Forum Discussion
Smarty Data SIMs - Inbound network connections permitted?
I've not yet tried a Smarty Data-only SIM, but I'm wondering if anybody can confirm if they will allow incoming TCP connections from the internet (before I order one)?
I tried to do this with a Smarty voice SIM, but found that inbound connections were actively being blocked at the carrier level (i.e. the inbound packets never arrived at my LTE router, despite me being assigned a public IP address (i.e. not CGNAT).
I'm hoping this might be one of the differences between the voice and data plans on Smarty? Can anybody confirm?
Thanks, Graham.
One last follow up. It turns out that what I thought was a public IP, is actually not. My router was showing:
WAN IP Address: 100.104.232.210Which to begin with, looked like a public IP to me and not CGNAT. However, on further research, it turns out, this is in fact not a publicly routable IP address and is equivalent to the 10.0.0.0/8 addresses we're used to seeing on CGNAT.So in short, forget Smarty for broadband where you need to be able to receive incoming connections.
4 Replies
One last follow up. It turns out that what I thought was a public IP, is actually not. My router was showing:
WAN IP Address: 100.104.232.210Which to begin with, looked like a public IP to me and not CGNAT. However, on further research, it turns out, this is in fact not a publicly routable IP address and is equivalent to the 10.0.0.0/8 addresses we're used to seeing on CGNAT.So in short, forget Smarty for broadband where you need to be able to receive incoming connections.Well hopefully this information helps future folks - I used one of my bonus SIMs and signed up to a data plan. Unfortunately it behaves exactly like the voice plans in terms of incoming connections. I get assigned a public IP on my LTE router's WAN interface, but incoming connections are blocked.
This is pretty disappointing! 😥
In light of the above, I can find absolutely no reason to sign up to Smarty's data plans - they are more expensive than the cheaper (per GB) voice plans, and offer no apparent benefits whatsoever.
I have a data only SIM, which I use in a laptop.
Not sure what inbound TCP ports you're planning to use, but a SMARTY data plan is just a 1-month commitment, so why not get a data only SIM to test?
The only point I'd make is the SMARTY terms & conditions have sections stating unlimited data and voice plans are not intended as a substitute for a fixed-line ISP service, which is something they monitor on unlimited plans I'd guess.
Thanks Chalkychap, yeah I might just have to give it a go and see if it works. I can choose what ports I use, so if they block some of the standard ones, it's not a problem. The issue I had with the voice SIM was that it appeared they had an upstream firewall in place blocking all inbound (non-established) connections to the IP - at least for all the random ports I chose/tried! 😂
