Using my own router with the Sky Hub

[ape72]

I've just switched from Virgin Media to Sky. I'm very happy with the broadband so far, but the complete lack of customisation with the Sky Hub (SR203) is ridiculous, e.g. QoS, parental controls, etc. With my old Virgin hub I used to put it into modem mode, plug my own router into it and my router did everything else. I know the Sky hub doesn't have a modem mode, but there must be a way to have the internet traffic coming through the Sky hub, all traffic gets routed from the hub to my own router, and my own router does everything else, e.g. DHCP, port forwarding, parental controls, Qos, etc, etc. Has anyone else got this setup working? I have included a crude diagram of my network below.

[Chrisee]

@ape72 that set up can work but you will have a Double NAT. The only immediate issue I can see is that you will need to repeat the programming the  forward the ports to your router. You may have issues with the parental control function depending on whether that is a router function or an application. Most everything else works. You can if you like set the second router to be innthe Sky hub's DMZ which simplifies the firewall issues.

An alternative approach is to not to use the Sky hub at all but you will lose the voice line function in thst case.. If you are on full fibre many routers can be configured to connect to the ONT. Whether yours will depends on whether it supports the DHCPv4 Option61 connection Sky uses. Asus and Netgear routers seem to. TP-Link dont and others vary.. If you are on the older service over copper then you will need a VDSL modem but the router issue is similar. 

[ape72]

Thank you for replying. Do you have any recommendations for routers that can replace the Sky Hub. Alternatively, are there any guides out there for setting up a Sky hub DMZ and double NAT?

[Eeeps]

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@ape72 wrote:

I've just switched from Virgin Media to Sky. I'm very happy with the broadband so far, but the complete lack of customisation with the Sky Hub (SR203) is ridiculous, e.g. QoS, parental controls, etc. With my old Virgin hub I used to put it into modem mode, plug my own router into it and my router did everything else. I know the Sky hub doesn't have a modem mode, but there must be a way to have the internet traffic coming through the Sky hub, all traffic gets routed from the hub to my own router, and my own router does everything else, e.g. DHCP, port forwarding, parental controls, Qos, etc, etc. Has anyone else got this setup working? I have included a crude diagram of my network below.

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I did a similar move from VM about 18 months ago and wanted to keep my internal network untouched.

I suggest the following arrangement which has woked fine for me.

Connect one of the Sky Hubs LAN ports to the WAN port on your router.

Set the IP subnet address of the Sky Hub internal range to a something that won't overlap with your main router. (e.g. 172.16.0.0 subnet mask 255.255.255.0).

Set the IP address of the Sky Hub to 172.16.0.1 and the WAN IP address of your router to 172.16.0.2

Set the DMZ on your Sky hub to be the IP address of your router (i.e. 172.16.0.2)

This way all incoming traffic on the Sky HUB will be forwarded to your router.

Switch off wifi, dhcp and firewall on your Sky Hub.

You can manage your sky hub from your internal network using its IP of 172.16.0.1

All other WAN settings are managed via your main router; port forward, firewall, QOS, etc.

You won't need to touch your Sky hub settings.

[Chrisee]

@ape72  . @Eeeps has given sound advice on how to set up a double NAT system.

It is impossible to recommend replacement routers without knowing what service you are buying from Sky, your budget and what services are required.  What is the make and model of the router you used with Virgin?

[ape72]

Thank you @Eeeps . What does the bit in yellow mean (see below)? I think I have to set a LAN IP for the Sky Hub (e.g. 192.168.0.1), a WAN address for my own router (e.g. 192.168.0.2), a LAN address for my own router, different from its' WAN address (e.g. 192.168.0.3), create a DMZ on the Sky hub for IP 192.168.0.2, then plug a cable from Sky LAN port to own router WAN port. Is that correct or do I need to worry about the text in yellow?

[Eeeps]

It's not just about IP addresses but subnet masks too.

You must have a completely different subnet for the link between the Sky Hub and your router.

(hence why I suggest 172.16.0.0 mask 255.255.255.0)

So on your router the LAN side IP will be 192.168.0.1 and the WAN side 172.16.0.2

You need this because the IP packets are being routed (layer 3) from your internal LAN to the WAN link.

[ape72]

@Eeeps I'm haivng trouble figuring out the bit in yellow, as the Sky hub only has 2 places where I can change IP addresses - the WAN page and the LAN page.

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[Chrisee]

@ape72 on the Sky hub its the LAN side thst needs reconfiguring. 

[Eeeps]

The WAN interface IP for the Sky Hub is not touched (it is what is connected to the true WAN)

The LAN interface on the Sky hub is configured with 172.16.0.1 mask 255.255.255.0

The WAN interface on yur router is configured with 172.16.0.2 mask 255.255.255.0

FInally, on the Sky hub the DMZ is configured to 172.16.0.2 to forward all ports to your router.

[budscot]

Hi @ape72  i am trying to do something almost identical, I am firstly wondering how did it all go with the setup?

I can see from other forums there is no "Modem Mode" with Sky routers.  At home here I have VM and Modem Mode is in play with an old TP Link router works just fine for me.

I have another work setting that uses a BR440 Sky Router and I am trying to get some form of filtering solution and this that you have suggested tried seems to fit my scenario.  Any advice?

Thanks.

[budscot]

Sorry another question I will aslo go looking for, can we not just pull the Sky provided router and use a 3rd party to connect to the SKY Service?

A different piece of kit entirely like a Unify Dream Machine or Gateway would provide more functionality and filtering like I am needing.   Do all this instead of putting yet another unit in front of the Sky box and making it double NAT config etc.

Also means they can always put the SKY Box back in as backup should the other fail without having to butcher the config.

Interested in thoughts from @Eeeps or others...

[cookiemonsteruk]

@budscot 

Sorry i posted this in the wrong thread. Ignore