UPC Cisco EPC3925: Enabling True Bridge Mode - A Simple How-to Guide

gavmcg92 wrote: »

Was checking out the horizon.tv service that UPC are offering. Getting a message telling me that I need to be connected to my UPC broadband service. Do you think this is due to the fact that I'm now going through my own router using the bridge feature?

Definitely not. I have given it a whirl myself and it's working fine. You do need to be on UPC Broadband and have a TV subscription.

Sometimes UPC IP assignments can be problematic. For example, a friend of mine moved into an apartment recently and signed up with UPC. His UPC IP assigment was uncharacteristic of the area (80.x.x.x instead of 89.x.x.x) and geo-located in Norway (Chello, taken over by Liberty Global like Chorus/NTL, had or has operations in Norway). I told him to bridge his EPC3925 to get a new assignment and to keep it that way until his lease expired, and UPC sorted it out with him over PM to expedite the process, as he really needs to use the EPC3925 in Router mode since he doesn't have a discrete cable router of his own.

Try spoofing/cloning your router's MAC address (if the feature is available) to get a new IP from UPC. Since you're okay to use Bridge mode permanently, because you have a cable router, getting a proper assignment might be simpler for you.

MHP wrote: »

Had an EPC3925 delivered today. I have it in Bridge mode and connected to an Airport Express. I notice that the EPC3925 Wireless Link LED is on although wireless is disabled. Shouldn't it be off?

Michael

Mine looks like this:

LAN @-
|
| Wireless
|
Setup O-


@ = LED on
O = LED off


EDIT: My crappy ASCII art won't show up properly. Hopefully you get the point. The top LED for the LAN is on but the bottom one for Setup is off. Just double check what you've actually disabled in your EPC and see if it changes. Also, try a reboot/power cycle if you haven't already.

MHP wrote: »

The status page says
Wireless: Mode: disable
DOCSIS WAN: Wireless Network: Disable

The LEDS are
Wireless link: on
Wireless setup: off

I have rebooted the modem but there's no change. It's functioning as it should, giving a steady 50Mbps connection and communicating faultlessly with the router, but yet the wireless link LED glows. Not important, just a niggle.

I wonder if the EPC3925 has gone through a hardware revision? That's different to my one, in terms of the LEDs, at least. But it certainly looks like you have it off and the Wireless setup LED is off so it seems like that could be what's supposed to happen, though I cannot confirm that for you. Maybe someone else can chime in.

frisket wrote: »

This sounds like exactly what I need, but I'm unclear about the comments about setting "my own cable router to bridge with" the Cisco one after the change. The only cable router I have is the Cisco, and in any case, even if I had a second one, how can both of them be plugged into the cable at the same time?

All I want to do is add two more APs to my network to reach parts of the house that other beers do not reach. I want them bridged because I want them on the same network.

If you haven't got a separate router, then what's offered in this thread definitely isn't for you.

You have a EPC3925 router? Then that's a device that has a built-in modem, also. Having a discrete cable router is much different. You use that as, shall we say, an extension to the EPC3925. The modem is what connects you to the Internet and the router is what distributes the connection via the LAN and WiFi to all your devices. The EPC's Router functions (remember, LAN and WiFi) are a bit crap so this is why some of us choose to add a discrete cable router into the fold. But first, we must set the EPC into Bridge mode.

Think of it this way. The EPC3925 has a router and a modem in the one device. Putting the EPC into Bridge mode turns the router part off, therefore the device is acting as a modem only. You need a router but you've turned the EPC's one off, so you use a better-capable discrete cable router and plug it into one of the Ethernet ports on the EPC using a regular network cable. The UPC coaxial cable still only goes through the EPC (modem) but you've now got a better router for all your computers, phones, tablets, consoles, etc., to connect to that gets the Internet feed off the EPC's modem.

Hope that helps you see the sense of it?

If you're happy with the EPC, you'd save time and money by leaving things alone, but something did bring you here and you did say this is exact what you need. So what's happening and how can we help set you in the right direction?

frisket wrote: »

Yes. My misunderstanding: I didn't realise you were referring to people who already had separate routers. I have plenty of those...

Yes indeed. I used to have the standatd-UPC-issue separate router and modem until UPC "upgraded" me last year. I have my previous Netgear router still, so I can use that.

Yes, that's what I need.

Yes, thanks, that solves that problem. I have all I need now. And thanks for the excellent advice.

No problem but just remember that if you use an old router, make sure it's capable of Wireless-N and has a good signal as anything less will be a major detriment to the performance you'll get, depending on what broadband package you have with UPC. If you have the WGR614, it's not going to be much good for broadband speeds above 20-30Mbps, as it only supports up to Wireless-G. If you're not using WiFi, I'm sure it'll better the EPC3925 in every other aspect, as the EPC does not play nice with a lot of network traffic at once between multiple devices and games consoles. But the EPC is more up-to-date, shall we say, with the newer wireless standards, even if its range is absolutely crap.

