Configuring new cable model - firewall setting question

[spacejamz]

I just replaced my cable modem (Arris SBG6700AC) and while setting it up, I changed the Firewall level from 'Low' to 'Medium'...

This caused two of the three Alexa-enabled devices to stop connecting (Kasa lights and ring doorbell stopped but my Honeywell thermostat still worked)... I didn't notice issues any other wireless devices....once I changed it back to 'Low', everything is fine (I pulled out alot of hairs trying to figure this out LOL)...

Can someone explain in layman's terms what I am losing (if anything) by using the 'Low' firewall level? is it possible to customize the 'Medium' setting to allow the Alexa devices to work? I can't imagine what would have 'broke' if I changed it to 'High'....

 

[Genx87]

I'd assume medium turned up some application layer filtering that blocked your devices.

 

[spacejamz]

the 'Medium' setting seems to only allow these services:

Service Port Protocol
AIM/ICQ 5190 TCP
DHCPv6 546 UDP
DNS 53 Both
FTP-S 989-990 UDP
HTTP 80 TCP
HTTP Alt 8080 TCP
HTTP-S 443 TCP
IMAP 143 TCP
IMAP-S 993 TCP
IPSec NAT-T 4500 TCP
NTP 123 UDP
POP3 110 TCP
POP3-S 995 TCP
Radius 1812 Both
SMTP 25 TCP
SMTP-S 435 TCP
SSH 22 TCP
Steam 1725 UDP
SteamFriends 1200 UDP
Telnet-S 992 TCP
XBOX Live 3074 Both
WorldWarcraft 3724 Both
Yahoo Mssngr 5050 TCP

The Medium level blocks all other other Services which is probably what caused the issue...

 

[mxnerd]

Medium protection probably turned off Arris router's UPNP function.

Enable it and see if it works.

If you changed it to high, then you need to do port forwarding for every device you own.

==

UDP ports that need to be open for Alexa devices.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201973870

==

Your modem has Parental Control

Find the MAC address for your Alexa, put in the MAC address and allow the device's UDP (port 0 to 65535, or 123 to 49317 according to Amazon ) traffic to go through, all day, any time. That should solve it.

 

[pad23amg]

Can someone explain in layman's terms what I am losing (if anything) by using the 'Low' firewall level? is it possible to customize the 'Medium' setting to allow the Alexa devices to work? I can't imagine what would have 'broke' if I changed it to 'High'..
..
I just replaced my cable modem (Arris SBG6700AC) and while setting it up, I changed the Firewall level from 'Low' to 'Medium'...

This caused two of the three Alexa-enabled devices to stop connecting (Kasa lights and ring doorbell stopped but my Honeywell thermostat still worked)... I didn't notice issues any other wireless devices....once I changed it back to 'Low', everything is fine (I pulled out alot of hairs trying to figure this out LOL)..

I also connected different routers using router cascade technique. This caused two of the three Alexa-enabled devices to stop connecting (Kasa lights and ring doorbell stopped but my Honeywell thermostat still worked)... I didn't notice issues any other wireless devices....http://www.corenetworkz.com/2018/01/setup-linksys-wap300n-wireless-access.html once I changed it back to 'Low', everything is fine (I pulled out alot of hairs trying to figure this out LOL)...

What Firewall doing is controlling traffic in and out by either allowing or blocking packets through ports. If you set firewall level Low, only the common ports which are used by hackers to intrude are blocked. For a home network, it is satisfactory to set Low firewall.

By setting Firewall Medium/High your firewall will block more ports and many ports other than common trusted communication ports will be closed. However, you can perform port forwarding to open any ports on your firewall.