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Link's avatar
Link
New Contributor
2 years ago
Solved

How to get Netgate gateway to act as home router

I am using a SBG580 wireless cable modem gateway to connect to the Cox network. I recently purchased a Netgear 2100 gateway and an Asus wifi 6 AP. I want to disable the gateway/router functions from the SBG6580 and have the Netgate 2100 do those functions. I should be able to accomplish this if I set the SBG6580 to act as a bridge device and Cox registers a MAC address for public IP assignment. 

I have setup the SBG6580 in the following way to do this:

Changed "Primary Network Only Mode" from "routed" to "bridged". The docs say when it is set to bridged it "Disables the network address and port translation settings on the gateway." This is the only setting I have on the device to change routing/NATP functions on the WAN side.

Disabled DHCP

Disabled WiFi

On the Netgate I set the WAN port to request DHCP addressing, and also I have set the MAC address to the HFC MAC address of the SBG6580, the same MAC address that Cox has registered to allow my device to operate on their network. 

When I boot up the devices, the Netgate doesn't get assigned an IP address. Additionally the SBG6580 still requests a public DHCP address and gets one assigned to it. Is this because when I first connected the device to the Cox network I gave them the HFC MAC, the SBG6580 boots up, Cox sees that MAC and assigns the IP?  I have tried  to release the DHCP lease, then reboot the Netgate to see if it will get assigned a DHCP address, but that does not work even though the SBG6580 does release the IP.

I have tried to get the native MAC address of the Netgate registered so that it can request a public IP address. I have called and live chatted with customer service several times so far to tell them I have a new device on my network that I would like registered so that it can get assigned at public IP address, but they have not been of any help so far. When I ask to speak to the next tier of customer service, they attempt to upsell me to "preferred customer service" package at additional cost, or they try to upsell me Cox Panoramic WiFi gateways.

Has anyone reading this ever successfully setup a home network that simply uses the cable modem as modem only with a router on their home network. This is not a crazy setup at all, but Cox seems to want to prevent this from happening so they can sell me equpiment I guess? How can I explain to customer service what I want to do because none of them seem to have any comprehension that a cable modem does not need to be the wireless gateway.

Any help would be appreciated greatly!

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  • Darkatt's avatar
    Darkatt
    2 years ago

    replace the SGB6580. It's an OLD 8x4 channel device. 

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  • Darkatt's avatar
    Darkatt
    Valued Contributor III
    2 years ago

    replace the SGB6580. It's an OLD 8x4 channel device. 

    • Link's avatar
      Link
      New Contributor
      2 years ago

      I ended up doing that. Everything works fine now.

  • WiderMouthOpen's avatar
    WiderMouthOpen
    Esteemed Contributor
    2 years ago
    I have set the MAC address to the HFC MAC address of the SBG6580, the same MAC address that Cox has registered to allow my device to operate on their network. 

    Why did you use MAC cloning? That will only mess things up. Try without it. Just make sure to power cycyle the gateway after hooking up the Netgear router.

    In general, I would get a stand alone modem rather then a gateway. BTW, what model is the Netgear 2100? Sure you don't mean Netgate 2100? Or the Netgear AC2100?

    ::edit:: 

    I am going to assume you mean the Netgate 2100 because that makes more sense and you say it more in your OP.

    • Link's avatar
      Link
      New Contributor
      2 years ago

      The whole thing boiled down to the SBG6580 being crippled through firmware pushed onto it by Cox. According to the docs and others that have tried the same thing on different ISPs, the device can be put in bridge mode and work as I wanted as long as the firmware still supports it. As Darkatt pointed out it is old equipment, so I replaced with a new device that only functions as a cable modem. Once I did that, the Netgate router worked properly with no more issues.

  • WiderMouthOpen's avatar
    WiderMouthOpen
    Esteemed Contributor
    2 years ago
    I have called and live chatted with customer service several times so far to tell them I have a new device on my network that I would like registered so that it can get assigned at public IP address, but they have not been of any help so far

    That is because DHCP is automatic and doesn't require CPE registration. Only registration/provisioning of the HFC MAC. Can you get online if you connect a PC direct to the SBG6580? If so, what kind of IP address do you get?