Huawei B618s - Bridge Mode

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Huawei B618s - Bridge Mode

RedactedRetracted

96 posts

Master Geek

#293861 17-Feb-2022 21:27

Hi all,

I've done a bit of reading on the forum, and there seems to be a consensus that the Huawei B618s modem from Spark doesn't have a bridge mode. I've got it successfully setup using a DMZ, so it's not really of much consequence to my setup, but I am just curious what this setting on the router is then. Based on what I can see this would be perfect for my usecase, however I'm guessing there's something I'm missing here?

cyril7

9058 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#2870666 18-Feb-2022 06:57

Hi I assume you are using it with 4g, in which case there is no bridge mode. Best you can do is use the DMZ and I normally put a static route to your next router to prevent double Nat, but as I recall some versions do not support adding a route.

Cyril

BarTender

3606 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2870674 18-Feb-2022 07:46

Unless you have a Static IP on your Mobile Broadband connection (which I think only Spark offer) then there is zero point enabling Bridge mode. As the mobile network is behind a CGNAT connection anyway forwarding all WAN side traffic is pointless as the WAN IP will be a CGNAT IP 100.64.0.0/10 or similar and not an internet routable IP.

It's not really Bridge Mode more "DMZ Mode" where all WAN traffic is just forwarded to a single IP on your LAN.

But it is pointless anyway because of CGNAT at the mobile carrier.

If you DID have a Static IP and thus a real IP address on the WAN, you could enable DMZ Mode and route all traffic to a host on your LAN side. But.. IMHO I wouldn't do that either as you would then be needlessly routing all the internet noise to a host that now needs to have a proper firewall and security around it.

If you need to port-forward some ports such as if you have a VPN host then just forward the ports you need to the hosts you have on the inside of your network.

cisconz

cisconz
1341 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2870676 18-Feb-2022 07:59

VF also now has Static IP's available on their Business FWA products.

Hmmmm

coffeebaron

6231 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2870857 18-Feb-2022 13:31

Also most resellers of RBI can do static IP's.

Rural IT and Broadband support.

Broadband troubleshooting and master filter installs.
Starlink installer - one month free: https://www.starlink.com/?referral=RC-32845-88860-71
Wi-Fi and networking
Cel-Fi supply and installer - boost your mobile phone coverage legally

Need help in Auckland, Waikato or BoP? Click my email button, or email me direct: [my user name] at geekzonemail dot com

RedactedRetracted

96 posts

Master Geek

#2871422 19-Feb-2022 18:20

cyril7: Hi I assume you are using it with 4g, in which case there is no bridge mode. Best you can do is use the DMZ and I normally put a static route to your next router to prevent double Nat, but as I recall some versions do not support adding a route.

Cyril

Yes I am on 4G. Looks like I'm one of the unlucky ones, and my version doesn't have the ability to do static routes. Are there any potential reliability or performance issues with a double NAT scenario in this case? I've been having some intermitant connection issues, which don't seem to be happening on the modem itself (just based on simultaneous traceroutes). Switching to DD-WRT on my main router seems to have helped, but not entirely.

I suspect my confusion around the proper "bridge mode" setting is a misunderstanding of what 'wireless dialup' means. I made the assumption that this would be 4G, but obviously it must refer to something different, as from what you are saying that particular setting doesn't apply?

BarTender: If you DID have a Static IP and thus a real IP address on the WAN, you could enable DMZ Mode and route all traffic to a host on your LAN side. But.. IMHO I wouldn't do that either as you would then be needlessly routing all the internet noise to a host that now needs to have a proper firewall and security around it.

Yes, I do have a static IP. With disabling DMZ, would it result in potentially extra latency (obviously 4G is pretty variable, but would be keen to reduce it as much as possible!), as the modem doesn't just have to automatically forward traffic to a single IP. As you can probably tell, my understanding of such matters is reasonably basic unfortunately!

Thank you all for the help.