The Hammer610
Level 2 (285 points)

Q: AirPlay Actiontec CenturyLink

I am trying to get AirPlay to work with my Denon A/V Receiver.   I have a CenturyLink router by Actiontec (PK5001A).  With that connected, my Mac and iPad does not see the receiver.  But when I feed the Actiontec router to a Linksys router, and then connect everything through that router, AirPlay works.

 

I spent half an hour with an Actiontec online rep that wanted me to use port forwarding.  When I did a search, it looks like the following ports are needed to be open: 

  • TCP port 123 is used to communicate with a network time server.
  • TCP port 3689 is used to communicate with iTunes while using the iTunes Library Sharing feature.
  • UDP port 5353 is used by Apple TV for automatically finding computers with iTunes on your network using Bonjour.
  • TCP port 80 is used for communicating with podcast servers.
  • TCP port 80 and 443 are used for basic and secure communications with the iTunes Store via the Internet.
  • TCP port 53 is used for regular DNS

I found 3689 and 5353 were not open, so I made a new rule to open those.  That did not work.  So I shut down down the firewalls (IPv4 and IPv6) and that did not help.

 

I am connecting the Mac and the iPad via WiFi, and the receiver is hardwired.

 

I am stuck.  Why would AirPlay fail on this Actiontec modem, but be fine on Linksys?

3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4), G5 1.8 GHz and iBook 10.4 - both 10.4.11

Posted on Jan 31, 2014 4:48 PM

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The Hammer610

Q: AirPlay Actiontec CenturyLink

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  • by The Hammer610,

    The Hammer610 The Hammer610 Feb 1, 2014 2:31 PM in response to The Hammer610
    Level 2 (285 points)
    Feb 1, 2014 2:31 PM in response to The Hammer610

    I found a link that says I should turn off WPS in the wireless setup.  I did and that did not restore AirPlay.  After I turned off WPS, I rebooted the modem and the A/V receiver and it still does not show up in my iPad or Mac iTunes like it did when I was connected through the Linksys.

     

    http://forums.cnet.com/7723-21579_102-556886/airplay-won-t-work-through-one-of-m y-wi-fi-networks/

     

    Based on the discussion below, I maybe stuck.  My guess is that the lame Actiontec modem used by CenturyLink does not support multicast.

     

    http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-470179.html

     

    I will be moving soon and will not use CenturyLink in my new location because of their lack of support for Bonjour and AirPlay.

  • by The Hammer610,

    The Hammer610 The Hammer610 Feb 5, 2014 10:12 AM in response to The Hammer610
    Level 2 (285 points)
    Feb 5, 2014 10:12 AM in response to The Hammer610

    I have spent the last several days in communication with CenturyLink and Actiontec.  Neither offer support via email, saying that the issue is too complicated and I need to call the 800 number.  After calling CenturyLink, they blamed it on Apple and Actiontect.  Calling Actiontec told me to call CenturyLink.

     

    I emailed Actiontec and they responded that their modem dues support multicast.  So they claim that the issue is not with their modem and told me to contact CenturyLink (again).  I keep emailing them and asking for support and I suspect they are fed up with my persistence about now.

     

    For those stuck with CenturyLink and/or Actiontec, I think the only workaround is to connect one Ethernet out from the Actiontec modem to a router that works with the AirPlay (Linksys works in my case), then turn off the wireless in the Actiontec modem.  After that, route all traffic, wireless and Ethernet through the Linksys modem.

     

    Normally, when I daisy-chain modems, I turn off the DHCP in the second modem and allow the first modem to assign all IP addresses.  I have not tried this and do not know if it will affect AirPlay.  The downside of this setup is that I use up one Ethernet connection on the second modem (an 'out' port) connecting the first modem.  That reduces available Ethernet connections to 3.  In my case, I need one for the receiver, the AppleTV and the BD player and the DVR leaving me one short.  I suspect I could disconnect the BD player, but I would lose software updates.  I stream music and AirPlay to the receiver, but I could just do that to the AppleTV.  Not certain what I would lose on the DVR other than PPV movies that I do not do.  Perhaps the channel guide might not update.

     

    If I get any help from CenturyLink or Actiontec, I will post.