TP-Link TD-W9960 Modem & Synology RT1900ac Router - Accessing Modem Web Page

[MalpasTony]

Following suggestions on this forum, I have replaced my Sky SR203 Hub with a TP-Link TD-W9960 VDSL Modem Router which I have configured as a bridge (also disabled DHCP, WiFi etc). It took a bit of faffing about with the Internet Connection settings in my Synology RT1900ac Router (namely the Client ID (Option 61) string), but internet access is now working OK.

As I've come from Virgin Media, I've essentially swapped a VM Superhub3 configured as a Modem, for a TD-W9960 working as a Modem.

What puzzles me is that previously I could access the VM Cable Modem admin web page (on 192.168.100.1), whereas now I cannot access the TD-W9960 Modem admin web page (also set to be 192.168.100.1).

If I plug my PC directly into the TD-W9960, I have no problem accessing the admin web page (obviously!).

My home LAN is configured to use 192.168.1.x addresses, and this has not changed in swapping from VM to Sky.

I have tried simultaneously powering down the PC, RT1900ac and TD-W9960, and then powering them on again (TD-W9960 first, then RT1900ac, then PC),  but with no luck.

It would be convenient to be able to access the TD-W9960 admin web page without plugging/unplugging things (access to modem stats).

Can anyone explain what might be going on and what I can do about it.

[jamesn123]

@MalpasTony 

Same case when I was using the TD-W9970 due to the way it passes on authentication to your 3rd party router it is not possible for you to access the web interface of the TP-Link modem while connected to your router. 

[cookiemonsteruk]

@MalpasTony 

@jamesn123  what would happen if you put the tp link on the dmz of the synology.?

[TomThumb5ive]

@MalpasTony  &  @jamesn123  I don't know about the W9960? but the W9970 has a physical wifi on/off button on the rear of the unit,

So for ease, just enable wifi on the tp-link with this switch & connect via a wireless client for full modem access, 

You will need to manually set the ip parameters on the client device to that of the tp-link on the initial link, 

Maybe use a different subnet on the 2 routers & your all good.

fwiw: I run the tp-link wifi on a low power setting, so with my asus & tp-link using opposite ends of the scale, I've not seen a performance hit,

(I actually forgot to turn the wifi off after checking the status a couple of weeks back, but with no adverse performance hit, I've left the W9970 wifi enabled) 

 Would I recommend leaving it enabled? No,

Tom...

[jamesn123]

@cookiemonsteruk 

Not really sure what you mean. When you configure the TP-Link modem you make a port profile that passes through the VDSL line to the router via that ethernet port. There is no IP address to put in the Synology router. The IP you configure for the TP-Link modem is used to access its web interface when connected to any other port that you havent configured for VDSL passthrough.

[jamesn123]

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@TomThumb5ive wrote:

@MalpasTony  &  @jamesn123  I don't know about the W9960? but the W9970 has a physical wifi on/off button on the rear of the unit,

So for ease, just enable wifi on the tp-link with this switch & connect via a wireless client for full modem access, 

You will need to manually set the ip parameters on the client device to that of the tp-link on the initial link, 

Maybe use a different subnet on the 2 routers & your all good.

Tom...

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Yeah that does introduce a fair but of complexity and possibly clashing of WiFi signals though.

To be honest once its all configured I dont see why access is needed to the modem?

[MalpasTony]

Thanks everyone for your contributions.

@TomThumb5ive 

There is no WiFi switch on the back of the W9960, but I've disabled it via the Admin console as it sits right next to my RT1900ac Router (behind my TV) which provides WiFi to the house. I don't need a second WiFi network and disabling it also ensures it can't interfere with the RT1900ac.

A little further reading has convinced me that setting the VDSL Modem into bridge mode (bridging to the LAN1 port which is then wired to the WAN port of the Router) means that the Modem admin console (on 192.168.100.1) is unreachable from devices on my home LAN (on 192.168.0.x).

@jamesn123 

Being able to access the Modem stats without unplugging/plugging ethernet cables is a nice to have in the event of any problems arising as I've been spoilt for 20+ years having a rock steady reliable Virgin Media cable broadband system. Unfortunately, the cost of 200Mbs VM broadband & TV could not be justified anymore (£100/month!). I'm hoping that Sky VDSL turns out to be equally reliable (though much slower at 26Mbs!).

[jamesn123]

@MalpasTony 

To be quite honest you'll either have a solid connection or you wont, being able to access the stats in the modem is pretty meaningless because even if you have an issue the problem will almost certainly require you to plug the Sky hub back in and then contact Sky support. 

[MalpasTony]

@jamesn123 

Well, I'm hoping that "solid connection" is how things are going to go long term. As an ex- IT professional, I don't need much in the way of tech support, and on the few occasions I did need to contact VM support I was usually telling them what was wrong!

Getting access to the Modem stats is more a sideline technical challenge than a neccessity, but I accept your point about having to plug the Sky Hub back in to get any support from Sky. If only the Sky Hub supported bridge mode 🙄 (yes, I've seen the numerous threads asking the same question)

[MalpasTony · Accepted solution]

So it turns out that the TP-Link TD-W9960 VDSL Modem/Router has a neat feature whereby you can set a second IP Address for its admin console. With the TD-W9960 in bridge mode, setting this to an address on the Synology RT1900ac LAN, and connecting the two devices as shown below means I can now access the RT1900ac admin console AND the TD-W9960 admin console without juggling about with any ethernet connections. To ensure the RT1900ac doesn't try to allocate the same 192.168.0.20 address to any other device on the LAN, I have not only added it to the DHCP Reservation list of the RT1900ac, but also have its DHCP start address set to 192.168.0.100.

Not the worlds best sketch, but I hope you get the general idea.