This is a very specific question and I hope someone can help as I would love to use my slingbox in its full functionality. So I got a Slingbox Solo for Christmas and was going to hookup to our Directv HDDVR. I got it all hooked up and it was recognized on the home network. I got to the Internet viewing portion and ran into issues. I have Hughesnet satellite highspeed internet which has the HN7000S modem that is connected to a Linksys SR224 24 port switch. The slingbox is connected to said switch. I contacted technical support at both Slingbox and Hughesnet. The problem I am having is that Slingbox says I need port forwarding and Hughesnet says they do not support this feature. I am confused because I thought port forwarding is a function on a router not a modem. Do any of you guys know the answer to this and how I can get my slingbox to work with this setup?

I would be seriously shocked if Hughesnet can support the upstream required for a Slingbox.

Not just in bandwidth, but also in latency.

You are correct that port forwarding is usually a router feature, but it does depend on the type of equipment in place.

Several companies are now bundling the router and modem into one piece of equipment.. the Westell series is a common one now for DSL carries.

This means that the modem already bridges and NATs the network so that you get private IP's off the lan interface allowing you to simply hook up a switch to the back of the unit and provide access to your entire local network, these also commonly have built-in wireless.

Each of these devices will have different configuration settings that will need to be changed. So manufacturers / providers will have these settings locked so that you can't change them.

Do you know if your HughesNET modem is providing live IP's off of it's LAN/Local port? Or is it already NATing your traffic?

If it is providing live IP's and your linksys has a WAN link, and then LAN ports, it's your linksys that will need to be configured or set to use uPNP and a firmware update probably wouldn't hurt either, if one is available...

unfortunately, my gut tells me that none of this will matter, because the latency will make the streaming video unwatchable on the other end...

Good luck!

-S

I just googled the HN7000S... from Hughes site:

quote:

---

Acts as a local router providing:

* Static and dynamic addressing
* DHCP server or relay
* DNS Caching
* Full RIPV2 routing support
* Multicasts to the LAN by using IGMP
* NAT/PAT
* VLAN tagging
* Firewall support through integrated access control lists

---

The unit is getting one address from the HughesNET NOC and then NATing it. So it is acting as a modem and a router, thus you will need to log into it (if you can) and open the ports for the Slingbox - either by setting a static IP address to the slingbox and manually adding the port entires, or enabling uPNP so that the slingbox can automatically request the ports be opened for it.

-S

Sellis,

As I am not a network guru, although I like to think fairly technology savvy, I cant stand networking stuff because I do not understand it. The latency could be an issue, but the tested upstream is greater than the minimum suggested. Both parties told me that this modem is also a router. They have set me up with a static IP now, which I am not sure if that even remotely has to do with what you are asking about.

According to all the documentation I could find, the HN7000S will not do port forwarding, it's NAT/PAT is basic at best.

You will need to upgrade you account to a static IP address, have then reconfigured your HN7000S back to modem functionality, then purchase a WRT54G or similar router, then properly configure it with your static IP address on the WAN side and either setup uPNP or port forwarding to the slingbox (if you set the slingbox to a static NAT'd address).

-S

I am glad you know what to do because I am not sure how to do or what half of that means. I have already upgraded to a static IP address. I have a spare router that I am pretty sure is the model you suggested. So what are the following steps I need to take? Also when connecting said router does it need to be upstream of the switch?

quote:

---

Sellis,

As I am not a network guru, although I like to think fairly technology savvy, I cant stand networking stuff because I do not understand it. The latency could be an issue, but the tested upstream is greater than the minimum suggested. Both parties told me that this modem is also a router. They have set me up with a static IP now, which I am not sure if that even remotely has to do with what you are asking about.

---

My post after yours, was written while you were posting...

You will need to have them change the HN7000S to operate in bridge or IP Pass thru mode, instead of Router / NAT mode. Then you will need to provide your own ROUTER than can be configured for Port Forwarding, again either via uPNP or manually assigned.

If you can log into the HN7000S then you might be able to change those settings (IP pass thru mode), you can do those on most of the provided equipment from other providers, but HughesNET hsa been (in the past setups I've worked on) even more anal and controlling than other ISPs.

It certainly is possible to port forward over satellite as I've helped setup small businesses in remote areas and provided remote support (RDP, VNC, telnet, SSH, etc..) over those types of links.

Unless they've greatly improved the latency or the slingplayer can buffer beautifully and adjust to it, you are going to have choppy playback..

Again good luck!

-S

Thank you so much for the help. This home is remote and satellite internet seemed to be the best option. I will try to do this when I get up there next time and hopefully get it figured out. You have told me more in these posts than those guys have in hours on the phone. Once I get a chance to get back up there if I have questions I may post again. Once again, thank you so much for the help.

Once the HN7000S is configured to not NAT or provide any type of network to the local side you will need to connect the LAN port on the HN7000S to the WAN port of your router, then connect the LAN port of your router to a port on your switch (it might need to be an up-link depending on if your switch is auto-sensing and such - obviously you'll be able to see if the port lights up or not.

Then you'll need to log in to the admin page of your "new" router and configure your static IP address on the WAN settings page. Once that is done you should be able to surf the internet again..

When you get to that point - then you can start the Port Forward process.. again either by assigning a static IP address (From your NAT - NOT FROM THE WAN) to the slingbox and then opening the ports to that address or configuring uPNP if your router supports it.

-S