Help with accessing a device through Eircom router

Doodlebug · 26-05-2010 05:26PM #1

Hi, I hope someone here can give me a few pointers.

I have a fixed IP address with Eircom (they gave me an address in the form... "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/32" - in case that's relevant!), and I need to be able to access a device (I can assign any IP to it) for a project, from outside the house, over the internet.

I can access the device at work (on the local network there) using telnet.

At home, I'm using a Netopia 3347NWG router.

The only options I can find on the router are to open NAT settings and open certain ports - but what is the easiest way to make a device on my home network externally accessible with a separate IP address?

(Ideally I'd be able to telnet from anywhere to e.g. "xxx.xxx.xxx.162" port 101)

Any help is appreciated!

Antar Bolaeisk · 26-05-2010 09:41PM

You've only got the one static IP address. I'm not sure how static IPs work with Eircom but I'm sure it'll cost you more than what you're currently paying for the single static IP.

With the current setup you will have to use NAT to forward data on whatever the relevant ports are to that device.

The /32 bit at the end is the sub-net masking.

FusionNet · 27-05-2010 03:26PM

Eircom only give static IPs on business broadband. Is that what your on? As well as forward the nat to the relevant IP you also need to give the device your trying to access a static IP not a dynamic one given to it by the router.

Finally you may need to rduce the Netopia firewall to OFF. Ive had issues where it blows NAT traffic on Low so you need to be aware of this and maybe test..

Doodlebug · 27-05-2010 11:19PM

Thanks for your replies.

Yes, it costs roughly €15 extra a month for a (business) fixed IP with Eircom.
I have set up a custom "service" on the Netopia router as below (dummy values for illustration):

Once I set this, I was able to reach that port on my IP address and interact with the device - I just plugged it into the router and it worked, thankfully!

I had forgotten about the firewall settings. As it happens I had it set to low from when I got it years ago (trying to get xbox live going at the time).

Anyway - seems to be up and running OK now.

Thanks again for the information guys.

Antar Bolaeisk · 28-05-2010 06:40AM

If it's any help you could probably use a service like DynDNS to avoid the need for a static IP thus saving €15 a month. Only thing is though the netopia router is a bit crap at updating, it seems as if it doesn't update when the IP changes but instead after so much time has passed so you'd either need a different router or an always on computer for DynDNS to work effectively.

Doodlebug · 28-05-2010 08:45AM

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

If it's any help you could probably use a service like DynDNS to avoid the need for a static IP thus saving €15 a month. Only thing is though the netopia router is a bit crap at updating, it seems as if it doesn't update when the IP changes but instead after so much time has passed so you'd either need a different router or an always on computer for DynDNS to work effectively.

Very interesting info about the router - you can't take too much for granted when it comes to setting up these things I find! I wonder are modern routers better at handling DynDNS (mine is about 6 years old)?

I'll stick with the set-up I have for now anyway, as this will be relatively short term and ,according to Eircom, it is no big deal to switch back to regular broadband again at any time, so no fixed-term contract for using a fixed IP.

Help with accessing a device through Eircom router

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