I tried to contact U-Verse customer support to ask this question, but they just didn’t understand what I was asking. I’m not great at describing what I’m looking to do here, but hopefully someone here can parse what I want.
The DVR appears to need to be connected via Ethernet to the Uverse router. The Uverse router is terrible for my home WiFi, so I’ve connected a good Netgear router to provide Wi-Fi. We’ve moved the main TV to another room, but the router had to stay in his home in the living room cabinet. I can use a wireless Uverse access box to get cable, but it has occasional connection issues, and I’d like to hardwire it. It does not appear I can hardwire the DVR to the Netgear router - is there a setting or something I can change to allow me to do that? If I can, I’ll get a mesh router and put a unit in the TV’s room to connect the DVR to.
U-Verse (AT&T) has not been very helpful to me when I ask for support for my own network/router. Just saying…
I can only speak to my experience with my own system. In mine, the DVRs have to be connected either by coaxial cable or ethernet cable to the U-Verse router. Since this works fine, I just leave it that way.
But I have a TP-Link Deco mesh network (three units) that I use for all wifi. I just placed a single Deco unit near (not adjacent to) the U-Verse router and hardwired it with a data cable. The other two units are evenly distributed through the house. I do NOT use the Deco DHCP service.
I didn’t really object to the U-Verse unit as a router providing DHCP service. In fact, it makes it much simpler for me to troubleshoot the entire network using the AT&T phone app. Using the mesh network and an older laptop (Lenovo X270), I consistently get about 350 - 400 Mb/s speed test results over wifi.
I also run two 16-port switches and a 5-port POE switch that are hardwired to the U-Verse router. these support about 20 computers, cameras, NAS units, and other devices. From those computers (which are essentially hardwired to the router through a switch), I get about 800 to 900 Mb/s speeds.
For the IPTV, Routers including routing firewalls, need to understand and run multicast routing protocols eg Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) running in pim-sparse mode.
Anyway you are double NATTING and making the devices beyond your wifi equipment hidden from the UVERSE lan (like the uverse LAN was distrusted as general internet , rather than trusted as your own private network. )
So yes there is a setting, usually the router mode setting… What the setting will do is change it from being a router to an access point… ethernet via wifi… The setting turns off its level 3 network ability (a TCP/IP router to the WAN side) and leaves it a level 2 network device… an access point and switch ONLY, and probably changes the WAN port to just be another LAN port…
Anyway, even if you dont disable the WAN nat firewall router function, you can still use the wifi router to extend the LAN…
If its still implementing a TCP/IP NAT firewall router, or WAN protocol like PPPoE, to the WAN port, then the WAN port will be useless
you need the DHCP server to be OFF (or set to be compatible, eg relay, or allocating non-clashing range )
LAN ip address not clashing with other devices
connect everything via LAN (wired or wifi ) only
This works because Level 2 (802 … eg ethernet, or 802.11 wireless ethernet) does not need to know about and does not interfere with, PIMS or other multicast protocols as they are level 3 related protocols. Level 2 just ethernets…
a router means its a TCP/IP NAT FIREWALL (eg ip address sharing) and a WAN protocol (eg PPPoE, or DHCP for TCP/IP directly ) via the WAN port and that limits it to the capability of the TCP/IP NAT firewall, and therefore which protocols and apps it supports
@Isilder got really technical there, but I think what he’s trying to say in his third paragraph is that you have to set your AT&T router to bridge mode/access point mode in order to do what you want, because otherwise the way you have it set up, the Uverse DVR can’t communicate with the Uverse servers correctly, so you have to tell that router to just pass everything through.
That would explain why when I was setting my AT&T Pace 5268AC DSL modem/router (no UVerse TV though, sorry) up to work with my new Archer A6 router/mesh wi-fi, a lot of the sites I read to figure that out said very clearly that the UVerse hardware needs to be connected directly to the AT&T device, and not through it via bridge mode or DMZ+ or whatever.
For those of us who aren’t nearly as technical as @Isilder or @bump, I’m trying to understand the issue here. I don’t have the answer, but I’m trying to understand the problem!
The OP has a Uverse router, which is the mechanism for delivering both cable TV and internet to his home. Is this correct?
The Uverse router has deficient WiFi capabilities, so the OP has connected a Netgear router to the Uverse router. This is the mechanism by which all wireless devices connect to the internet. Correct so far? (Question: how is the Netgear router connected to the Uverse router? Ethernet or WiFi?)
The Uverse DVR, which is hooked up to the main TV, must be connected via ethernet to a router to provide cable TV. Also correct?
The Uverse router cannot be moved, but the OP wants to move the DVR & TV to another room. Correct?
