Tablo Connect port forwarding - Public port keeps changing!

I’m trying to set up port forwarding in order to use Tablo Connect for accessing the Tablo when away from home. My router is a linksys velop mesh router, and the Tablo is the older 4-receiver model. The port forwarding interface on the router looks identical to one of the examples in the User Guide Chapter 6 for setting up port forwarding, so I’m pretty confident that I have the settings right. The issue is that, in step 4, where you’re supposed to disable and re-enable Tablo Connect in order to confirm that it works, when re-enabled the public port numbers will have changed. So I change the router settings to the new public ports, apply the change, disable and re-enable Tablo Connect, and the required public ports will have changed again. Over and over and over. So I started adding port forwarding rules for each new set of public ports, keeping the rules for the previous cycles, but it never goes back to ones it wanted previously. I’m up to 20 different port forwarding rules, hoping the Tablo will want a pair that it wanted a few cycles ago and be good to go, but it just keeps changing the ports it wants to use. This is insane! There must be a better way! Please help!

When I re-enable it via Android app on a Tablet (and Chrome PC), and tells me what ports to use - I change those ports, the ones tablo is using back to the first numbers it gave me - the ones my router has setup for it - and click retest.

It doesn’t say to do this… but I wasn’t going to go through what you describe, and works with a lot less frustration :neutral_face:

Maybe this can work for you as well. I did read their instructions as well, and continuously assigning (semi) random numbers each time, as you say is insane!

The online guide really should be changed. Or by unchecking Remote Access and checking it again, the ports shouldn’t change.

You can actually type numbers into the Public Port boxes, so type in the public ports you already have setup in your router. Then do not disable and re-enabled Tablo Connect in the Tablo Settings. Instead click “Re-test Port Mapping”. See below.

I didn’t know that you could edit the public ports in Tablo. So I tried that. Updated the port forwarding settings on the linksys, disabled and re-enabled Tablo Connect, edited the public ports back to what they had been, retested the port mapping, but no luck. Not sure what the next steps are. Maybe open a ticket with Tablo support…

Good idea.

What is the make and model of your ISP modem? Have you put your modem in bridge mode? If no, then you likely have “Double NAT” in place. As in there is a router running on your ISP modem, and router running on your Linksys router.

What is the “WAN IP Addresss” reported on the Linksys router? The first two set of numbers is fine, such as “192.168.x.x”.

I just got started with the Starlink beta, replacing our crappy dsl. After a little googling it seems that port forwarding is not an option due to CGNAT. I’m too network illiterate to know what that means. There appear to be work arounds with vpn tunneling or teamviewer. Too advanced for me. Apparently once Starlink enables ipv6 it won’t be an issue, assuming Tablo is ipv6 compatible. I’ll see what I can learn about those other options, but having no experience with networking I’m not hopeful. Oh well.

I don’t know anything about Starlink internet, and when you Google it, there is no helpful information on their website, it’s all a big secret.

You can still answer this question to confirm whether you are using Double NAT:

What is the “WAN IP Addresss” reported on the Linksys router? The first two set of numbers is fine, such as “192.168.x.x”.

Yes, sorry. The router’s internet address is 100.72.x.x

The best information I can find for starlink is in a user subreddit at reddit.com/r/starlink. They aren’t officially supported by starlink, but there does seem to be a lot of knowledgeable folks.

According to the Wiki below, the 100.72.x.x is also included in the internal IP address range (aka a private network), this means you are engaged in “Double NAT” (read links below about double NAT). So you’d have to find a way to put the Starlink modem in “bridge mode”, or connect the Tablo to the Starlink modem and have the Starlink modem do the port forwarding (which I don’t even know if this is possible with the modem).

https://kb.netgear.com/30186/What-is-Double-NAT

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/fixing_double_nat.htm

So I had more time to look into this and Starlink internet currently uses CGNAT (Carrier grade NAT), which means you cannot set port forwarding settings. And thus that means Tablo Connect unfortunately will not work with Starlink internet at this point in time. This is not a limitation of the Linksys Velop router, but your internet.

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Pretty much the same thing holds true for most Mobile carriers, including Mifi type devices. So if your home Internet connection is a Mifi device, Tablo Connect probably won’t work either.