Enable uPNP on your Connexant-based router

[Steve]

Story time:

So there I was, planning my network topology for my new flat next year, when I decided that a wireless router with uPNP would be required as there'd be several of us using things like MSN and apps that need ports opening up.

Off I went in search of uPNP routers, turns out they're (non-wireless at least) £20 at cheapest now. I immediately twigged that they must be the same hardware as my current cheapo ADSL router (which cost... £20). Of course, that meant I felt like trying to upgrade my router to be uPNP capable.

Now a great many of you will have a Connexant based router sat there, and you'll no doubt be having fun port forwarding... great isn't it. uPNP capable programs, when used in conjunction with a uPNP router, basically avoid the whole port forwarding issue. However, some people don't like uPNP; it poses a bit of a security issue as apps can open up ports at their leisure. Still, if you want to make use of it, an important link follows:

http://adsltech.com/portal/forum/for...s.asp?TID=1014

Following these instructings and the various links, I upgraded the firmware on my Safecom router to some JMK firmware. The firewall is easier to work with and uPNP makes me blissfully, blissfully happy.

Bear in mind that if you like the sound of this you'll have to take your router apart unless you're really lucky. In fact this isn't guaranteed to work on all Conexant based routers. However, unless something goes horiffically wrong you can probably flash back to a previous firmware.

I'll talk no more, but it's well worth investigating if you think you're up to it.

[Dav0s]

whats the exact model number of your router Steve? I have a safecom one i bought from ebuyer and it had upnp, but it causes random disconnects.

[Steve]

It's the 4110: the one with just one ethernet port. The 4114 is the model with 4 ethernet ports.

With my old firmware (without uPNP) it would randomly disconnect MSN messenger if the firewall was enabled (in fact this is documented on the site I linked to somewhere), but the JMK firmware doesn't seem to have that, and uPNP works great.

I think the latest Safecom firmware hasn't got uPNP in it, some older versions may have... maybe they removed it because they couldn't get it right?

[Dav0s]

i have 4 ethernet ports...but it is a cable modem, so 1 input ethernet and 4 output.

i got linked to an alternative piece of firmware, but have yet to try it. Disconnecting msn is exactly what it does when i try to enable upnp (sometimes even when it is disabled)

[Steve]

Oh right, I'm not sure what makes the cable modems tick. It'll be very similar, but certainly the firmwares I'm talking about will be incompatible.