How to connect Netgear Nighthawk X6 Router (R8000) to Huawei B525 mobile wifi router

octechno95 · 25 Sep 2019 at 10:40

I currently have a Netgear Nighthawk X6 Router (R8000) at home that is connected to a Virgin Media Superhub 3 (which is in modem mode). This is all great except my minimum term with VM is coming to an end. Not wanting to get into details but don't want to sign up with VM again nor pay there extremely high rolling 30 day fees.

I believe I can get by with a Three SIM card with unlimited data put into a Huawei B525 mobile wifi router. I understand that the B525 may not include bridge mode (as it seems a bit hit and miss depending on the firmware, sounds more miss though).

All my devices are currently connected to the Nighthawk (some wired and wireless). The Nighthawk gets it's internet connection via the VM Superhub. Is there anyway, I can get the Nighthawk to get it's internet connection from the B525 over WiFi?

Essentially, the only device connected to the B525 is the Nighthawk over a WiFi connection. And then the Nighthawk will then provide that internet connection to all my existing devices without any kind of change. Is this possible?

If not, is there some other device that can allow me to do this? I really don't want to start downloading custom firmware to make this work so I'd rather find a solution that will work out of the box.

Thanks in advance

Steveocee · 25 Sep 2019 at 10:54

The B525 has LAN ports?
Just connect the Netgear into the B525 via one of the LAN ports and put the Netgear into AP mode.

Anything more than that you'll end up double NAT'ing or having to DMZ so isn't worth the effort.

octechno95 · 25 Sep 2019 at 11:01

Steveocee said:
The B525 has LAN ports?
Just connect the Netgear into the B525 via one of the LAN ports and put the Netgear into AP mode.

Anything more than that you'll end up double NAT'ing or having to DMZ so isn't worth the effort.

Yes the B525 has LAN ports. Sorry for the noob question but what is AP mode on Netgear? I presume AP stands for Access Point, but isn't it already in that mode in how it's connected to my VM Superhub? If not, is this an additional setting?

Steveocee · 25 Sep 2019 at 11:03

octechno95 said:
Yes the B525 has LAN ports. Sorry for the noob question but what is AP mode on Netgear? I presume AP stands for Access Point, but isn't it already in that mode in how it's connected to my VM Superhub? If not, is this an additional setting?

No. As the hub is in modem mode then your Netgear is taking care of the routing so it will be in router configuration.
AP mode (or whatever Netgear call it) is literally turning your shiny router with hefty CPU into a 4 port switch with wireless access but the beauty of this is you can use it to get good WiFi and leave the B525 to do all the DHCP and IP routing functions.

octechno95 · 25 Sep 2019 at 11:11

Steveocee said:
No. As the hub is in modem mode then your Netgear is taking care of the routing so it will be in router configuration.
AP mode (or whatever Netgear call it) is literally turning your shiny router with hefty CPU into a 4 port switch with wireless access but the beauty of this is you can use it to get good WiFi and leave the B525 to do all the DHCP and IP routing functions.

Ah okay, so let me check I've understood. If I do the above, then I won't need to change or reconfigure any of my attached devices whether they're connected to my Netgear via wire or wireless?

I guess, any devices that I've assigned an IP address too within the Netgear, would need to be reconfigured within the B525 to also have an assigned IP address. (there are some devices that I want to have a static private IP on my private network).

Steveocee · 25 Sep 2019 at 11:24

octechno95 said:
Ah okay, so let me check I've understood. If I do the above, then I won't need to change or reconfigure any of my attached devices whether they're connected to my Netgear via wire or wireless?

I guess, any devices that I've assigned an IP address too within the Netgear, would need to be reconfigured within the B525 to also have an assigned IP address. (there are some devices that I want to have a static private IP on my private network).

Correct.
Although if you are looking at creating some static IP addresses I'd suggest making your DHCP range for example 192.168.1.50-192.168.1.200 and then manually setting each device you want static outside of that range (ie 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.49).
Reason for this is if your router fails then you still retain all the addresses.

octechno95 · 25 Sep 2019 at 11:26

Steveocee said:
Correct.
Although if you are looking at creating some static IP addresses I'd suggest making your DHCP range for example 192.168.1.50-192.168.1.200 and then manually setting each device you want static outside of that range (ie 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.49).
Reason for this is if your router fails then you still retain all the addresses.

Gotcha. Thank you so much