ASUS static route not working from 2.4 GHz network

[Bill_Stewart]

Configuration

I have an ASUS RT-ACRH13 router (latest firmware as I write this: 3.0.0.4.380_8228) and DSL service (CenturyLink, PPPoE). The DSL modem is configured in "transparent bridge" mode (no NAT, PPPoE, etc.); the ASUS device is configured to connect with PPPoE and all of that works fine.

In order to reach the DSL modem's configuration page, I added a small NAT device ("router") in between the ASUS device and the DSL modem and configured a static route in the ASUS device to make the DSL modem's configuration page reachable. It looks like this:

     LAN                     LAN   WAN                   LAN
[ASUS]-------------------------[NAT]-----------------------[DSL]
     192.168.50.1   192.168.50.2   192.168.0.2   192.168.0.1

The static route in the ASUS device is as follows:

Network/Host IP   Netmask         Gateway        Metric   Interface
192.168.0.0       255.255.255.0   192.168.50.2   2        LAN

Problem

From a device that is joined to the WiFi network (192.168.50.0/24), I am able to ping 192.168.0.1, but I cannot telnet to 192.168.0.1 or go to http://192.168.0.1. http and telnet fail when performed from a device on the 192.168.50.0/24 network.

This same configuration (static route) works without problems if I use an older Linksys router device.

I have worked around this for now by adding a static route on my computer directly instead of using the route in the ASUS device.

Question

Has anyone else run into any problems with static routes on an ASUS device? It seems odd that I can ping but not anything else--it's almost as if if ICMP works, but TCP does not.

Or have I discovered an obscure bug in the ASUS firmware?

 

[Bill_Stewart]

Update [2018/04/06]

I have narrowed down the scope of the problem. If my PPPoE connection is active, then the static route does NOT work. If I stop the PPPoE connection (e.g., suppose I enter invalid PPPoE credentials), the static route DOES work.

I have delivered this information to ASUS technical support. Perhaps this can be resolved in a firmware update.

 

[Bill_Stewart]

Update [2020/12/20]

This seems to have been resolved in a later version of the firmware. I'm now running version 3.0.0.4.382_52243 and it works fine.