Also, most ADSL routers won't cut it, as they are like the EPC with a built-in ADSL modem. So if your plentiful supply of routers consist mostly of routers from various ISPs reselling Eircom's DSL services, you might not be in luck with those ones either. I've only seen some models that can work discretely. The type of router you need is often referred to as a cable router, like the old WGR614. It has no modem and is intended to be connected to a separate modem via network cable, where it be DSL, DOCSIS Cable, Wireless, etc.

So you might need to fork out 50-100 to get a half-decent cable router that can better the EPC's WiFi performance and range.

miticus wrote: »

My EPC was recently updated with a new firmware: epc3925-ESIP-12-v302r125572-130412c_upc
Since then I can't switch it into bridge mode using HTML editing method. After pressing "Save Settings" button, a black page with "403 FORBIDDEN" text appears , and settings are not changed.
Any idea?
Thank's!

Oh dear.

My modem is still on the firmware that was built on July 27th, 2012. I think UPC are going to piss a lot of people off if they're making updates and removing the functionality outright. It's only a matter of time before the updated firmware is rolled out to us all and there isn't a thing that anyone can do to prevent it.

Does the new firmware even have the "Working Mode" section on the "Administration > Management" page? It could be firmware related but it could also be hidden by intervention from UPC in the DOCSIS configuration file that it downloads upon connecting to their network. However, as of a month after this thread was created, UPC let us have our "Working Mode" box without the need for the HTML injection. I can see the option in my modem's web configuration right now. While not everyone was able to see it, I am certain that a lot of people (maybe most) can. Those that still couldn't see it just applied the injection method and it worked for them. I really do hope it doesn't come to an end with this new update. It does nothing to hurt UPC by letting us use our own routers, and I'll certainly be picking up the phone to have it out with them (not that it'll do any good) if what you're experiencing is what we're all in for very soon.

However, there is one thing you can try. I'm not incredibly confident about it but it's what I'd do in your shoes just to at least rule it out.

1. Disconnect the coaxial cable from the modem;
2. Do a factory pin reset;
3. Boot the modem up with just the LAN cable plugged in (not necessary if you're using WiFi, so long as you can connect to it);
4. See if the "Working Mode" options appear on the "Administration > Management" page now;
5. If not, try the HTML injection method;
6. Select "Bridged Only" and then hit "Save Settings."

The idea of keeping the coaxial cable out and subsequently doing a factory reset is so that when the modem boots up with everything defaulted, it won't connect to UPC's network and get the DOCSIS configuration file, with all the options restricted that UPC doesn't want you to have. So please give it a shot and let us know how you get on.


EDIT: The one thing that does strike me as weird, though, is that you're getting a 403 error. If they simply removed it, it shouldn't do anything. Basically, I can HTTP POST any amount of data I want in a HTML Form. The server script behind it either handles it or it doesn't. A 403 is not the type of error one should be getting because of this.

Take this forum, for example. If I use my browser's tools to slot in a few extra HTML Form items with different values, it's no going to affect the end result. The vBulletin script called upon once hitting "Submit Reply" will not have any code to handle the values I throw in there so they will just get released from memory once the script has completed its actions. There would certainly be no 403 error.

So I wonder if it's a bug or incorrect access permissions on the script file or directory...

miticus wrote: »

Thank you for quick reply, and sorry for my poor english.
10 minute ago my modem was switched to bridge-mode by UPC guys... )).... Fortunately, this time they left username/password set by me, and now I'm able to switch off wireless interface.
The "403 FORBIDDEN" error appeared only when I've tried the HTML injecting method, and only after firmware upgrade.
I've used Opera browser on a virtual machine, same that worked fine before firmware upgrade.
Thank you.

Not at all, you were understood perfectly. I just drew many conclusions based on the facts you mentioned.

So you say UPC changed it to Bridge mode? How did that happen exactly and is the "Working Mode" area on the "Administration > Management" page right now for you?

miticus wrote: »

The "Administration > Management" page is empty now. The "Working Mode" is not visible. I will try to upload a screeshot here, if it is possible....
I also saved in notepad the Administration page before HTML injection, if this can be helpful.

Yeah, those would be great. You can attach the screen shot and text file to your post and we can all then take a look. Thanks for this!

EDIT: Did you call UPC and ask them to switch you to Bridge mode? If so, did they know what you were asking at first or did you have to wait for them to figure it out? Also, are you referring to UPC Ireland or are you in another country?