Home Automation Port Forwarding etc

[Dizzwold]

Hi All,

 After many emails and now calls to Now Broadband, I've now found that they don't have a technical department to assist with information on port forwarding and the possible idea of using a 3rd party router/modem where information like VLan ID  is needed.

 I use Home Assistant, home automation where port forwarding is need on port 8123 to 8123 and port 443 to 8123.

 I've contacted TP-Link with the idea of purchasing a modem/router from themselves, and they have request information from my ISP (Now) on the VLan ID.

 Can anyone here advise me if the port forwarding is a router/modem issue or if it's the ISP network, therefore weather a new 3rd party modem/router will or won't fix this, and if information such as the VLan ID is available?

[Jayach]

As I'm not on Now, I don't know how easy it is to port forward on their router, I doubt any of the ports your home automation uses are locked at the network level.

Using a 3rd party router is easy, as long as it supports Sky_MER as a authentication method, most TP-Link's and ASUS's now do, along with others.

As Now is a VDSL service over Openreach you shouldn't need to know the VLAN, but as it's Openreach it will be 101.

I presume you are not trying to use VLAN's on your internal network.

[Dizzwold]

Hi Jayach,

 I enquired with TP Link asking for router advice and they stated the following;

If your current ISP is Broadband, it is suggested to contact them first to see if you can use other model. And to setup internet, we may need the information like connection type or VLan ID provided by the ISP.

[Jayach]

@Dizzwold 

If you wish to use another router, there should be no need to contact the manufacturer.

My previous reply stated both those things, connection type Sky_MER and Vlan 101, but probably not needed.

[chilli2]

Yes, you can easily do port forwarding on TP link routers, guide here: https://portforward.com/tp-link/

As for contacting TP link directly this all depends upon what email address you use to get in touch and who answers

A quick google search has pulled up this info:

 Port forwarding on a Now Hub2 Router ( from the now community forums - ie this site)https://community.nowtv.com/t5/Setup-Performance/Port-Forwarding/m-p/525565

Port forwarding on TP link routers:

https://portforward.com/tp-link/

TP link routers that can be set up to work with Now and Sky Broadband

https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/264802