv4>:24483 *:*
  UDP    192.168.0.11:24483     *:*
  UDP    192.168.56.1:24483     *:*
  UDP    [::1]:24483            *:*

So the port I want is 24483, I copied output for those lines excluding IPv6 stuff. It says listening on my public and local IP for TCP, but I guess there could be a problem with UDP? I'll investigate more... not familiar with any of this myself. 

Edit: On my router I have these settings FWIW:

'Device IP Address: 192.168.0.11'

'External Port: 24483'

'Internal Port: 24483'

'Protocol: All' (dropdown has TDP/UDP/All options)

'Enable This Entry: Yes'

[carl_pearce]

---

@arcovion wrote:

netstat -a | findstr 24483
  TCP    127.0.0.1:24483        PC_NAME:0      LISTENING
  TCP    <MY PUBLIC IPv4>:24483 PC_NAME:0      LISTENING
  TCP    192.168.0.11:24483     PC_NAME:0      LISTENING
  TCP    192.168.56.1:24483     PC_NAME:0      LISTENING
  TCP    [::1]:24483            PC_NAME:0      LISTENING
  UDP    127.0.0.1:24483        *:*
  UDP    <MY PUBLIC IPv4>:24483 *:*
  UDP    192.168.0.11:24483     *:*
  UDP    192.168.56.1:24483     *:*
  UDP    [::1]:24483            *:*

So the port I want is 24483, I copied output for those lines excluding IPv6 stuff. It says listening on my public and local IP for TCP, but I guess there could be a problem with UDP? I'll investigate more... not familiar with any of this myself. 

---

If you do an IPconfig in command prompt do you get several IP addresses?

Have you tried opening a connection from another local device using something like putty?

[legacy1]

Not that its impossible but if your doing a simple home router with NAT how is your public IP showing up in netstat? Plus 192.168.56.1 ?

[arcovion]

ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter vEthernet (WSL):

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::6b9:e034:57e1:9bee%37
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : <MY PUBLIC IPv4>
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.240.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter Ethernet 2:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::9cce:a22b:80bc:eaf4%11
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter Ethernet 6:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::917f:85b3:a32c:fba7%19
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.11
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

I believe 192.168.56.1 is my NAS? Not sure. Ethernet 6 is my internet. Top one is windows subsystem linux.

When I set up this new router, I plugged my NAS into it as well as my PC. I can see the network share and access it as before. But I just tried opening 'synology assistant' to log in to it and it doesn't find it anymore. That's something that's changed without me noticing, so I'm hoping this will all turn out to be a config issue on my end that I missed; the fact that multiple people have had success with Hub 5 in modem mode makes me optimistic.

The public IP doesn't show in `netstat`, only `netstat -a`

I'll try unplugging the NAS and running ipconfig again etc

[arcovion]

Ok so I unplugged the NAS and restarted the PC and saw that `ipconfig` hadn't changed, turns out 'Ethernet 2' was an old VirtualBox adapter which I simply uninstalled.

Then I tried changing the port the app uses, added a rule for that port in the router and tried the online port checker again, to no avail.

Wireshark had a flurry of network activity on that port with the app open, with some '[TCP Retransmission] [TCP Port numbers reused]' notifications that seemed to indicate it was polling to try to connect.

I plugged the NAS back in and tried to find properties of the network share to identify its IP address, and at some point windows explorer said I had to 'Turn on network discovery and file sharing' to access the 'Network' folder. I turned it on for private networks, saw the NAS (192.168.0.210), and then so did 'synology assistant' (which before came up with nothing when I clicked 'search' in the program) and I was able to log in again.

Then I tried the online port checker again and amazingly, the port is now open(!).

So what fixed it? Toggling this setting (Settings > Network & Internet > Advanced Network Settings > Advanced Sharing Settings > Private Networks > Network Discovery)? Changing the port? Accessing the NAS magically straightened things out? Had to figure out what made the difference...

I removed the port forwarding rule and turned UPnP back on, changed the port back to 24483 in the app, and somehow it all works again. The router found it automatically as 'NAT-PMP 24483 tcp 192.168.0.11 24483 24483 TCP'.

I looked at wireshark to compare the output, and there are no longer any '[TCP Port numbers reused]' messages, so that's good.

If I turn the private network discovery setting off, I can still log in to the NAS and 'synology assistant' still sees it, so that doesn't seem to make any difference anymore. And anyway, I was able to log in to the NAS before on the Hub 5, that problem was only on the new router.

When you said you'd been using it in 'router mode' successfully, I misread that as 'modem mode'. Of course it was worth trying to see if the Hub 5 worked on it's own, I deleted any port forwarding rules on the hub and it shows '192.168.0.11 24483 24483 UDP Automatically added by UPnP'.

Lo and behold, it works perfectly even without the new router. Hopefully those who search for port forwarding in future will find this post first and hesitate before buying a router.

Not to be that guy I'd like to leave a good answer here so other people who are also searching for this problem find it useful, but I literally don't know what I did to fix it. It wasn't simply a case of restarting the PC, or the router, or changing the port, or removing the VirtualBox adapter, or turning on UPnP as neither of those worked right away. Maybe it was some kind of config or cache issue in Windows, IDK.

Regarding my phone, I found a related thread with particularly helpful comments pertaining to my issue:

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Volt/Mis-sold-Virgin-Media-renewal-contract-without-O2-which-sh...

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Volt/Mis-sold-Virgin-Media-renewal-contract-without-O2-which-sh...

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Volt/Mis-sold-Virgin-Media-renewal-contract-without-O2-which-sh...

Which reinforces my decision to simply cancel the Virgin Mobile plan they gave me - I've already got a PAC code to transfer my number out.

More good news: I've factory reset the router and I'm able to return it back to the store no problem.

So this is resolved, thank you both for your help, it's a relief I don't have to downgrade anything. IDK how I 'fixed' it in the end, but there you go!