I continue to struggle with Xfinity (Comcast). Since November of 2022 there have been only two brief periods in which my xfinity modem was set correctly so that Roon Arc functioned properly. Since July of this year, i have been attempting to get Xfinity to set an outward facing port with an address of 55000. I have been communicating, via email, with the Office of Tom Karinshak (EVP) with weekly emails for the past two months. They immediately email me back and say that they apologize and promise to elevate the issue and that I will be contacted by a supervisor. I spoke to one 6 weeks ago. Nothing happens. It is impossible for me to set an outward facing port on the modem. A technician came to the house and verified it.
I think that I’m done with Comcast and I am looking for an alternative internet provider.
In my neighborhood, the following ISPs are: Comcast, ATT, Verizon and Sonic Fiber.
I would like to try Sonic and wonder if you have any experience with Sonic and do you have any suggestions.
Sonic resells AT&T last mile, fiber where available, DSL otherwise. I have their DSL (no fiber here) as a backup to Comcast. When it failed a while ago, Sonic sent the AT&T tech right away, and it was fixed quickly. In general, Sonic seem effective and responsive.
However, I had no problem doing Arc on Comcast, but I use my own cable modem and router, not Comcast’s.
Currently I have a UniFi Dream Machine Pro (UDM Pro), which allows me to have a main internet source (Comcast) and a backup (Sonic DSL). I like UniFi gear, but then I’ve been professionally around networking for decades so I feel relatively comfortable with networking gear that needs some configuration.
I had firewall and NAT rules for Arc on the UDM Pro, but now I’ve set up Tailscale VPN on all my relevant devices (Roon server, phone), so I can use Arc at work without needing an open port for it.
A solution is to use your own equipment instead of renting from Xfinity. I’m in San Francisco with Xfinity service, Netgear cable modem and Google Nest router, and Roon Arc works.
If Sonic Fiber is available to you, IMO switching over is a no-brainer – 10 Gig symmetric at lower cost than Xfinity 1 Gig. I’ve had Sonic DSL in the past and they had good customer service and technical support. Unfortunately I can’t get Sonic Fiber at my address, which is maddening because my rear neighbor just 50 ft away has it (Sonic ran fiber down their street but not yet mine).
Are you sure about that? AT&T does not offer broadband service in my neighborhood and there are workers from Sonic installing fiber on the telephone poles.
Same here, I have Comcast and I purchased my own modem and router. Purchasing your own modem and router will save a lot of money too. I think Comcast charges $15/month (plus tax) to use their equipment.
Thanks for the correction, here in the Peninsula Sonic resell AT&T, but I guess SF’s greater density makes it worth for them to run their own fiber. I wish they’d do it here, AT&T runs fiber to the neighborhood but then it’s just DSL.
he meant that he owns two devices - a cable modem and a router. You asked about his router, but you didn’t ask about his cable modem.
His cable modem is probably a Netgear, ARRIS, or Motorola - all three of those are decent brands and make cable modems that you can purchase and use with Xfinity. They all support the correct DOCSIS standards. If you decide to go this route, you’d need a cable modem and a (probably separate) router.
I don’t live in the bay area - I’m in Seattle - but I have Comcast/Xfinity as well and I also own my own gear. I can’t see how or why you would have trouble getting ARC to work if you buy your own gear. I’ll also note that if you’re simply asking Xfinity to “open an outward facing port with an address of 55000”, that’s not a complete, actionable request. What you need is an actual mapped port on a router that tells the device that traffic coming in to port 55000 should be mapped (and routed) to a specific device on your local network.
You actually may be able to do this yourself, with your current equipment, if you know how to access the admin interface on your current Xfinity device. If you haven’t done that yet, that’s probably a better place to start than switching providers or buying new equipment. Any path you take is potentially going to require you to understand how to do this with the equipment you’re using.
I hope this helps…this stuff can have a somewhat steep learning curve.
@John_Leeper Sonic for about three years. Overall, it’s excellent. I skipped their router and just use their simple ONT (optical network terminal) with owned LAN gear.
I’m not 100% confident in utilities which are not buried but no issues yet.
The Modem that Comcast provides is not addressable by the clients. A tech came to the house and confirmed it.
I ordered my own modem, a Netgear CM2050V (I have a phone line on the account).
I will set it up and turn in the Comcast modem and save the rent.
What device are you going to plug into that? You need a router of one form or another. The cable modem will establish connectivity, but port mapping has to happen at the router.
If you were currently plugging devices directly into whatever Xfinity provided for you, you’re not going to be able to do that with this new device.
We don’t have enough information to fully understand what’s going on in your setup. You may not need new hardware. And buying new hardware might just increase your headache by introducing new complexity and variables.
Anything you do now could easily break your internet connectivity. Please be sure you understand what you’re changing, what your plan is for the entire end-to-end setup, and how you plan to get there.
That said:
Your Orbi setup can act as a router. Your current Xfinity device can probably also act as a router, but the Netgear device you are buying can’t.
If I had the equipment you currently have, I would start by trying to run the Xfinity device in what’s called “bridge” mode, and then use the Orbi as the router. Even if you’re not doing this now, you’ll need to be able to do this when you deploy the new Netgear device. Are you familiar with these choices and what they imply? This stuff can be complicated.
If you put the Xfinity into bridge mode (which is essentially how the Netgear would work), you need to make sure the Orbi is configured as a router (and is doing things like acting as a DHCP server and NAT endpoint). Once the Xfinity is in bridge mode, it will act as a transparent device meaning it just passes everything through in both directions.
Once it’s passing things through, you can set the Orbi up to do port forwarding.
But this stuff isn’t always completely obvious and while what i’m describing has a good chance of solving your issues, if you don’t have pretty decent understanding of this area, you can break your setup and probably come to the conclusion that I’m an idiot. You won’t be the first but, with respect to networking, I’m not
So you have three basic challenges ahead of you, whether or not you stick with the Xfinity gateway or switch.
Get your Orbi working as a router if it isn’t already
Reboot / restart all devices on your network
Get one cable modem or the other working in bridge mode
(at this point your internet connection is stable again)
Configure port forwarding on the Orbi
I don’t know how to help you with the initial Orbi setup - that’s probably doable through their iPhone/Android app.
Here’s an Xfinity doc on how to get your modem in bridge mode (but don’t do that until you’ve configured your router per step #1:
Here’s a netgear doc on how to configure port forwarding on an Orbi:
To figure out the values you need for port forwarding, run a Roon client and look at Settings > Roon ARC, you’ll see something like the image below. This my setup, not yours, so your PORT and IP address will be different (and doing step #1 above may cause them to be different again). You’ll want to forward the “PORT” from your version of the screen below to the “ROON CORE IP” from your version.
If what I’m describing in all of this is complicated, you may want to ask a friend/relative with experience around this stuff for some help. I do think, though, that you may already have everything you need to make this work.
Perhaps @Fernando_Pereira or @glc650 want to ring in and add or correct things I’ve said. Both of those guys are very competent in this area.
@John_Leeper Which model is your Comcast modem? For me, setting up the ARC port was entirely on the router and didn’t involve the modem. I have an older Netgear modem and Google Nest Wifi router.
My Netgear CM1000 cable modem was plug-and-play with Comcast/Xfinity. I didn’t have to configure anything and the only thing I did was to change the admin login password. The admin pages have nothing to configure except “Starting frequency” – everything else was just for viewing status and event logs.
