Accessing modem through router

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Seeyou

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Hi guys

Recently purchased a Zyxel VMG1312-B modem for my pending VDSL upgrade. I have a TP-Link TL-WR1043N router making the PPPOE connection, and the modem running in Bridge mode.

I know it's possible to access the modem's web admin interface through the router's LAN, but I have no idea how to go about it. Can anyone assist?
 
Hello,

So as far as i can tell you have:
Telephone line-->TP-Link-->lan cable-->zyxel

Surely its just how you manage a normal router?
 
Perhaps my phrasing wasn't clear enough. It goes Phone line > Zyxel modem > Network cable > TP-Link Router

Modem is in bridge mode, Router manages the PPPOE connection and maintains the LAN and WIFI network. I can access the Router just fine via it's web interface from my PC. However, I cannot access the modem in the same way. I can obviously plug the PC's network cable directly into the modem, but I'd like to be able to log in to it while still on the router's network.
 
Why would you need to if the modem is effectively a dumb device?

Give it a static IP in the same range should do the job, it if it doesn't it's probably because your Router won't allow local connectivity and PPPoE connectivity over the same Ethernet port at the same time.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Why would you need to if the modem is effectively a dumb device?

Give it a static IP in the same range should do the job, it if it doesn't it's probably because your Router won't allow local connectivity and PPPoE connectivity over the same Ethernet port at the same time.
Click to expand...

Um, to get stats from the modem that do not exist on the router itself?

To answer OP's question, it depends on what you have installed on the TP-Link. If it is DD-WRT, you should be able to set up routes so that the TP-Link will have a way to reach the modem. Alternatively, you can install OpenWRT (which is what I am using), and set it up that way too.
 
RoganDawes said:
Um, to get stats from the modem that do not exist on the router itself?

To answer OP's question, it depends on what you have installed on the TP-Link. If it is DD-WRT, you should be able to set up routes so that the TP-Link will have a way to reach the modem. Alternatively, you can install OpenWRT (which is what I am using), and set it up that way too.
Click to expand...

That's exactly the reason - though I still have the stock TP-Link firmware installed. Is there no way to do it using that?
 
If the router's web admin port is 80 then in the modem's sett8ngs you need to forward an unused port to 80.

Example: in the modem settings forward external port 1234 to internal port 80.

So now if you need to connect to the router you type in 192.168.1.254:1234
 
@YingYang

I'm assuming you mixed up router and modem in your reply, as I'm trying to access the modem through the router.

The TP-Link (Router) has pretty basic networking options. It has a Forwarding / Virtual server option - which routes requests coming from outside on certain ports to IP's on the LAN - which is close, but doesn't help me.

It also has a static routing section, which accepts a destination network, subnet mask and default gateway to build static routes. I've tried a number of different options here with no luck, like specifying 192.168.1.0 for destination, subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and gateway of 192.168.0.1 (Router). The modem's IP is 192.168.1.1 when I connect to it directly via network cable. Perhaps the TP-Links default firmware is too simplistic for this - I don't see any way to access/refer to the separate network it creates with the modem.
 
Seeyou said:
@YingYang

I'm assuming you mixed up router and modem in your reply, as I'm trying to access the modem through the router.

The TP-Link (Router) has pretty basic networking options. It has a Forwarding / Virtual server option - which routes requests coming from outside on certain ports to IP's on the LAN - which is close, but doesn't help me.

It also has a static routing section, which accepts a destination network, subnet mask and default gateway to build static routes. I've tried a number of different options here with no luck, like specifying 192.168.1.0 for destination, subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and gateway of 192.168.0.1 (Router). The modem's IP is 192.168.1.1 when I connect to it directly via network cable. Perhaps the TP-Links default firmware is too simplistic for this - I don't see any way to access/refer to the separate network it creates with the modem.
Click to expand...
You're right, my apologies :D

Are you sure DHCP is off in the modem?

I doubt the static route is going to help you as that's more to set up a VPN

Determine what the modem's LAN IP is once its connected to the router. A good app I use (assuming you're using android) is Fing to find IP's of different devices on my network
 
The modem's in bridge mode, and DHCP is off. (tested by connecting to it over cable)

I don't think the router rassigns it an IP - as it's not present in the DHCP client list on the router and when I do a network scan, it doesn't show up on any IP. I think the router communicates with the modem directly over PPPOE which the modem then bridges, so the router doesn't consider it part of the LAN. DD-WRT seems to have the ability to forward requests for IPs to a specific interface, but I don't think the default TP-Link firmware has anything near this capability. Perhaps I'll give DD-WRT a try in the future, for now I think I'm limited to connecting via cable.

Thanks for the help guys!
 
I think you are not going to come right. The PPPoE is doing your Layer 3 so the LAN connection between the 2 devices is only Layer 2.

What I did was I had multiple LAN ports on my modem so I plugged another cable into the modem which solved the problem.

Another option is to put your Modem back into router mode and then get DHCP on your TP-Link from the modem and browse internet that way.

It can get complicated quickly
 
TheGuy said:
I think you are not going to come right. The PPPoE is doing your Layer 3 so the LAN connection between the 2 devices is only Layer 2.

What I did was I had multiple LAN ports on my modem so I plugged another cable into the modem which solved the problem.

Another option is to put your Modem back into router mode and then get DHCP on your TP-Link from the modem and browse internet that way.

It can get complicated quickly
Click to expand...
Yeah, but doing it that way, he might is well eliminate the TP-Link entirely
 
After doing some reading up on DD-WRT, seems it's a simple iptables entry via the command line if you have it installed. Perhaps I'll try it over the weekend when I can afford some downtime. Thanks again guys!
 
TheGuy gave you the answer in that you can plug another cable from the router to the modem. There will be no loop as the router segregates the WAN and LAN for you. If the modem only has one Ethernet you can even use the router to accomplish this by plugging the router WAN to LAN on port 1 and modem on port 2.
 
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