How to set Virgin Mobile Canada "Steve" to Bridge Mode/ Modem Only

[mbneidel]

Hi! I'm new to this forum and I hope Im in the right section..

I just moved to Canada few days ago and got my home internet from Virgin Mobile. They provided me a modem router "Steve" (Bell's Home Hub 2000). I have an ASUS AC5300 with Merlin Firmware. I would like to use the modem router as a modem only to use my AC5300. I called support and they said bridge mode is not possible.
My knowledge with networking is limited. I've seen something similar case about setting the Bell Home Hub 2000 to a "Bridge Like Mode" as the bridge mode is only possible to the 1000 model. Can anyone please help me with this?

 

[Internet Man]

Hi! I'm new to this forum and I hope Im in the right section..

I just moved to Canada few days ago and got my home internet from Virgin Mobile. They provided me a modem router "Steve" (Bell's Home Hub 2000). I have an ASUS AC5300 with Merlin Firmware. I would like to use the modem router as a modem only to use my AC5300. I called support and they said bridge mode is not possible.
My knowledge with networking is limited. I've seen something similar case about setting the Bell Home Hub 2000 to a "Bridge Like Mode" as the bridge mode is only possible to the 1000 model. Can anyone please help me with this?

I assume that you already read the top google search result that I just found about configuring the Home Hub 2000 to point to your router as the DMZ.

 

[mbneidel]

I assume that you already read the top google search result that I just found about configuring the Home Hub 2000 to point to your router as the DMZ.

Hi! Yes I have read that one, though Im not sure how exactly to do it.

1. After setting up my AC5300 to DMZ in my Modem/Router, do I still need to connect via PPPOE?
2. Do I need to contact my ISP for my PPPOE username and password?

Thank you for the fast response.

 

[Internet Man]

Hi! Yes I have read that one, though Im not sure how exactly to do it.

1. After setting up my AC5300 to DMZ in my Modem/Router, do I still need to connect via PPPOE?
2. Do I need to contact my ISP for my PPPOE username and password?

Thank you for the fast response.

The Home Hub would still be what connects to your ISP and handles the routing functions of your network. You would basically configure the AC5300 as an access point and set it as the DMZ in order to be able to port-forward through it (if necessary).

 

[CaptainSTX]

You can also double NAT your ASUS behind Steve and then you can use all the functionality of the ASUS. I run in a double NAT setup with no problems. If you want to run a VPN server on the ASUS it won't work simply but you can run a VPN CLient with no problems.

 

[ColinTaylor]

The Home Hub would still be what connects to your ISP and handles the routing functions of your network. You would basically configure the AC5300 as an access point and set it as the DMZ in order to be able to port-forward through it (if necessary).

To clarify: You don't actually want to configure the Asus to "AP mode". Putting the access point (management interface) in the DMZ is not a good idea. I think (and hope) @Internet Man was suggesting you leave the Asus in "wireless router" mode, but it would be functioning "a bit like an access point". And as @CaptainSTX pointed out, you'd have a double-NAT situation which is probably not a problem.

 

[Internet Man]

To clarify: You don't actually want to configure the Asus to "AP mode". Putting the access point (management interface) in the DMZ is not a good idea. I think (and hope) @Internet Man was suggesting you leave the Asus in "wireless router" mode, but it would be functioning "a bit like an access point". And as @CaptainSTX pointed out, you'd have a double-NAT situation which is probably not a problem.

I've never done it and started to worry a bit after posting that I had given incomplete/bad advice so thank you for correcting me!

 

[mbneidel]

Thank you all for your response! Also, I wouldnt want to Set my ac5300 as an AP. I need my router to set up a VPN selective routing. Will double NAT allow me to do that?

 

[CaptainSTX]

Thank you all for your response! Also, I wouldnt want to Set my ac5300 as an AP. I need my router to set up a VPN selective routing. Will double NAT allow me to do that?

Yes.

 

[mbneidel]

Yes.

Is Double NAT the same as connecting my AC5300 to the LAN port of my modem router via PPPOE? Then disable my modem/router's wifi? Will it affect my internet speed?

 

[CaptainSTX]

1. You connect from a LAN port on Steve to the WAN port on the ASUS.

2. It is your option whether to turn the WiFi off on Steve. If you leave if on just be sure it is on a different channel than the ASUS.

3. The reduction in speed if any will be imperceptible.

Search the forums for more complete instructions on setting up a double NAT if you are unsure on how to proceed.

 

[craigwallace]

I configured my Steve router/modem (Sagemcom Fast 5250) to operate as just a modem and I connected my router to it. Here's how I did it:

1. Connect an Ethernet cable from one of your modem's LAN ports to your router's WAN port.
2. If you don't already have PPPoE credentials from your ISP, you need to call Virgin Mobile customer service to get it. Just ask for the PPPoE username and ask them to generate you a new password. The username should look something like this: v2xxxxxx@virginmobile.ca.
3. If a router and a modem are on the same subnet then you can avoid the complications of needing to understand and configure the required routing settings between separate subnets. To that effect, I set my router's LAN IP address to match the subnet of my modem. My modem's IP address was 192.168.2.1, so in my router's settings I set my router's LAN IP address to 192.168.2.2. I also set the subnet mask in the router settings to 255.255.255.0.
4. In your router settings, set the internet connection type to PPPoE, and set the username and password to the values you retrieved from Virgin customer service.
5. In your router settings, set the DHCP Server settings to provide IP to provide your network devices addresses between 192.168.2.3 to 192.168.2.253. Setting this value range ensures that IP addresses that are assigned out to devices aren't given the same IP addresses as the the router or modem. Also set the Default Gateway IP address to 192.168.2.2, which is the IP address of your router.
6. In your router settings, enable and configure Wi-Fi if it isn't already enabled.
7. Now In your modem settings, enable DMZ, and add the router's IP address as the DMZ device (192.168.2.2).
8. We don't want the modem automatically handing out IP addresses to devices in our network (we only want our router to do so), so in your modem settings, disable DHCP.
9. In your modem settings, you can now disable Wi-Fi so that your modem's Wi-Fi settings aren't interfering with your router's Wi-Fi.
10. Reboot your modem and router. Once they are back up, reboot your network devices if necessary. Don't forget to connect your devices to the Wi-FI, and if you need to, reconfigure your network devices if you previously configured network settings manually.

That's it for the config. If everything is working for you, stop here.

For me, after I made these changes I noticed that my desktop's Ethernet connection was intermittently losing connectivity. To fix it I had to update my computer's Ethernet network connection to use 100Mbps Full Duplex instead of 1000Mbps Full Duplex. If that's happening to you, you can try that.

 

[RMerlin]

Bell's Home Hub 2000 (I assume they use the same basic firmware with Virgin) can work as a semi-bridge mode. Don't configure the PPPoE session in the Home Hub, only configure it in the Asus router. The modem should then act as a bridge, relaying the PPPoE session.