Manual configuration of Tablo Connect

Unfortunately U-Verse doesn’t allow the user to use their own router, so while they charge me $7.00 a month, this is the third replacement router I’ve had with no extra cost and they come and set it up very quickly. This time he even changed the port I was on, on the AT&T hub, and download speed is now faster than my guaranteed speed, so I am happy.

I just thought I would share the latest on my continuing saga.
Basically, Frontier Communications is starting to prove themselves completely worthless in my eyes. (The $40 increase in my bill earlier this year was bad enough, but now here is the latest.)

I called them today to finally drop my cable television service and once that was done I asked to be transferred to Tech Support so I could address my port forwarding issue.

A very pleasant technician ran me through a script that set up some generic port forwarding to be sure it works. Once that was done, she asked if there was anything else. I had to say to her, “This doesn’t address my specific problem.”

I started to run through the issue, explained to her how I could get one port forwarded, but when trying to add the second port, I got the following error:
“The port(s) that were entered overlap with port(s) that are already being used by this application.”

I further explained that I found someone on a forum with the exact same router, the exact same issue, albeit on U-verse.

After checking with her supervisor, she came back on to tell me that there was nothing more she could do for me “at this level,” but she could sign me up for some advanced level technical support “for only $12.99 per month.”
When I expressed some confusion with this, she said that I could just sign up for it this month and once my issue was resolved I could simply cancel the service.

Needless to say, given my frustration, I did NOT bother to go any further.

For now, I guess I’ll just have to do without the “Remote Access” ability that Tablo offers.

Once the cable television portion of my bill is eliminated, I guess my next step will be looking for a new internet service provider.

-ELK

They don’t allow you to use your own gateway, but you can do what I used to do and buy your own router. Just set up the AT&T gateway to bridge mode, and use your router to handle all the networking in your home.

Forgive me, if you already understand the following…

Overlapping ports sounds like a port range was entered.
It should be just one public (internet) port pointing to one private (internal) port.
And there would be two separate entries for Tablo.

If you have the same issue that @Anita_C had with her original router, than the router is the problem, because it doesn’t have the specific port forwarding feature required to work with Tablo, and many other products.

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If you have the same issue that @Anita_C had with her original router, than the router is the problem, because it doesn’t have the specific port forwarding feature required to work with Tablo, and many other products.
[/quote]

From everything I can see, my issue is the same (router is identical, the only difference is Frontier took over for U-Verse in my area). And I tried to explain that to the tech I was speaking with, but apparently unless I pay for the “advanced tech support” Frontier is not about to do anything for me.

We have 2 issues to overcome with your router:

  1. Requires the public (internet) port be the same number as the private (internal) port.
  2. Requires a port forwarding range.

Solution:
This should work as long as your ISP doesn’t block port 80, which they might.
If your ISP does block port 80, then ask them to unblock it for you.
Tablo requires 2 ports for remote connect to work.
Following are the default values for both sets:
Public Private
21031 -> 8887
21030 -> 80

  1. Tablo allows you to change the Public port numbers, so change them to match their Private port numbers to look like this:
    Public Private
    8887 -> 8887
    80 -> 80

  2. Overcome your routers port forwarding range requirement by using the same port number for the “From” and “To” values.
    You’ll need to create 2 Application Profile Names, like TabloConnect1 and TabloConnect2, with the following port ranges:
    From: 8887 To: 8887
    From: 80 To: 80

@TabloTV
The bigger issue here is ISPs tend to block Public TCP Port 80, and a lot of customers are required to use ISP modem/router combos that don’t allow the port forwarding Public TCP Port number to be different from the Private TCP Port number.
A graceful solution is to change Tablo’s Private TCP Port from 80 to something else that ISPs won’t tend to block.
How about it, my Tablo Engineering Gurus?

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How long have you had your router? Would they just replace it if you’ve had it a while?

I’m not sure if they block it or not. As frustrated as I am with Frontier right now, I’m not about to call back to find out. Plus, it’s the weekend, so I probably can’t reach anyone until next week at the earliest.

So, if I’m understanding this correctly, I wound up with 3 different User Defined filters:
1: Sets 8887 to 8887 AND 80 to 80
2: Sets 80 to 21080
3: Sets 8887 to 21081

The first filter sets up just fine using both 80 to 80 and 8887 to 8887.
Whenever I tried to set up both 2 and 3 in the same filter, I wound up with an error.
I then just added those three filters to the “Hosted Application” list to “Allow individual application(s)” selection.

With all the problems, I started to think that I might be doing something wrong with the “computer that will host the applications through the firewall” - Should it be my main computer? should it be the Tablo? should it be one of the other “nodes”?
I’m pretty sure I’m doing everything correctly… but with so many issues, paranoia sets in and I start worry that my limited skill set is even more limited than I initially thought.

The router is probably 3 years old. As I said before, it’s still got the “U-Verse” logo on it, but I’ve been with Frontier now for about 2 years.

When I was on the phone with Frontier, I did mention that, “Someone I know who is still on U-Verse had this very same problem. They told her it was a firmware issue and simply replaced the router.” (Sure, a bit of a lie, but given all this back and forth in the forum, we’re ‘friends’ of a sort, right?)

Needless to say, that didn’t get me anywhere. I got the “advanced tech support” sales pitch instead of any actual help.

If this is what you have on your router, then you’re close.
I didn’t know you could create one filter to include both ranges, but cool.
Number 2 and 3 are not needed.

The other changes need to occur on your Tablo Settings page, in the Tablo Connect - Remote Access section.
This is where you change the Public Ports to match the Private Ports on the Tablo.
I know Google Chrome browser connecting to my.tablotv.com allows me to do this.

