Is static IP required for enabling bridge mode on Airtel Xstream?

  • Thread starter Thread starter hashhar
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6
Location
Gurugram
ISP
Airtel
I placed a call to customer care for enabling some ports as bridged mode on my Airtel Xstream fiber conection which uses the Nokia G-2425G-A router.

The customer care sent a technician to my home who told me that since I don't have a static IP I can't configure the router to bridge mode.

I want to know whether it is actually required or is the Airtel guy trying to upsell me to Rs 199/mo + GST for the static IP? As per my understanding of how networking works I don't think there's any requirement for a static IP to be able to configure a router under bridge mode.

Can the people here please confirm if bridge mode requires static ip or not?

I'm trying to use a UDM Pro as the gateway so want to turn the Nokia into a dumb ONT.
 
Solution
@hashhar You don't need to take a static IP for bridge mode. I was on dynamic and had a bridged mode Nokia set up for me. I opted for static IP much later. If they are adamant agree to static IP have them bridge the router and then cancel static IP a month or two down the line.

I must tell you that Airtel has pretty much changed its attitude to a "take it or leave it" mode. Home BB is not their priority it seems. And I speak from personal experience. Others on Airtel BB have also experienced the same nonchalant attitude from their staff.
what I feel is many Airtel field engineers fundamentally don't know what you are talking about. So to beat around the bush they give lame excuses.
The problem is they pass the buck by saying you cant enable that or you need static ip or it is not possible or we don't do that and so on.
this list of excuses is endless. When I got my connection I was told that if I enable bridge mode internet will stop working. In my case they did not say anything about static ip.
I have noticed that many engineers do not know what is
1. public ip
2. bridge mode
3. NAT
4. opening ports & port forwarding
they only know how to join wires.
In my area I have a mobile number of a senior backend tech expert and when I get fedup with engineers I call him directly to resolve my tech matters.
 
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Hathway tried same static ip trick on me, but with help of IBF forum members input, I was able to configure bridge mode on ZTE 670L and PPPOE on my secondary router. You can view the conversations and solution here PPPOE setup on Hathway boradband - Cheating customers | Hathway Broadband
 
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I have observed that Airtel assigns WAN IP that starts with 100.* which is not public IP. When you setup your router in bridge mode using dynamic IP, what is the wan IP that you are getting ? I get 100.*
 
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@srikanthl if you get a 100.* IP it's a CGNAT, if you want a public static IP then you will need to pay 199+tax/mth

Also, static IP has nothing to do with bridge mode. I am on dynamic IP with a bridge mode and luckily its a public IP 122.* series.
 
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Yes, you are right, it's CGNAT. You are lucky that you get 122.* as your dynamic public IP. I am thinking whether I should go for static IP at all for security reasons.

Does your Airtel router still get WAN IP after you enabled bridge mode ? In my case after enabling bridge mode (backend team enabled it) Airtel router doesn't get WAN IP. It keeps trying to connect. On my personal router i get WAN ip 100.*
 
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What security? You are more exposed with a static IP if someone say a hacker learns of that address unless of course you employ a good firewall with sufficient security rules to block unwanted incoming or outgoing traffic. 🙂 Don't get one till you're absolutely sure you need it.

Yes, my Airtel ONT also gets a public IP over its PPPoE connection (unless they disabled it recently, haven't checked) while my personal router gets another one. Tata Sky disables PPPoE on the ONT.
 


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That's what I also meant actually. Static IP is prone to more attacks. Though I placed a request for static IP yesterday, due to these security concerns, i am thinking whether I should really go for it. I will cancel my request.

I wish my router gets a proper dynamic public IP but that's not the case as Airtel assigned 100.*
 
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I am thinking whether I should go for static IP at all for security reasons.
A Static IP is prone to more attack. See my pfSense pfBlockerNg Log. Though, many of the IP addresses are just scanning the public internet for doing Reconnaissance.

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