Replace the T3200M with a new router but keep wired optikTv working

[Sylvain10]

Hello,

I am about to install a new router that I recently purchased to fix some issues I was having with my Telus T3200M router, but also to add features that were missing.

After reading almost all the forum posts about adding a router, replacing the router, extending the router, port bridging, etc., I have come to the following conclusion:

Since I have the Telus optical TV (connected wired via RJ45), I can't just replace the T3200M, even though the T3200m is the one receiving the Rj45 cable from the ONT in the basement and not the fiber right into it.

Also, since I am playing around with a small home server and some ports need to be open in order for me to access it from outside, I will need to make sure to do the port forwarding in duplicate (T3200M) + New router.

I came to this conclusion by compiling the answers from several different publications and for which the complexity could vary so I may be wrong and there may be a simpler solution.

(For example, almost all of the publications mentioned using the OptikTv on wifi while for me, it is connected via RJ45. Does that change anything?)

My ideal scenario would have been to completely remove the T3200m from my network to connect only my new router or at worst to have a simple "bridge" between the 2 without having to manually manage port forwarding on the 2 routers. (Again, maybe I'm wrong and it's not necessary, but some posts mentioned it)

This solution would have the advantage of being very simple because there were no real details about how to proceed to have a "partial bridge" allowing to have only the OptikTv on the T3200M and all the rest of the network management on the new router.

For information, the new router is the GL.NET Flint2.

Here is a link to a diagram explaining my understanding of what my network should become after adding the Flin2.

https://ibb.co/fFzz5S4

Now that I've done my homework, it's time to move on to the correction :D.

Please tell me if I'm wrong about something and especially if a simpler solution is possible given my constraints:

- OptikTv (wired) must continue to work
- I have a small home server that must be accessible from the outside (port forwarding)

Thank you very much and have a nice day

[xray]

It should work exactly as you have diagramed it. Set up a static IP assignment for your other router in DHCP on the T3200M. Forward all required ports to the assigned IP. On your other router port forward to your server which should also have a static IP assigned.

[Sylvain10]

Thanks! Glad I understood, although I would have preferred a slightly simpler solution.

Regarding the setup of the new router. I read that you have to pay attention to the subnet settings.

As I understand it, you have to make sure that the new router is on a different range of addresses than the T3200M which is 192.168.1.x

Can you tell me a little more about this and is it necessary in this use case?

Also, as I understand it, I am not touching the "bridge" settings of the T3200M in this scenario, but do I have to configure something special on the new router to make it work as a router "behind a router".

I am wondering since I remember having already tried to connect a second router to an existing router in the past and I had to change settings on the second one so that it would act as a router and not "a switch". Am I wrong?

Thanks again and have a good evening.

[xray]

Firstly, kudos to you for doing the leg work instead of asking someone else to do it for you. I think you put yourself in a good position to make it work and keep it working. 

Most routers will detect the WAN IP and adjust the LAN subnet so that it's different. The tricky part is knowing what it will use as plan B if it can't use the normal default. The router manual should indicate what the default is. If it happens to collide with the T3200M then you need to change it to another private range like 192.168.0.* before you connect it to the T3200M.

The router mode setting (router, access point it switch) is not directly related to the LAN subnet setting. It might be that some routers switch modes if it detects a WAN IP that collides rather than switching to a different LAN subnet.

[Sylvain10]

Thank you very much.

I plan to do the installation tomorrow night when my girlfriend won't be home to hurry me to restore the network 😛

Last question, since I'm going to disable the wifi of the T3200m, I was thinking of using the same SSID for the new router to avoid having to reconnect all my devices one by one.

Is this a good idea in your opinion or are there any contraindications?

[xray]

That is an excellent plan if you have a lot of  devices. Just make sure you don't accidentally have both WiFi active at the same time.

[Sylvain10]

Ouch! First flaw in my plan discovered and the installation hasn't even started yet.

I was working on a more detailed network plan in which I display the switches of my network when I noticed that the OptikTV box is connected to the switch that also connects my android multimedia box, my Wii, etc.

So if I want the OptikTv to be connected to the T3200M, these other devices will also be connected to the T3200M because the switch will have to be connected to the T3200M. (my android box must be able to access network resources that will be behind the new router)

Is there a way, with port forwarding or any other trick to connect the OptikTv to the new router?

Thx again.

[xray]

Just get another switch for the Optik boxes. They're cheap enough. Connect the Optik switch and other router to separate ports on the T3200M and your LAN switch to the other router. That's how mine is set up. 