Now I really am confused all over again.
The way I interpreted your previous message, it sounded like I needed THREE different “Hosted Applications” settings. Now you’re saying I don’t?

Again, here are the 3 settings that I created:
SETTING 1 (I called “Tablo Settings”): 8887 - 8887 and 80 - 80 (I was surprised that I could get TWO settings in the same configuration. The other two configurations wouldn’t allow a second setting to be added.)

SETTING 2 (I called “Tablo 80”): 80 - 21080

SETTING 3 (I called “Tablo 8887”): 8887 - 21081

I have all three of those settings added to “Hosted Applications” for the Tablo device:

And I still wind up with the “Manual Configuration” requirement when I try to set the Remote Access option:

That’s exactly what you need set up in your router, good.
I too am surprised that you were able to include both sets within the same router hosted application, but that’s fine.
You don’t need the other ones, just keep your settings #1 “Tablo Settings”.
Delete the others.

Yes, this is normal.
Just change the Public Port numbers to match the Private Port numbers.
8887 -> 8887
80 -> 80
And then click on re-test port mapping.

You are so close.
The only thing that could go wrong is your ISP blocking TCP Port 80, which they very likely do.
But give it a shot.

Seriously?!? Are you kidding me?!? Yes. It actually worked.

I set up the Definition List to forward 80 to 80 and 8887 to 8887.
I turned on the “Remote Access.”
I changed the Tablo settings to forward 80 to 80 and 8887 to 8887.
Re-Tested the Port Mapping and it seemed to work.
Went to a friend’s house last night, hopped on his wifi, and streamed a recorded show to my phone.

Now, the big question(s):
Why does this work? Maybe it’s my ignorance showing through, but how does forwarding a port to the same port actually accomplish anything?
Is this the ‘holy grail’ of answers and why hasn’t it been stumbled across sooner?
Is there any security issue here that I should be concerned about?
Should I leave the “Remote Access” turned off regularly and only activate it when I think I’ll need it?

Thanks to everyone for their help.
But special thanks to Anita_C for letting me hijack her forum thread and Radojevic for walking me through what seems to be a solution that didn’t cost me additional money to fix.

-ELK

Tablo defaults to using a Public Port that is different from the Private Port, because the Public Port is on the internet side that your ISP controls.
ISPs frequently block certain ports from their end.
Port 80 is one in particular, as it’s the default web server port.
ISPs don’t want non-business customers to have internet services, like web servers accessible from their house on to the internet.

Tablo uses port 80 and 8887 to communicate on your network.
Tablo defaults to mapping Private Port 80 (inside your network) to Public Port 21080 (internet),
and Private Port 8887 (inside your network) to Public Port 21081 (internet).
So, even if your ISP blocks ports 80 and 8887 on their end (internet), ports 21080 and 21081 will probably be allowed to go thru.

However, your DSL modem/router unit doesn’t have the feature to allow a port forwarding Public Port number to be different from its Private Port.
Since the only port numbers we cannot change are Tablo’s Private Port numbers, we change the Public Port numbers to match the unchangeable Public Port numbers.

It’s not brain science, it’s more like rocket surgery. :wink:

We haven’t figured this out before, because we have different routers with different capabilities, different ISPs that allow different capabilities, and different levels of expertise.
And, in my case, it took several different looks at the problem to achieve several levels of “aha!” moments.

Now you ask about security? :wink:
Yes, opening a port thru your firewall always less secure than leaving that port closed to the internet.
However, you need to decide if it’s worth the risk to enable a desired feature.

There are two parts affecting your security here:

  1. Your Tablo System.
  2. Your entire home network.

Disabling your Tablo’s remote access feature will prevent you, and anyone else from accessing your Tablo remotely.
However, to secure your home network from the internet, you’ll need to close your router’s port forwarding ports.
I bet the second part is what you were thinking about.

Lastly, my apologies to @Anita_C for not coming up with this solution that probably would have worked for her in the first place.
Consolation prize is that she received a better router replacement from her ISP.

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If I had held on a bit longer, I could have used my old router. But my speed has improved dramatically since the tech put me on a different port on the AT&T equipment. Hopefully Tablo support will put this solution in the knowledgebase.

My new router is a Pace 5268AC and I have set it up exactly as I tried to set up the 3801HGV.

I wonder what is different about this router, that it doesn’t need the 80 ===> 80 and 8887 ===> 8887 forwarding rules to work.

Most routers also have automatic port forwarding, called UPnP, universal plug and play.
It allows for devices inside your network, like the Tablo, to request a port to be opened, and the router would create a port forwarding rule on the fly.
However, it doesn’t always work, and it’s much less secure than manually setting up port forwarding for just the device you really want to be accessed from the entire internet.

@Anita_C and @Radojevic - Thank you for the question and answer. This helped me exactly figure out my issue with U-Verse port forwarding to my Tablo. I hope all U-Verse users can find this thread!

Thanks!
Jesse

I also have a 3800HGV-B UVerse router requiring manual port forwarding. I’m guessing it won’t play videos as port forwarding for port 80 isn’t working (but port 8887 is working and I can connect to the device).

I successfully setup 21151 to 8887 and can connect to my Tablo outside my home network (without port 21150 forwarded to 80).

Whenever I try to forward 21150 to 80 (along with 21151 to 8887) I’m unable to connect to my Tablo. It just tries and tries and then gives up. Here is how I have it setup:

I also tried creating them as 2 separate definitions, but that didn’t help.

Any ideas on what I’m doing wrong?

THANK YOU!!

PS. I would have put more images to make this clear, but apparently new users are only allowed 1 image.

Why don’t you try changing the Tablo Settings to Port 8887 to 8887 and Port 80 to 80? You’ll also have to change the settings in your router too.

If I read the above posts in this thread correctly, that’s what they did to fix it.