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user_35d27e
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Friday, January 6th, 2023 12:22 AM

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Can I make Nest wifi router and Xfinity gateway work together without bridge mode?

I know the standard approach for making Nest wifi router and Xfinity gateway work together is to put the latter in a bridge mode. That part is easy!

However, in doing so, I am no longer able to take advantage of the additional 3 LAN ports on the gateway. Given that Nest router offers only one extra LAN port, which is not sufficient for my needs, I would like to see if there is a way to make the two work together without bridge mode. It would be awesome if there was a way for the two units to share network resources, etc.

By the way, I am not using gateway's wifi capabilities, only those provided by the Nest router, because I am running a mash network off it.

Thanks for any ideas!

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2 years ago

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CCKrystal

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385 Messages

2 years ago

Good evening, and thank you for reaching out to our amazing team of experts here on our Community Forums page @user_35d27e! I hope you are doing well and having a great weekend so far! :) We appreciate you being patient. 

 

You are doing everything you can do at this point. To be completely be transparent, we are unable to unlock the ethernet ports when you are in bridge mode. Please keep in mind when you are in bridge mode only one port will work on the back of your modem.  With this being said,it helps avoid any confusion with the equipment and gives you the best experience with your services. Please let us know if you have any other questions. 

 

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user_35d27e

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@XfinityKrystal​ I was hoping for an actionable answer, but thanks for clarifying that what I want to do is currently not supported.

Thank you!

2 years ago

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CCKrystal

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385 Messages

2 years ago

I know it was not an ideal answer @user_35d27e but you are most welcome. If you need anything else our team here 24/7. I hope you enjoy the rest of weekend. :) 

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BruceW

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25.9K Messages

2 years ago

... that Nest router offers only one extra LAN port ...

You can add an Ethernet switch, connect it to the Nest's LAN port, and add Ethernet devices to the ports on the switch. See https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/6274262.

Please be aware that there are 2 kinds of responses in this Forum: Replies and Comments. When you Comment on a post by scrolling down to "Comment on this post here...", I am notified of your response. But if you select Reply, I am NOT notified and may not be aware of your response.

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user_35d27e

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4 Messages

2 years ago

Thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it!

One last question before I close this topic. I turned off bridge mode on the gateway and connected my new devices to its LAN ports. Everythingstill seems to be working fine, contrary to what I was expecting. The Mac machines seem to be connecting to the Internet using the Ethernet connection rather than the WIFI one. Why would this be? 

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CCKrystal

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385 Messages

You asked a great question @user_35d27e. There could be many reasons for this, it sounds like it may be something in your settings via your Mac device(s) regarding network port configurations. You can usually change the priority order of the network via system preferences. However, it may be best to reach out to Apple for more details this way they can guide you on how to make these changes. :) Do you have any other questions we can help with at this time?  

I no longer work for Comcast.

2 years ago

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flatlander3

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1.5K Messages

@user_35d27e​ It's in your network settings on the Mac.  You can turn the Ethernet port off if you want.  Click the little network symbol on the top of the screen.  Select the Ethernet adapter.  Default sets it to DHCP, use the drop down and select "Off". Mac likes to pick Ethernet as a default device if given the choice between that or WiFi. 

If it picks the Xfinity WiFi in gateway mode instead of your Nest, you can "forget" the Xfinity WiFi connection.  Then it won't try to connect to that.

How you have it setup now is called a double nat.  You can do that, but there's some network oddities you will see. Your gateway gets the external facing IP address in "gateway mode".  Your Nest gets an internal IP address, instead of the external IP address it gets in bridge mode, and runs an additional network Inside your gateway's internal network.

If you connect to the Nest with WiFi, you'll be able to see devices on the Ethernet port on your gateway, but devices plugged into your gateway won't be able to talk to devices connected via the nest WiFi.  Other devices that use UPnP can struggle with that too if they are hooked to your Nest WiFi.

It might not matter to you, but if you notice it, that's what is going on.

2 years ago

user_35d27e

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@flatlander3​ thank you!

2 years ago

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