A method and system for remotely managing a bridge device, such as a modem, are disclosed. Management traffic from a service provider can be communicated to a bridge device which lacks a public IP address by sending the management traffic through the bridge device to a router of a LAN. The router then sends the management traffic back to the bridge device. Thus, the service provider can perform management tasks such as troubleshooting, health monitoring, accounting, provisioning, security and firmware upgrades in a manner that is transparent to the user.