Using my own router - what are my options?

michalis83 · 2025-03-13T23:18:25+00:00

Sunrise community - customers help other customers with topics related to television, Internet, telephone and mobile. Register now!

michalis83

Hello Community,

This is my first post here. For context, I have basic networking knowledge, but nothing advanced. Like many of you, I find the performance of the Connect Box 3 Fiber to be terrible. Even something as simple as changing the Wi-Fi channel is disabled (mine is stuck on channel 1, the same as the entire apartment block). I contacted Sunrise support, and while they were supposed to investigate the issue, I never heard back from them.

My home isn’t very large, but I have a lot of smart devices connected to the network, along with gaming, torrenting, and streaming. The Connect Box struggles to handle this, and I have to reboot it at least twice a week to get semi-decent performance.

To solve this, I bought the TP-Link BE550 router, which has great reviews for managing multiple connections. However, I didn’t realize how complicated it would be to replace the Connect Box with it. After researching, I’ve narrowed down my options and would appreciate your feedback:

Buying the SFP+ Dongle:
- Costs 200 CHF, and results are not guaranteed.
- Seems too risky, so I’m ruling this option out.
Using DMZ to “bridge” the TP-Link to the Connect Box:
- Since Bridge Mode is unavailable, this seems like the best alternative.
- My concern is whether it will impact performance or add latency.
- Does anyone have experience with this setup?
Using the TP-Link as an Access Point:
- This would improve Wi-Fi coverage, but the Connect Box would still handle DHCP, NAT, and routing.
- Would this actually solve my performance issues? Or would all my problems persist?
- Feels like overkill to use a 350 CHF router just as an AP, but if it significantly improves performance, I’m open to it.

I’d really appreciate expert opinions on which option makes the most sense. Thanks in advance!

Xydocq

hello michalis83

Option 1:
It might not be as easy to accomplish. In most cases it doesn’t work.

Option 2:
Your connection has to run on IPv4 to make it work. It doesn’t affect performance or latency. I use the DMZ setup on a HFC model even HFC allows Modem Mode. It fits my needs better then Modem Mode. It will allow you to make full use of the features provided by the TP-Link router.

Option 3:
It will work. You will be stuck with Sunrise DNS. Your connection can run on IPv6. And almost all of the features the TP-Link router provides are useless.

Personally I would go with Option 2.

If you need help setting it up, we’re here to help.

michalis83

Xydocq

Thanks for your response! I’ll go with the second option then. Since it seems to run on IPv4 by default, I shouldn’t need to contact support for any changes.

I’m wondering if, with a DMZ setup, it would still be possible and secure to connect a few smart device hubs—like the Philips Hue Bridge—directly to the Sunrise router. I don’t mind if they end up on a different subnet. I just need to reserve all three remaining LAN ports on the TP-Link for other devices. Otherwise, I guess I’ll need to get a switch.

Xydocq

michalis83

connecting the IoT devices directly to the Connect Box 3 will work perfectly well. The IoT devices will have internet access, you can access them but they are blocked from your regular LAN.

michalis83

I completed the transition today. While it wasn’t entirely without issues, things seem to be working now. However, I’ve encountered three problems:

Cannot Connect to TP-Link Router’s Web Interface via IP Address
Before activating the DMZ on the Connect Box, I assigned the TP-Link router a fixed IP (192.168.1.20) and used this IP to configure the DMZ. After completing the setup, I was able to access the web interface once, but now I receive the error:
“This site can’t be reached – 192.168.1.20 took too long to respond.”
I can still access the interface through http://tplinkwifi.net/, but this makes me wonder if I configured something incorrectly.
Initial Delay When Opening Websites
Every time I try to open a webpage, there is a 1-2 second delay before loading begins. Once it starts, everything loads quickly, but the initial connection feels sluggish. This wasn’t an issue before.
- A speed test shows normal results.
- I ran a ping test on https://www.cloudping.info/ and initially got many server timeouts, but subsequent tests worked fine without timeouts.
- I’ve already changed the DNS servers to Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1, but the issue persists.
  
  Could this be related to double NAT? Was I supposed to disable something on the Fiber Box 3?
Correct ISP Connection Type?
During the new router’s setup, I was asked whether my ISP uses Dynamic IP, PPPoE, or other options. Since my TP-Link router connects to the Sunrise modem, I assumed Dynamic IP was the correct choice, which is what I selected.

Would appreciate any insights on what might be causing these issues!

Xydocq

hello michalis83

congratulations on the successful installation.

There are some things I would change in your setup, but first some explanations.

This is how your current setup looks like. Internet, Connect Box 3, your own router and devices connected to the Connect Box 3 or your own router.
While the Connect Box 3 connects to the internet, your router connects to a local network. Even it is a local network, it appears to be the internet for your router. Therefor any unrequested traffic on the wan port will be dropped. the IP 192.168.1.20 is considered an internet address by your router. What DMZ does, it punches a hole in the firewall of the Connect Box 3. Instead of dropping unrequested traffic from the internet, it will forward erverything to your own router, which will most likely drop the traffic. So any device connected to the Connect Box 3 is considered an internet device and is blocked from accessing your own router. You are not able to access your own router thru 192.168.1.20 because that is considered remote access.

to the things I would change:
The connection between Connect Box 3 and your own router should be static. Currently you are using DHCP with a reserved/fixed IP address. While this method is very good on a local network, it shouldn’t be used for wan access. The DHCP settings on the Connect Box 3 allows you to specify the DHCP-range. Usually it is set as 192.168.1.10 to 192.168.1.254. The IP addresses with 2 to 9 at the end are spared and should be used for static connections. So I would change the DMZ to 192.168.1.2. On your own router change the setting to this:

Those should be the Cloudflare DNS, I personally prefer google’s DNS. So maybe trying another DNS might help with the delay while loading a website.

The LAN settings on your router don’t need to be changed since by default it is set to be 192.168.0.0/24

At last: disable UPnP on the Connect Box 3. It doesn’t do any good.

michalis83

Xydocq

I now have the Archer running with the static IP 192.168.1.2, as per your suggestion. I also disabled DHCP exception and UPnP on the Connect Box. Everything is working so far—I just need to monitor whether the initial server response remains sluggish.

Thank you so much for your detailed information and for taking the time to help me with my networking setup. I really appreciate it!