[Sylvain10]

That's what I thought at first, but the problem is that routers are and will be quite far from television and there's only one Ethernet cable that's already getting close to television.

Passing another cable would be impossible without piercing the floot behind the TV and running a very long Ethernet cable.

Ultimately, I understand that there is no known way to keep all the features of a router for router 2 and to connect the OptikTv to this new router?

[xray]

Where are you planning to put the second router? Do you have any Ethernet devices you need to connect to the other router?

[Sylvain10]

I was thinking of leaving the 2 routers in the same place and having only the OptikTv on the T3200M.

Another way of looking at it would be that the new router would have had everything that was previously on the T3200M, except the OptikTv.

The problem is that behind the TV, I only have one Ethernet socket and I would have needed 2. One coming from the T3200M and going directly to the OptikTv box and another going to my Switch which provides wired internet to my Android box, game consoles, smart TV, etc.

This afternoon, I had the crazy idea of ​​testing my new router alone to see the result on the TV.

To my surprise, the OptikTv box got internet very quickly, but each channel only worked for 10 to 15 seconds before displaying a connection problem message.

 Another crazy idea, instead of plugging the T3200M into the internet and then plugging my new router in, I did the opposite. I left the new router as the first router and plugged the T3200M into one of the ports.

With this setup, I plugged only one thing into the T3200M and that was the OptikTv. I was hoping that the "magic" that makes the OptikTv work would happen even when the T3200M is not directly connected to the internet, but it was the same result as previously on the new router: 10 to 15 seconds of streaming and then a connection error message.

I don't know if I should have changed settings elsewhere in one of the routers to make it work better.

Do you see any sense in this?

For now, I just put everything back to normal and I removed the new router. I will do more tests tonight including the initial plan (ont to t3200m and 2 cables one for the optikTv and one for the new router. (The plan where I might need to drill a hole in my floor...)

Waiting for any advice you might have.

Thx again

[xray]

Have you considered putting both the switch and the second router in the TV room?

T3200M---Wall Jack--Switch

                                      |---Optik

                                      |---Router WAN

[Sylvain10]

Hello!

Sorry for the delay! In the meantime, a lot of things have happened and I have done several that leave me, how can I say ... perplexed.

Regarding your suggestion of everything with the TV via the wall cable, it is also an idea that I had!

Unfortunately, when I wired the house in RJ45, I determined that the junction point would be the basement staircase and so I had all the cables from the house arrive there.

So, I can not move the interconnection devices anywhere. Sadly.

To make a long story short, my initial fantasy of completely replacing the Telus router never came true despite strangely encouraging tests at times.

I can not remember everything I did, but I managed to spend an evening without the Telus modem and with the TV working at the same time, but the next morning the TV no longer worked.

I tried:

1. My new router alone on the ON: The TV works in waves of 10 seconds, I change channels and I win a new 10 seconds and so on.

2. My new router connected to the ON and the Telus router connected to my router: Same result as 1.

3. Telus router on the ON with my new router on the Telus router and the TV on my new router: Works longer than 10 seconds, almost 1 minute on average, but the first time it succeeded for the evening and it was only the next morning that I noticed that the 10 to 30 second problem returned.

Finally, I am connected as described in my very first publication.
ON -- TELUS -- New ROUTER
                      -- TV

For the android media box, I reactivated the Wifi on it and since the new router is more powerful than the Telus one, being on Wifi is a more viable option than before which means that I can drop its wired connection which solves my need to have both a connection to the Telus router and my new router in the living room. Also, since the Wifi is on the new router which itself is connected to my entire network, I can access my media server, travel photos, music, etc.

For the rest, according to my research, the GL iNET Flint2 is supposed to be multicast compatible, but the configuration seems so complex and so different from all the tutorials I found that I don't think I'll have time to get started on it before the Christmas holidays. (I can't find the link tonight because I'm looking for it, but I found a forum post from a guy who managed to get his third party router to work with the TV using a setup he found online on a UK site if I remember correctly)

Thanks again for your help and if you can think of anything else that could improve my setup, you're welcome to do so.

[xray]

Do you have a coax cable outlet in the TV room? You can use it to run a second Ethernet outlet via MoCA adapters.

[Sylvain10]

Whoa! I just read about this and I think it might be promising. This is a fantastic idea! The speeds would theoretically be much better than I could have expected.

I remember with my old provider I had a coaxial cable that came up behind the TV but at that time of night I couldn't see where it was going.

I found what looked like a cut coaxial cable, but I guess I can find a tool and a connector to fix it pretty easily?