Issue with accessing a forwarded port from inside the home network

[Akhawais]

Hey there,

Just recently got my Vodafone Connect router and I'm loving it! I have a personal file server accessible through the web via port 80. I have successfully enabled port 80 to forward to the file server.

I can only access the file server's web interface from outside home network. i.e. I can go to http://[MY IP] and can access the file server on my iPhone's mobile data or at my friend's house but I can't access it from within my home network.

On my laptop, when I go to http://[MY IP] I get ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT on Chrome.

This wasn't an issue with my previous BT Home Hub 5. Please advise me on how to resolve this issue so I can access the file server both internally and externally through the IP.

Thank you!

[Akhawais]

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

[Retired-Sarah_A]

Hi @Akhawais

I would advise giving our broadband technical team a call on - 08080 034 515.

Thanks,

Sarah 

[Akhawais]

Hi @Sarah_A,

Thanks - will do!

[markcoley]

Was there any solution to this? I've just turned on my old webserver (last used when I was with TalkTalk) and I'm forwarding port 80 to it, but using a dynamic DNS server (duckdns.org) to point to the external IP address, which is that of the router.

If I connect to my router via the wider internet (eg via Vodafone's mobile network or someone else's network) using the xxxxx.duckdns.org domain I get to see my webserver. But if I browse to this address from INSIDE the home network it just hangs. The router doesn't appear to be routeing traffic that has originated from inside the network. A workaround is for me to access the local IP address where the webserver actually is, but this highlights a bug in the router software. Can it be fixed please?

Thanks.

[Akhawais]

Unfortunately not, the support team were unhelpful and said it was a faulty router and the new router had the same problem.

Seems to be a wifi-only problem I can access it via wired.

Anyways, I'm leaving Vodafone soon but good luck!

[markcoley]

Two laptops on wifi (one running the web server) won't connect when the external IP address is used. The webserver won't connect to itself either.

Similarly if one or other is wired and the other on wifi, or both wired.

It must have an hidden option turned on not to route internal traffic that has been sent to the external address back to an internal destination.

It's a bug!

Even with the firewall off and the exposed host setting turned on appropriately it doesn't work.

Can anyone from Vodafone respond?

[markcoley]

Anyone from Vodafone around that can help?

I have a webserver running internally. I am port forwarding port 80 from the internet to the local fixed internal IP address.

If I connect to the fixed internal IP address I get served my website.

If I connect to the external gateway IP address (that reported by the router) the connection hangs and no traffic passes.

If I connect from my Vodafone mobile, using the 3G network to the external gateway IP address my website is served correctly.

The router is not passing traffic from inside the network that is addressed to the external IP address back to the internal webserver.

How can this be escalated to have it fixed?

[ChazzD]

@markcoley

Please speak with our Broadband Live Chat team so they can have a look into this for you. 

[markcoley]

With router firmware 5.4.8.1.291.1.30.1.6 which appeared a few days ago this issue has been fixed and internal computers accessing the public IP address now have packets forwarded to the relevant (internal) machine.