Multy M1 Enhancement request - Manually turn off NAT in routed mode

Hello fellow Zyxel Multy M1 users!

I just purchased a pair of Multy M1's. I am quite pleased with how they work and the WiFi mesh performance is acceptable too.

I have only one issue with them.

I live in a fibre connected house where my ISP is delivering the CPE. Their CPE (router) provides us with both Multicast IPTV, Broadband (250/250Mbps) and IP Telephony. After I installed the Multy M1's I disabled WiFi on the Provider router to avoid conflicts, so now the whole house has WiFi coverage using the pair of Multy M1's only.

My issue is that when my computers and XBox console are connected to the Multy M1 network double NAT occurs. First the Multy M1 RFC1918 assigned Wifi IP addresses (192.168.212.x/24) are translated to the WAN port private address of the Multy M1 router. Then a second NAT occurs on the Provider CPE to the public IP address of the provider router.

This double NAT is causing issues for som online Multiplayer gaming and is also not recommended/supported to use by for instance Microsoft Xbox.

Right now I have been forced to change the operating mode on the Multy M1's to bridged mode, but that disables a lot of other features such as guest WiFi, parental control, DMZ which I also really would need active.

Would it be possible that in a future firmware update you could include the possibility of using the Multy M1 in native routed mode, but manually turning on/off Network Address Translation (NAT) as needed?

If this request is approved it is important to implement also Proxy ARP as per RFC1027 on the WAN-interface of the main Multy router if NAT is disabled.

If Proxy ARP is not present without NAT there is no way for the upstream router to find the corresponding MAC-address entry for hosts on the IP-network (192.168.212.0/24) hidden behind the Zyxel Multy.

Optional solutions would include adding support for a dynamic routing protocol and/or the requirement to add static routes to the upstream router. However, that is beyond this request and would also not be a transparent or upstream router vendor independent solution.

Any more of you fellow Zyxel Multy users that have the same need as I do?

Thanks in advance for all feedback.

Comments

  • Zyxel_Jerry
    Zyxel_Jerry Posts: 1,026  Zyxel Employee
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer
    @Gondi

    Thanks for your valuable suggestion.
    We'll evaluate the feature.
  • Gondi
    Gondi Posts: 7
    Friend Collector First Answer First Comment
    Thanks @Zyxel_Jerry.

    I have additional info from testing and analysis done.

    You CAN actually turn off NAT in the Web Configurator, but not in the Multy App.

    However, Proxy ARP is still not active on the WAN interface for the hidden hosts on the 192.168.212/24 network, even if NAT is disabled as per my Wireshark packet capture analyzis.

    So 50% of my enhancement request (disable NAT) is already present. Only the proxy ARP feature is missing.

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