Forum Discussion
Troubles with bridging Fibre hub to TP-Link Deco
Just moved into a new place and signed up for Telus Fibre for the first time. Got the fibre hub installed, and it came with a Boost box, but I’d prefer to run my own router to handle my wifi and hardwired devices (NAS, smart home, etc).
At first it was all going great, I plugged the Deco router into one of the 1G ports, and everything worked great. Boost was still connected to the 10G port as a backup while I finalized things. Then I realized that I was getting some conflicts, particularly for Plex, which couldn’t do remote access. Realizing my mistake, I connected into the fibre hub, and set the 10G port to bridge mode, moved the Deco to the 10G port, the Boost to the 1G port, and everything worked, Plex was happy, easy.
Except suddenly now the Deco is dropping internet connection every hour or so, and requires a reboot each time to get it back online. After the fourth drop out, I decide to move bridging to the first 1G port, put the Deco there and the Boost back on the 10G. Hour later, another crash. Finally turn off bridging entirely, and the system is stable. But now Plex can’t connect remotely, and the conflicts are back.
Hoping someone here can help me figure out where to go next, I’m banging my head against the wall talking to ChatGPT about it and getting nowhere, and I’m at the outer reaches of my networking knowledge here. Would really appreciate any guidance!
Deco model is XE75, connected to the hub via CAT5E (roughly 25-50’ of distance). Fibre hub is Arcadyan NH20A. Boost is B30A model.
3 Replies
TELUS_SupportOfficial Support Team
Using your own router alongside the Arcadyan NH20A creates a Double NAT conflict, which can block incoming connections for services like Plex. You can try enabling Port Bridging to bypass the public IP straight to your TP-Link. If the TELUS Boost Wi-Fi 6 unit is still connected to the NH20A while bridged though, IP lease conflicts can potentially cause connection to drop. Try this:
1. Unplug the TELUS Boost B30A completely from your NH20A hub.
2. Set up Port Bridging by logging into your NH20A admin panel (192.168.1.254) and navigating to Network Settings --> Port Bridging. Enable it on the 10G port (or selected 1G port).
3. Connect a CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet cable from the designated bridge port on the NH20A directly to the WAN port of your TP-Link Deco XE75.
4. Power cycle everything. Restart both the NH20A hub and your TP-Link Deco XE75 so the Deco acquires the public WAN IP address.
- NFtoBC
Community Power User
It’s been a long time, and possibly a different hub, but my recollection was that in bridge mode, only port 1 works reliably, and you need to manage your entire network on your own routers.
