Set up Port Forwarding

Port forwarding allows you to connect to your devices which are connected to the router's LAN, when you are connecting from the internet. 

In order to connect to the router over the internet it will need a public IP address. Using a standard SIM with the router will mean it doesn't have a public IP address and therefore cannot be connected to over the internet. You will need to use a Fixed Public IP SIM. Feel free to contact support@proroute.co.uk for more information. 

Once you have installed your Public Fixed IP SIM into your router, and your router has an internet connection, it is time to configure the port forwarding. 

How to enter a port forwarding rule

Log into the router's web UI, go to Network > Firewall > Port Forwards

Choose the below parameters:

1. Name - Either type a unique name, or as you enter the other parameters the name will auto generate. 
2. Protocol - Select the protocol the rule will allow. 
3. External Zone - If connecting from the internet, most likely this will be WAN.
4. External Port - port number used to connect to the router. 
5. Internal Zone - Select the Zone your device is connected to, most likely this will be LAN. 
6. Internal IP address - The IP address of your device connected to the LAN of the router. 
7. Internal port - The internal port number the router will contact your device on (at the Internal IP address). 

Press Add. 

Check the rule is now included in the firewall and is enabled. Go to Network > Firewall > Traffic Rules

Troubleshooting / Port Forwarding Fundamentals

Let's assume your SIM has a Fixed Public IP address 50.50.50.50

You have made your port forwarding rule in the firewall, but you are not getting through to your device(s) on the LAN, what is wrong? 

• Connect your device directly into the router's LAN port with an ethernet cable. This rules out any connection issues with switches or devices in the middle. 
• Router and your device need to be on the same subnet. You need to configure the router and your device to be on the same subnet. If they are on different subnets they cannot communicate over IP. As default the h685 has an IP address and subnet of 192.168.8.1 255.255.255.0. This means only devices connected to the router with an address in the range 192.168.8.2-254 can communicate with the router. Therefore if the router is set to it's default IP address 192.168.8.1, you need to set your device to have a static IP in the range 192.168.8.2-254 in order to communicate with the router. Alternatively if your device needs a different IP address such as 192.168.1.100, we can change the router's IP address to 192.168.1.1, they will then be on the same subnet and can communicate. 
• Your device needs a static IP configured - Do not set your device to automatically receive an IP address by DHCP. You need to set your device's IP to be static, and this needs to match the 'Internal IP address' specified in your rule. 
• Your device needs it's 'gateway' or 'default gateway' to be the IP address of the router - This is one of the most common mistakes to misconfigure. 
• Port number conflict - If your port forward rule is using port 80, this can cause a conflict. By default the router's web UI uses port 80. Therefore when you connect to your router from the internet on it's Public IP Address 50.50.50.50, you are connecting effectively on 50.50.50.50:80. In order to solve this we can change the HTTP port to access the web UI of the router to port 81, change this at Network > Firewall > Security.
• IP address conflict with DCHP - As default the router uses a DHCP server between 192.168.8.100-150. You need to configure your device's static IP to be outside this range. Or change the range to not include your device's IP address. This is done at Network>LAN.