What I believe the OP is asking is there a method by which a router can be placed next to the DVR that will provide ‘seamless’ connectivity to the Uverse router.
Normally, both devices would hand out different ranges of IPs. Devices on the network could not communicate.The second should be set to use IP addresses handed out by the first device.
All of your assumptions are correct. The answer to this question is via Ethernet.
Also correct. The house is 5000sqft, so at some point a mesh system will be beneficial, and most of them have Ethernet ports on the satellite units. Maybe there’s a system that is really user friendly that I can tell to treat EthernetPort4 as a pass through straight to the Uverse router?
I think the problem is that the way that the UVerse head-end talks to the UVerse DVR is something that gets blocked when you put a router behind a router.
So the trick is figuring out how to do one of three things:
Set your Netgear router up in “access point” mode, which sets it up to act as a wireless access point, and not to do any actual routing of packets. This is probably the easiest and most likely to work way involving wi-fi, if I had to take a guess.
Set your UVerse router up in what’s called “bridge” mode, which means that it connects to the AT&T network physically (meaning the fiber or DSL connection), but doesn’t actually do any routing or firewalling, and passes everything through to the Netgear router to handle.
Run an ethernet cable from the UVerse router to the UVerse DVR, and skip all that other stuff. This is absolutely the technically simplest and best solution, but running cables is a massive PITA and looks ugly, etc…
I think this is relatively easy to do, but I also think it would involve purchasing a meshed system, like Orbi from Netgear. The ‘base’ Orbi unit would be connected to the Uverse router via ethernet, and it would be set in access point mode. Then one of the satellite units could be placed next to the DVR. The satellites have ethernet ports, so AIUI, when the DVR connects via ethernet, the packets should be sent directly to the Uverse router, as @bump suggested.
I have an Orbi system installed (although not in this method), and it works great. It has two satellites, and it cost just under 300 bucks a year ago.
This is the question my OP was pointing towards. I assumed that since going DVR - Netgear - Uverse (all via Ethernet) doesn’t work, that going DVR - Mesh - Uverse wouldn’t either.
But if someone has firsthand knowledge of access point mode and Uverse, that’d be great. Are there any downsides to the other aspects of my home Wi-Fi this would affect?
I have no idea. But tech support should be able to answer that question. When I was visiting the page I linked, I was immediately asked via a chat box if I was having a problem.
Where I live there is an extra fee for their router. But, I can use my own equipment and skip the fee (which, in my case, the cable modem paid for itself in about 10 months).
So, I got an Arris cable modem that supports DOCSIS 3.1 (which my ISP requires). Just be sure to buy one that supports the speeds you want and meets your ISP’s requirements (usually DOCSIS 3.1).
Setup is a breeze…power plug and one ethernet plug. Call the cable company and give a few details and it is done. Where I live cable companies have to allow this by law. While they will not go out of their way to tell you about it they know how to get it going and I had no hassle.
Then I plugged that in to my Google WiFi mesh. There are several other brands that do the same (like Eero). Buy whatever you like. The cable modem plugs into one and the other two connect to that main hub. Again, SUPER easy setup. It does it all for you. No faffing about with bridges or AP settings. Since you have three (or more) hubs you get great coverage in the home.
When the cable guy came he didn’t get it. He kept insisting I needed an ethernet connection. I told him the mesh hub would connect with an ethernet cable (each hub has two ethernet ports). He seemed dubious but it works like a charm. No problem at all.
It may cost a little more but I think it is money well spent. Once you have it setup (which is easy) it almost never requires any fussing with and you have solid WiFi in your whole home (probably…YMMV).
While they sell some with more ports and WiFi and other options this is the basic setup and all you really need as long as you have something else providing the WiFi.
If your DVR connects via ethernet (CAT5e or CAT6 cable to the router), you can do the following fairly easily without changing configurations and settings:
Leave your U-Verse router exactly as it is.
Install a mesh wifi system that provides a data port. (My TP-Link Deco has one on each mesh unit.) Make the mesh system work in AP mode only…no DHCP service.
Connect one mesh unit to a data port on the U-Verse router. Locate one of the other units at the DVR and connect the data port on it to the DVR.
Instead of the mesh system connection between the U-Verse router and the DVR, you could use a hardwired connection, a wireless bridge, or even a powerline carrier and you’d get the same result. The main goal is to retain all the true router functions of the U-Verse router and use the mesh system simply to improve and extend connectivity. The mesh system you install may have many features you don’t need, but why complicate things? My Pace U-Verse router performs all router functions just fine…it just needs better wifi coverage. It makes sense to improve the wifi and not fiddle with anything else. (BTW, I leave the U-Verse router wifi operating just as it always did. Why even bother turning it off?)
