Disabling xfi advanced security - no settings to do so available in xfinity app

I am using the xfinity app because when I try to go into my gateway at 10.0.0.1 it redirects me there. As far as I knew it was the only way to perform this task. I should clarify, I want to make a port forward work and it is setup in the app and shows as forwarded for this device, but the port remains closed. I read that advanced security will block all port forwards if it is on. I cannot even verify if it is on or not due to this menu in the app being covered up by "Advanced Security On The Go" screen, though I suspect it is.

@XfinityMarcos​ Since you mentioned the website  which I have not tried so far, I logged in through the website and got to this page, which I had already visited and read multiple times on my phone: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/using-xfinity-xfi-advanced-security

Which describes how enabling, checking, or disabling Advanced Security is all done through the mobile app. But none of these instructions coincide with what is on my screen. Going into the app, clicking "security", clicking "advanced security" just puts up a bunch of information about Advanced Security On The Go and says to set it up. I have no interest in Advanced Security On The Go, I am a very light mobile data user who uses just a couple apps when I'm out and about and I practically never connect to public WiFis. I just want to see and manage my Advanced Security settings for my home network, as I keep saying. When I try the Xfinity Chat Assistant on the website using keyphrases like "Advanced Security Settings", "Disable Advanced Security", etc. it just gives me the same choices that the mobile app chat assistant does: "Manage Xfinity Advanced Security in the Xfinity App" (which doesn't work because it's covered up by the Advanced Security On The Go screen, as I keep saying), "Learn About Xfinity Advanced Security" (which takes me to that link I just posted above in this comment again), "Learn About Advanced Security On The Go" (which I've checked and isn't pertinent to my issues), Online Security Issues (which I'm not having) and Something Else (which just prompts the chat assistant to start over, basically).

Please let me know if I'm missing something available on the website because it looks identical to everything I looked through on my phone, which is not getting me to the Advanced Security settings. Sorry to be repetitive but I'm stuck in a loop of Xfinity's instructions and the app not agreeing and have been unable to break out of it.

I appreciate your detailed response, @clarkma5. I understand you mentioned when trying to disable the Advanced Security feature via the Xfinity app that it prompts you to set it up, but you have no desire to. We can help. 

Advanced Security On the Go is available to all xFi Complete customers with a compatible mobile device (iOS 14 or later, Android 10 or later). I believe you're seeing that pop-up because it's an included feature that may not have been set up yet. If there is no "x" on that pop-up screen like you'd see to close a tab or window, I would suggest following the prompts to set it up. Once done you can disable it immediately. After that, let's go ahead and circle back to disabling Advanced Security. Please let us know if this helps.

I can try that but I would really like assurances that I will be able to turn them both off, instead of having them both on which is definitely the wrong direction. I am very nervous about xfinity continually piling more of these security features on that I do not want and not giving us the ability to turn them off.

And I do have the "x" on the pop-up screen but as I noted, clicking that does not make the advanced security feature settings become available, it just dumps me back at the overview screen.

Hello again, @user_b1mtqp! Thanks for creating this post, too, regarding your port forwarding concerns. I'm glad that other user's post is available for reference! Have you also reviewed our articles for how to Set Up Port Forwarding On Your Xfinity Gateway and how to Set Up Port Forwarding Using the Xfinity App?

@XfinitySara​ I just read them now and see multiple issues with these instructions; they are, for the most part, not followable and are out of date, though parts of them are still useful. The 10.0.0.1 method does not work because it just tells you to use the app, there is no ability to enable port forwarding in 10.0.0.1 (oddly, those instructions which say you can do port forwarding via 10.0.0.1 clearly show a screenshot of the port forwarding screen that says to use the app...so the screenshot is accurate, the instructions are not as there is no ability to "enable", nothing is there to turn green, there is no "+Add Service", etc.)

Then to do it via the Xfinity app method, if you click Advanced Settings under the WiFi Equipment section of the WiFi tab, and then click Port Forwarding, the app just says "something went wrong". This has been a noted issue with the Xfinity app all over the internet, including on these forums, for years (I find posts online that are 3 years old stating that issue, so please note with your superiors that documentation should be updated, if at all possible)

The only way to get into Port Forwarding is via the Xfinity Chat Assistant, which is not documented anywhere officially but I have found it from other users on the internet. You tell chat assistant Port Forward and then select Network and then Open Advanced Settings and then Port Forwarding and then the app opens the Port Forwarding section. I just had a strange experience where even that didn't work (instead the app told me to download the app, while in the app, which was a new and unwelcome quirk...) but another attempt just worked so I can see that my Port Forward is setup still in the app, though I had to turn off Advanced Security again because it turned itself back on without my permission...

However, once I am in to Port Forwarding via the Chat Assistant method, I followed the relevant portions of the instructions thoroughly, and also did additional steps not in those instructions to make sure a previous port forward would not interfere with my current attempt. My device (desktop PC, hardwired to the gateway via a switch) has a reserved IP associated with its current MAC address, within the DHCP range of 2 to 253, the MAC address is not randomized in any way, the app says the port I selected (which is a single 4-digit number in the 4000s range I chose to not conflict with any common applications, to the best of my knowledge and research) is open for that device/MAC address on that reserved IP. But it is not open. I had a port forward on this PC that worked until last week, but because I reinstalled windows 10 on a new drive in that otherwise-identical PC, the MAC address did change, so I went to the trouble to disconnect my device from the network, wait for it to no longer be listed under connected devices in the Xfinity app, told the gateway to forget the device via the app, plugged my PC back in to the network again, waited for it to be shown as a connected device, turned off the Reserved IP and set it back to DHCP in the gateway 10.0.0.1 (which just assigned it the same IP it had before...), set it all back up again fresh as a Reserved IP in the gateway, made a new Port Forward for the device in the Xfinity app, and the Port Forward is shown as valid and working in the Xfinity app, but the port is not open. I then made sure Advanced Security is entirely disabled, as the instructions state, and the Port Forward is still not working.

My IPv4 gateway firewall is set to the minimum level which means IDS is on and IPv4 only blocks IDENT (Port 113), but IPv6 firewall is on Typical Security which means IDS is on and "Block unrelated traffic". I have not changed these settings for ages and I repeat that a port forward worked on my PC on the same IP address until last week, and since Port Forwarding is IPv4 only I am assuming/hoping that the firewall is not the cause of this, but please confirm if you can.

@user_b1mt1qp - Let's see if we can get a ticket submitted for this port forwarding concern. Could you please send our team a direct message to get started?

To send a direct message: 

• Ensure you are first signed in, then you will see a chat box icon at the top right of your page. Click that or follow this link here: https://forums.xfinity.com/direct-messaging 
• From there, click the 'New Message' icon. In the 'To' field, type 'Xfinity Support'. 
• Type your message in the text area that appears at the bottom of the window and hit enter to send. An official employee, such as myself or whoever is first available, will respond. 

To expedite your request, we ask that you please include your name and the service address alongside a detailed summary of your request/question. Thank you!

@XfinitySara​ Thank you, I am expecting a call from Xfinity's security division today or monday as response to my FCC complaint on the matter, I am optimistic that will address my issue based on the person I just spoke to who called me about Promotional Guidelines and Billing, but may follow up with the DM approach if needed, and will probably post here if my matter is resolved and how that was done otherwise.

@user_l9vela​ I had no trouble turning Advanced Security on the Go on per the instructions on my Android phone. I believe Advanced Security on the Go requires the xFi complete package on your bill so that might be your issue? But once I had Advanced Security on the Go and gave it "allow all the time" location permissions, it just popped up with "do you want to allow the VPN?" and I clicked yes and it worked.