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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Netgear ORBI with NowTV Broadband. Can it be made to work?

Just switched to NowTV from BT today. All working with the NowTV Hub 2, but I have an elaborate setup with Orbi Router and Satellites that I'd really like to use (which worked fine on BT and also briefly on TalkTalk).

 

When the ORBI is looking for the broadband connection (easy set up mode) is says it has found a PPPoE connection and wants a username and password.

 

Any idea what those need to be.

 

Am *very* reluctanct to give up the ORBI as it works perfectly.

 

Alternatively, if I *have* to use the NowTV Hub 2 - can it be put in "bridge" mode and plugged in to the ORBI?

 

Thanks!

 

 

Pat

 

13 REPLIES 13
Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User

 

Welcome to the forum. NOW TV doesn't use PPPoE authentication so you're not supplied wih a username and password, NOW TV expect you to use the Hub as the modem router. You should be able to connect an alternate router to use as a WAP, but the Hub would need to continue as modem, it's more usual to enable bridge mode on the second device and allow the Hub to continue dishing out IP addresses. I'm not familiar with the Netgear ORBI so you would need to look into this yourself. It is possible to turn off wireless on the Hub, it's also possible to turn off DHCP if you want to try, but as I say usually you'd let the Hub do this.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi, thanks for the quick response.

 

I had a *horrible* feeling you were going to say that 😞

 

The Netgear ORBI is a fairly high-end mesh router with satellites, and has been very very good, fast, feature-rich and reliable (not to mention expensive) so I *am* keen to find a way to continue to use it as a *router*. I stongly prefer not to knobble all of it's good features!

 

It has been conncected (up to now) to a simple Draytek ASDL/VDSL modem (only) and that is what has been plugged into the ADSL line itself.

 

Is there any way to just use the "modem" part of the NowTVHub, and disable all of it's other featrures .. and connect that to the Netgear ORBI in place of the Draytek, do you think?

 

I don't want to get into all this Double NAT stuff if possible.

 

Thanks for any help!

 

 

Pat

 

Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User

 

Only used the Hub the other way around (with an old router in bridge mode acting as WAP) but you could try disabling DHCP on the Hub (log into Hub, go to Advanced > LAN IP Setup) in theory that will allow your ORBI to act as the DHCP server for the network and presumably any other advanced network settings you use such as fixed IP, firewall rules etc.

 

Assuming it all works you can then turn off wireless on the Hub from Wireless> Enable wireless access point), however I would make sure everything is working first before disabling the hub's wireless network as it's obviously more of a pain to log back into it if you're having to connect via Ethernet cable.

 

Can't guarantee that would work as I'm not familiar with ORBI so you might need to experiment,

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I shall give it a go and report back. Thanks ever so for the help.

 

Pat

 

Tony-D
NOW Team Member
NOW Team Member

@Anonymous User wrote:

I shall give it a go and report back. Thanks ever so for the help.

 

Pat

 


While searching around i found this https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Qmf7salR4igJ:https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/Improving-home-Wifi-using-a-mesh-system/td-p/2732130+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk The NOW TV Router and Sky Router are essentailly the same although software may vary. I don't even know if this will help @Anonymous User @Andy but just incase there's somehting in there thta will help.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Ok, I got there in the end after a bit of work.

 

Both the ORBI and NowTV wanted to be 192.168.0.1 (255.255.255.0). I had to change both.

 

Net Net is that the NowTV Hub2 is still connected to the ADSL line. I changed it's IP address to 192.168.51.1 and the DHCP sets itself to appropriately.I did not disable (yet and possibly will not) DHCP and WiFi.

 

I connected one of the two Ethernet Ports on the NowTV Hub2 to the *WAN* port of the Netgear ORBI. And told the ORBI NOT to "login" (when the ORBI was previously connected to my ADSL modem I had to set it to "login").

 

The ORBI gets given 192.168.51.5 on it's WAN Port (doled out by the NowTV Hub2).

 

The ORBI internal address is 192.168.1.1 (so the network is 192.168.1.0 now - originally 192.168.0.0)

 

This setup mostly mimiced *exactly* what I have before - everything talking to the ORBI and the ORBI shelling out DHCP etc.

 

In order to continue to use my OpenVPN I had to open all the UDP ports on the NowTV Hub2.

 

And I had to change the DNS settings on my Synology NAS (just 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) as it got unhappy about there being two routers on the network.

 

Maybe there are horrors lurking here, but it does seem to work.

 

Would it still work if I disable the DHCP on the NowTV Hub2? Where would the ORBI pick up an address from? Will do away with the WiFi being provided by the NowTV Hub2 in due course.

 

I would be *MUCH* better IMO if the NowTV Hub2 just had a "modem only" mode so you can easily connect your own router behind it. This is how the Virgin Cable Routers operate.

 

Pat

 

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi Pat, 

I just read through your post on the NowTV forum, as I am on the exact boat you were in.

I have a Netgear Orbi, with 2 satellites, a Synology NAS and love my current setup where I have my orbi connected to a modem & input the PPPoE username/password.

 

Your last post suggests you where still in the testing phase. 

Did you manage to disable WiFi & did you also disable DHCP on the NowTV Hub and is everything working well for you?

 

I only placed my order for NowTv Broadband today, as it seemed a great deal.

My current provider PlusNet has been excellent, with great speeds, static IP & all works wonderfully with my Orbi.

 

So if getting this all set up is a pain in the backside, I might stick with them or research further into companies that offer routers that can be put into modem mode.

Thanks in advance for any return reply,


Andy

SouthCoastAsh
Mentor

Can Now TV hub be placed into DMZ? That might work so long as you have firewall policies in place on Orbi.

Although you might want a second opinion in case I’m giving bad advise.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi, 

Was this issue sorted?...and if so could you give some easy step by step instructions to someone who doesn't know the jargon. I've just moved from BT to Now TV and have an Orbi system which gives great coverage across the house. 

Can I make them work together?...and if so what steps do I need to take? 

Thanks