Where Does a Packet Go

[rmuffley]

I am trying to get a technical understanding of what happens when a packet reaches my equipment from a distant source (for example, from the computer sitting on the desk of anyone reading this message).

I have the Telus SmartHub inside my house and it connects to an antenna outside my house using an EtherNet connection, by which the antenna also gets its power.  The antenna connects to a cell tower about two kilometers away.  It is a simple, rural service.

Assume my public IP address is 207.194.XX.XX, where does a packet go when it has a port identifier added to it?  Specifically, does the following packet reach my outdoor antenna?

         207.194.XX.XX:1194

Unfortunately, the equipment and software does not seem to give log files, which would allow me to see traffic reaching the antenna, so I am reaching out to someone with a technical understanding of the equipment and Telus filtering for a response.

The packet does not seem to reach the indoor unit (SmartHub), where a port forwarding rule has been established, so I assume it is not reaching the antenna.  

I have tried traceroute from an Internet source outside my local network (outside my home network), but it times out after 64 iterations, nearly all of which are the three asterisks.  What would be the endpoint in a traceroute for the packet addressed above?  Does it ever reach the antenna at my physical location?

Thank you

[Nighthawk]

I don't believe the Smart Hubs get public IPs. Last I saw they all connect through one gateway with a shared public IP so port forwarding likely isn't possible. If you've logged in to the Smart Hub, compare the WAN IP address that it shows there and compare it to what you see if you go to https://www.whatismyip.com/ . If they are different, then port forwarding won't work.

[rmuffley]

Thanks for the guidance on comparing my Public IP Address and the SmartHub IP address.  As I believe you anticipated, the IP address for the SmartHub does not match the Public IP (whatismyip.com), which begs the question, Why not?

Forgetting this difference between Public IP and SmartHub IP for a moment, does an Internet packet addressed to my Public IP even reach the outdoor antenna at my house, or does an intermediate Telus intervention and modification happen along the way?  Where does a packet go (what is its traceroute) if it is addressed to my Public IP?

If it does reach the antenna (still framed with its Public IP address) how is it treated as it is passed to the SmartHub?

There is facility in the admin configuration for the SmartHub to configure Port Forwarding, thus I am encouraged to believe the SmartHub is able to do Port Forwarding, if the packet is able to get there.  In fact, if I generate a packet inside the network from a machine using 192.168.1.37 and send it to 192.168.1.100:1149, that packet goes exactly where I want it to go, using the configuration I have set up in the SmartHub.

[Nighthawk]

The public IP is a shared IP between multiple customers. It's typical for cellular connections. Think of it like a router that your smart hub connects through. Port forwarding will NOT work because you're only changing the settings on your end. It doesn't affect the public gateway. The only data reaching your equipment is data requested by something on your end.