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Router Login

TBM

Pro Member
Why is it that I can login to my router from behind a Mesh network that has a different IP range ?
The 3rd octet is different and so I shouldn't be able to. I've noticed it on other setups not just my own. Another device plugged into the ISP router can't be seen from the Mesh network, so how do they achieve this ?
 
So for example if your mesh network is 192.168.123.1/24.
It will have a WAN interface address issued from the router.

And your router is 192.168.246.1/24
It will have a WAN interface address issued by your ISP.

The routing table on your mesh network has been learnt by DHCP on it's WAN interface and is likely just a default route of 0.0.0.0/0 going to the IP of the router 192.168.246.1

The default route will permit routing to any private or public IP address that is available via the WAN interface of your mesh network device. So the internal interface of the router is contactable just as any IP might be beyond the WAN interface of that router on the internet.

Why another device behind the router isn't accessible isn't obvious to me, it depends what it is and how it's networked.

Does that make sense? Have I summarised your network correctly?
 
Your primary mesh portal is acting as an internal (transport) router and sending traffic to the router at the edge of your network, which then sends traffic to the ISP’s router, which then sends traffic to the internet backhaul router, which then sends traffic to your destinations ISP router etc.

Routers connect networks together. That’s what they do and why they are called “routers”. Nothing unusual about it. It’s just that you’re not used to seeing internal routers on a simple home network, which traditionally only have the one edge router.
 
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Why another device behind the router isn't accessible isn't obvious to me, it depends what it is and how it's networked.

Does that make sense? Have I summarised your network correctly?
I'm still not with it. Yes you hit the nail on the head though. A laptop for example on the router LAN is not available but the router interface is. It is a bit academic now, I needed more ethernet ports than I thought I did as Sky Q Minis do not play nice with the Mesh WiFi and had to be wired. So I put the Decos into AP mode to gain use of the ISP router sockets without having to buy a switch. If anyone could explain my original question in simple terms I'd be grateful though as I can't get my head around it.
 
Last edited:
A simpler example then...

I’m running a similar setup with BT’s digital voice. DV has to go via their Smart Hub2 and it has to be the first thing connected to the internet. However, it’s set up to pass all other traffic to my Draytek, which acts as the gateway to my network.

The Smart Hub is on its default of 192.168.1.254 /24. My Draytek and network are on 192.168.0.x /24. I can still log into the Smart Hub’s management interface from my network because the computer sends the packet to my Draytek which then routes it to the 192.168.1 network.

That's what "routers" do, they establish a route between different networks.
 
I'm still not with it. Yes you hit the nail on the head though. A laptop for example on the router LAN is not available but the router interface is. It is a bit academic now, I needed more ethernet ports than I thought I did as Sky Q Minis do not play nice with the Mesh WiFi and had to be wired. So I put the Decos into AP mode to gain use of the ISP router sockets without having to buy a switch. If anyone could explain my original question in simple terms I'd be grateful though as I can't get my head around it.
You say that a laptop on the router LAN is not available. This is a bit vague, can you be a little more explicit, what/how are you expecting to connect to the laptop, from where, any error messages?
 
Ah…sorry, I may have misunderstood your question. If it’s the invisible item that is your real question then, assuming it’s a Windows laptop, make sure it is set to be discoverable on the network. On Windows 11 it’s…

Settings > Network and Internet > Ethernet > Private network

For security reasons, they often default to ‘Public network’, so they cannot be seen on networks down the pub etc.
 
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I'd previously network mapped it's drive when it was on the same network, I had no need to do the same where it was but tried out of idle curiosity. I wasn't expecting it to work and it didn't. I appreciate the reply's though.
 
This does seem to me to be security settings on the OS or drive mapping denying your attempt to map the drive from your mesh network and silently rejecting it. I would start looking in Windows Firewall.
 
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