AX55 Configuration for Movistar
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I am trying to configure the Archer AX55 to work with my Movistar service provider (Internet, IPTV, and VOIP).
For those who are not familiar with Movistar, please allow me to give you a brief overview. The company’s router (called a Home Gateway Unit, or HGU) has a built-in ONT and the 3 services are provided on 3 separate tagged vlans. The company’s router can be set to bridge mode, however the only vlan that is actually bridged is the internet service which is untagged in the process. The IPTV and VOIP vlans remain in the HGU.
Most users leave their IPTV decoder (and telephone) connected to the HGU and only configure their router (such as the AX55) for internet which is pretty straightforward. A problem has arisen more recently where some IPTV services, such as Netflix, VOD, etc. require an internet connection. The HGU in bridge mode no longer has access to the internet and as a result, the user is left without some services.
There are 2 solutions. The first is to configure the HGU with a default route to the user’s router for internet. In many cases, depending on the decoder model, this is not always possible, such as in my case (and I have the latest HGU model). Additionally, the user’s router must be configured to accept the traffic coming from the HGU which is something I have not tried to do.
The second solution is to connect the decoder (and any SIP phones) to the AX55’s own network and route the IPTV (and VOIP) traffic back through the HGU. This requires some advanced settings in the PPPoE internet connection, adding some static routes in the AX55, enabling IGMP snooping and proxy, and setting a static IP address in the IPTV decoder.
Now to my problem in implementing the second solution. Everything works fine except for some handy features such as restarting a program from the beginning. Experienced “geeks” in other forums tell me everything should be working OK. Using Wireshark, I inspected simultaneously the packets on the decoder cable and the link between the AX55 and HGU, comparing the traces and it appears the AX55 may have a problem with RSTP. I did discover that if I place the decoder on the DMZ of the AX55, everything is perfect. In the moment that I disable the DMZ, the TV picture freezes (if in a playback mode). As the AX55 (and other TP-Link routers don’t allow SSH access, I can not pinpoint the problem in the router’s internal tables.
Any suggestions or thoughts on the issue? I would prefer to disable the DMZ.
It's been several months now since I posted some info on the RTSP problem encountered with some of the Movistar services. I have found a slightly better and safer solution that uses port triggering instead of port forwarding or the DMZ, Using port triggering, the needed ports are only opened while a session is active. Although not tested, port triggering should also allow more than one decoder on the network. Only one decoder can be used with port forwarding or the DMZ.
Here are the settings:
