Can I not port forward?

[vegtable]

Hi,

I am using a regular phone SIM - not a data only SIM. I am using it in an LTE router. It is not a Vfe supplied one so I am sure you are going to tell me you can't help me configure it - thats fine. 

What I want to know is should port forwarding work with this type of SIM? Is the IP address I am allocated a public IP address? I have connected to the router and tried both port forwarding and also putting the computer into the DMZ. The firewall on the computer is open. I have tried forwarding ports 2222 and 32400 but both appear to be closed.

I don't believe I have made a mistake in the router settings - there really isn't much to screw up.

Please can you also confirm which APN and user/password settings I should be using. 

C

[TJ]

Hey @vegtable, thanks for getting in touch; nothing should hold you back from connecting. I know the IP you'll be allocated will be a public one. 

APN settings are related to your data account type and bundle details as follows:

Pay monthly

• APN: wap.vodafone.co.uk
• Username and password: wap

Pay as you go

• APN: pp.vodafone.co.uk
• Username and password: wap

[vegtable]

This is not correct. The IP address allocated is a CGNAT private IP address. Port forwarding is never, ever, going to work with CGNAT. 

[vegtable]

To check to see if you are on CGNAT first see what IP address is assigned to the WAN port of the router. On my Huewaei router it is on the device information page. Then go to a site such as www.whatsmyip.org. If the IP address reported there is different the network is using CGNAT.

Maybe hundreds of users have the same private WAN IP address as you do so there is no way for the operator to route incomming connections to your router - port forwarding just isn't ever going to work in this scenario. They do this because there is a shortage of IPv4 addresses. The real solution is for operators to switch to IPv6.

I don't know why people on here say you are getting a public IP address, you are not - certainly on voice and data SIM. I have not tried on a data only SIM. I don't like the dissinformation.

V

[CartoonHead]

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6887?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app it can be done but Vodafone needs new hardware 

[mjb16971]

Forgive me if this is a rather stupid answer but I have just used one of the new unlimited data, calls and texts SIM cards into my new 4g Huawei router and have remote CCTV and heating controls plugged in - once connected I powered everything down and then back up and the port fowarding works fine of the external devices.

[vegtable]

Thanks for the reply. No idea why it isn't working for me then. I initially had another router behind so of course had to configure double NAT (because the Huawei router does not have a bridge mode- grrr) which complicates it a little bit - also the second router by default blocks connections from private address ranges on the WAN port. Anyway, connected straight to the Huawei router and it still did not work. Even tried putting the PC in the DMZ. Perhaps the thing I did not try (because the router had an 'Apply' button and I thought that was sufficient) was to recycle the power on the Huawei router after configuring port forwarding. Maybe clicking apply isn't enough? I will give it a try.  The Huawei router is very dumb.

I will still ultimately use the second router (in the DMZ of the Huawei) because I am running VPNs on the router, using dual WAN with failover, split tunelling, geoblocking and other stuff. All of that stuff which sounds a bit harder to configure, is working well. By default I route some bulk traffic over 4G and use my existing fixed wireless broadband for everything else. If the fixed wireless broadband goes down everything fails over to 4G. If the 4G goes down then the bulk stuff stops (unless I manually turn off a couple of firewall rules) but that isn't a major issue. 

Anyway, thanks for the tip, will see if recycling the router pwer does the job.

C

[vegtable]

Nope, not working. The router does also support connection to Ethernet broadband, PPPoE in my case, so I hooked it up to my fixed wireless broadband service and port forwarding worked fine.

Changed back to 4G and no port forwarding. Even tried 3G and still not working.

My router is a branded router with a universal firware applied. It was actually a B310 firmware which is supposed to also work on B315s. Anyway, I installed older B315s firmware and port forwarding still does not work.

I can only conclude that either there is some reason why a B315s router can't port forward Vfe UK (although I have absolutely no idea why that could possibly be the case) or more likely that Vfe are not allowing external connections. I strongly suspect the latter.

I might see if I can borrow another router to try but I don't think it will make any difference.

I have seen posts that the APN should be 'internet' with 'web' as usr & password. Still get data but no port forwarding with those settings. I have largely given up.

C    

[samg1]

Hi... Same issue here with a vodafone huawei 5g cpe pro and vodafone pay monthly data sim. Trying to port forward or dmz to draytek but no luck. Did you get any further at all?

[vegtable]

I have not had anymore time to look at it and I have concluded it isn't currently possible. I strongly suspect that the IP address allocated isn't a unique public IP address. I suspect we are being allocated a CGNAT IP address - basically a number of subscribers are given the same IP address.  If that is the case then port forwarding will never work because the network does not know which of the users with the same IP adress to route the packets to.

V