Ooma Telo Home port, DHCP Router or Switch Functions?

[thunderbird]

I wonder how difficult it would be to add a feature to the Ooma Telo's Home Port DHCP Router function, which would allow the Ooma Telo's router function to be disabled, and instead enable a switch function that would pass IP addresses, as a normal switch does, from a router connected in front of the Ooma Telo?

This added function would certainly correct the double NAT problems that many people have when connecting the Ooma Telo behind their router and allow the Ooma Telo to be much more useful.

[murphy]

When you put a Telo behind your router don't use the Home port at all and you won't have any double NAT problems.

[thunderbird]

This request is for people that want to use their Ooma Telo's home port for at least one extra network distribution port.

An example is that my Ooma Telo is located in another room. I connect a computer that is also located in the other room to the Ooma Telo's Home port. My Ooma Telo is connected behind my Router. So I end up having a double NAT with no connectivity between NATs.

If the Ooma Telo's Home port could be configured as a switch passing IP addresses from the Router connected ahead of the Ooma Telo, than I would not have a double NAT. I know I could purchase another switch and place it ahead of the Ooma Telo, connecting both the Ooma Telo and the Computer to the Switch, but I don't want to purchase another switch for just one extra port.

[tomcat]

thunderbird:
Have you tried putting the PC in the telo's DMZ?

[thunderbird]

thunderbird:
Have you tried putting the PC in the telo's DMZ?

I was sure I tried the DMZ before, but I just tried it again. This procedure doesn't open any doors for me.

[tomcat]

thunderbird:
Have you tried putting the PC in the telo's DMZ?

I was sure I tried the DMZ before, but I just tried it again. This procedure doesn't open any doors for me.

Could you provide more details to the connectivity you are trying to achieve between the networks? With the pc in the DMZ there should be no ports being blocked and you have to keep in mind that your network on the telo's Internet port will see the pc as having the telo's IP and not the ip actually assigned on the pc.

[thunderbird]

This discussion is going off in the wrong direction.

I want to use an IP address, issued from my router, through the Ooma Telo to my computer's wired LAN card, which is connected to the Ooma Telo's Home port. This function is a switch function. Ooma Telo's don't provide that function right now, but probably with a firmware/software change it could.

[nn5i]

When you put a Telo behind your router don't use the Home port at all and you won't have any double NAT problems.

That's true, but in vain I search for anything in it that has the remotest relation to the thread.

Right now, the Telo acts like a one-output router with a two-port switch attached to it. The WAN input of this internal router is the Telo's "internet" port; the Telo's internal switch has its two ports connected to the Telo's "home" port and to the Telo's internal Ethernet client. Thus you can't move a packet between Telo's "home" and "internet" ports without going through the accursed crippleware router built into the Telo.

Thunderbird's suggestion is that the Telo be configurable as a three-port switch with no internal router at all. In this configuration the internal three-port switch would have one of its ports permanently connected to Telo's internal Ethernet client, and the other two ports connected to Telo's "internet" and "home" ports, which would then become interchangeable. This would make it possible to remove Telo's internal router from one's network completely, at the cost of requiring an external router between Telo and the modem. Many people already operate their routers that way, and in my opinion everyone ought to, if there are routers in their networks. It would not only eliminate Telo's accursed router, but also avoid the effective loss of an available switch port.

To me this seems a most intelligent and creative idea, one to be welcomed, seized upon, and placed into physical realization with all deliberate speed if Telo's present hardware can handle it. If Telo's present hardware can't handle it, surely it would be a perfectly trivial hardware change for some future version of Ooma.

[thunderbird]

The best solution, which would also take care of possible security issues, would be:
When the Ooma Telo is connected behind a router with an Enabled DHCP Server, the Ooma Telo would auto sense the active Enabled Router DHCP Server.

The Ooma Telo would automatically disable The Ooma Telo Home port DHCP Server, changing to switch pass through mode, to act as a switch and pass Router DHCP IP addresses through the Ooma Telo to the Home port.

An additional external switch could be connected to the Ooma Telo's Home port to allow additional devices to be connected through the Ooma Telo's Home port.

For security, the Ooma Telo's Internet port and Home port would be separate with no common traffic.
(All of the traffic would flow through the Ooma Telo's Internet port, but would have separate paths to the Internet side and the Home port side of the Ooma Telo).
The reason is so that the Internet port side static IP address of the Ooma Telo could be placed the Router's DMZ.
The rest of the Router's LAN IP addresses would be protected from the WAN, as it is now with a normal Router's LAN and DMZ setup.

If the Ooma Telo was connected to a Modem or Router and doesn't sense an Enabled DHCP Server, the Ooma Telo Switch auto function would not activate.

Note: These are basic ideas and refinement is probably required.

[nn5i]

Thunderbird, you are a creative thinker. That's rare. I salute you.