Just exploring this router some more and I've noticed that it provisions 2 local IP subnets: 192.168.254.X and 192.168.144.X. The first subnet we are well aware of and use, and of course you can change to anything you wish.
However, there's a separate 192.168.144.X subnet on which the router assigns itself 192.168.144.254. This address does not change if you chance the router's address of course. You cannot change it. You cannot deactivate it, You cannot directly ping it, but if you assign your laptop a 192.168.144.1 address for example, then of course you can ping. if you surf then to 192.168.144.254 then you get the normal router management UI.
You can see these ranges and addresses under the UI: http://192.168.254.254/cgi-bin/routing.ha
I didn't immediately see any changes to the router UI while accessed from the .144 subnet. Does anyone know the origins of this and why it exists?
Some theories I have is that either:
(a) it's a failsafe address to manage the router from the LAN side if you don't know it's address and don't care to go digging to find it...
(b) MoCA adapters use this address range for their UI (Actiontec for example) and that somehow the Broadcom firmware requires it?
Neither theory seems very likely.
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