Déjà Vu - What’s preventing remote access?

Plex Media Server Remote Access
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1

It’s not quite February yet, but it feels like Groundhogs Day here. I am having the exact same issue that I had back in June of 2023.

After we had some issues with our new Altice Mini Boxes, we called Optimum to have them take a look. They ended up resetting our Gateway which knocked it out of Bridge Mode. As a recap, I have a Synology NAS plugged into our ASUS AX68U which is plugged into our Optimum Gateway. For some reason, since the reset of the Gateway, Plex is unable to connect outside of our home network despite nothing having changed on the ASUS or the Synology.

I spoke with several Optimum reps who have indicated that they have reenabled Bridge Mode. However, when I log into the ASUS router, the IP address shows WAN IP: 192.168.1.18 which is in line with an issue I had along the way in resolving this issue. At the time, @FordGuy61 told me this indicated that the Gateway was not in Bridge Mode despite what Optimum said.

Is there anything else to glean or try here? I seem to be stuck in the same place. Nothing changed between the time they did a Gateway reset and when I called to have them re-enable Bridge Mode (ie. nothing unplugged, no rules changed on the ASUS, and everything is still powering on and working fine aside from Plex).

2

If the WAN IP is an RFC-1918 LAN address then it’s confirmed the WAN adapter on the router is being assigned that IP from the modem.

You will need to call AGAIN and have them put it back into bridge mode.

( A lot of folks have been getting end-of-year firmware updates from their ISPs which reset configurations )

3

I will try again, but this is the fourth representative I’ve gone through on the phone plus one on chat. They all seem to think that the Gateway is in Bridge Mode, and I don’t really have a way to verify that other than what I can see on the ASUS dashboard.

On the most recent call, I thought I had a pretty competent rep. He pointed out that the Gateway modem is not seeing anything plugged into it, but the router is obviously plugged in because we have WiFi in the house.

Should I be doing any kind of reboots, unplug/replugs, or restarts after having them re-enable Bridge Mode? Or should I just be able to log out and log back into the ASUS dashboard to properly see the WAN has been assigned by the router?

To my knowledge, nothing has changed on the ASUS settings, but does everything under the WAN settings look okay?

4

Can you log into their modem and take screenshots ?
(perhaps press them for the login info)

If their modem is anything like my Comcast modem, it will clearly show it’s in bridge mode.

5

To my understanding, best articulated in this Medium post someone made, only Optimum can manage the Bridge Mode feature on their devices.

All I have access to is this:

Homepage showing Gateway status, MAC Address, IP address, LAN setup info.

Port Forwarding rules which only affect devices it is detecting such as the cable Mini Boxes we have in the house. Note that I do have Port Forwarding rules on the ASUS router for the Synology NAS which is attached to the ASUS router.

Frustratingly, Optimum chat reps again tell me that Bridge Mode is enabled.

6

The Homepage screenshot shows the device acting as a router:

  • It has a 192.168.1.1 private address.
  • It is distributing 192.168.1.x addresses to other devices.

Try power cycling the Optimum router. See if it comes back up in bridge mode.

Question: Is it possible to connect the NAS to the Optimum router? That would let you leave the Optimum device as a router and also eliminate double-NAT for Plex.

Edit: Another alternative is to use the Asus as an Access Point instead of a router. That would leave just one router, the Optimum, in the network, also eliminating the double-NAT situation.

7

I’m reminded of this meme today.

I’m not physically at home, so I was relying on others to handle the physical troubleshooting. I was promised that only the power cables were being removed and plugged back in.

Optimum support on Reddit messaged me to say that (despite what I see online) they could see one wired device connected to the Gateway. The only port that works with Bridge Mode was LAN Port 1.

This is the photo I received when I asked to see the back of the Gateway modem.

I was assured that when they were troubleshooting with Optimum, they accidentally pulled the ethernet on the ASUS router but not the modem. I am a little skeptical.

Problem solved. Thank you all and sorry for the runaround.

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