Double NAT - is it really that big of a problem?

[TAPtech]

They stopped using those combo Arris MTAs a while ago around here....they split them off now, 2x units. The XFinity modem, and a small..quite a small..err (jeeze and I just had one in my hand last Friday)..little box for the voice/phones.

Awesome! This is one of the reasons why I've always liked Optimum so much- they just give you a basic gateway, and supply a separate piece of equipment as a router. That way you can just unplug the stinker and plug your own in. Much easier.

 

[JohnKennex]

I find I always come across this when I get booked to help an exec or managers house to 'investigate the internet issue'. Honestly these people have no idea whats going on. Multiple routers, slow internet, etc. I usually just call the ISP and get their modem put into bridge mode. done and done.

home networks are gross most of the time.

 

[Diggs]

I have never seen simple double-NATing in itself be a problem. The extra hop in latency means nothing except to maybe gamers. It's as soon as you need the network to do something special (VPN, port forwarding, static IPs. etc.) that double-NATing instantly becomes a mess.

 

[NETWizz]

Double NAT only matters if you are providing an Internet facing service, whether public or private. Such as your own mail server, etc. If it's typical usage, email, web browsing, etc, etc it does not usually matter. Those services tunnel out and build a reverse tunnel back.

Nah... Double NAT is just translating one more time between private addressing and the Internet. It is what you get if you plug a standard wireless router's WAN port into a switchport of another wireless router. You would translate private to private to Internet.


I think you are thinking of of bi-directional NAT.:

My current customer has bi-directional, one-way, U-turn, and one-to-one NATs in both Static and Dynamic Source or Destination address translations. Looks like 113 of them.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I have never seen simple double-NATing in itself be a problem. The extra hop in latency means nothing except to maybe gamers.

In addition to VPN connections (clients) not enjoying double NAT, VoIP ain't always happy either.

 

[Diggs]

In addition to VPN connections (clients) not enjoying double NAT, VoIP ain't always happy either.

Ummmm - I thought I just said that in the very next sentence.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

You mentioned "becomes a mess"...could be interpreted as trying to setup/configure/manage double NAT....might not have been function/perform.
And VoIP is quite commonplace now, I don't consider it "something special" which you had as a qualifier.