Connecting a wireless router to router provided by Eircom

focusman

Hi,

I am trying to set up a wireless network for a friend. He currently connects to the internet via a standard Netopia Cayman 3346 ADSL router/modem provided by Eircom.

I am trying to connect a Linksys WRT54GC wireless router (compact model) to the Netopia router, thus allowing the PCs/laptops in the house to connect to the internet wirelessly. So far I have had no joy. Is it actually possible to do this?

I am working on the assumption it should work provided that I do not alter any settings in the Netopia, disable DHCP in the Linksys, and give it a static IP address that puts it in the same subnet as the Netopia?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!! Has anyone here already done this successfully?

cheers

aidan_walsh

Since the Linksys router has a connection for the DSL phone line to go into, why not save yourself some bother and just remove the Netopia router. You should be able to get the settings that you need for the Linksys to work from the Netopia, or someone here will be able to give them to you.

Foxwood

The Wireless forum has a sticky explaining how to do this.

Foxwood

aidan_walsh wrote:

Since the Linksys router has a connection for the DSL phone line to go into,

No it doesn't.

aidan_walsh

Foxwood wrote:

No it doesn't.

My bad, misinterpreted the product sheet.

focusman

aidan_walsh wrote:

Since the Linksys router has a connection for the DSL phone line to go into, why not save yourself some bother and just remove the Netopia router. You should be able to get the settings that you need for the Linksys to work from the Netopia, or someone here will be able to give them to you.

The Netopia has a built in ADSL modem.

Unfortunately the Linksys does not have a built-in modem, hence the reason I am trying to make use of the Netopia's.

focusman

Foxwood wrote:

The Wireless forum has a sticky explaining how to do this.

I had a look on http://www.netopia.com/support/technotes/hardware/CQG_020.html

According to section 8 of this, Bridging is always enabled - does this mean I just have to set up the PPoE, VPI, VCI, username and password on the Linksys once it's physically connected to the Netopia?

Sponge Bob

Buy one of these instead for €24.99 and bring back the Linksys, tell the salesman you were told it was an adsl modem, and its not.

it will do all you require and sets up easily for €25 . Is that not fair.

focusman

Cheers,

only problem is the Linksys was bought from Elara, who unfortunately do not do refunds on any items once their packaging has been opened, even if returning all contents are in perfect order

Any more ideas anyone? I am kind of new to networking so its probably just my lack of knowledge on TCP/IP preventing me getting this setup working...

Sponge Bob

sell it on adverts.ie , bound to get over €25 for it

joe_chicken

focusman wrote:

I had a look on http://www.netopia.com/support/technotes/hardware/CQG_020.html

According to section 8 of this, Bridging is always enabled - does this mean I just have to set up the PPoE, VPI, VCI, username and password on the Linksys once it's physically connected to the Netopia?

As far as I remember you need to enable bridge mode through the netopia interface....

This disables DHCP and NAT and hopefully should let you connect the other router to it... but it's been a while since I did anything like that... and not over wireless... I could be mistaken

Sponge Bob

its the wireless dhcp is the problem

this bit is correct

According to section 8 of this, Bridging is always enabled - does this mean I just have to set up the PPoE, VPI, VCI, username and password on the Linksys once it's physically connected to the Netopia?

and thats all you set up too.

so the netopia dhcp must be off , the netopia is set to 192.168.1.1 ip address or 192.168.1.254 and the linksys GATEWAY is that Ip address as far as the linksys is concerned. you then give the linksys another IP address like 192.168.1.253 itself

linksys dhcp will start at 192.168.1.100 avoiding them lads.

used wired to test the connection, once the internet workss on a network cable you enter a WPA password for security on the linksys wireless setup (do not use default wep 64 or 128)

then enter the same password on the laptops ,

try use intel pro set software if its installed on the laptop not the built into windows network stuff . its much easier to set up and use.

focusman

Cheers I will give that a try this evening

Foxwood

focusman wrote:

I had a look on http://www.netopia.com/support/technotes/hardware/CQG_020.html

According to section 8 of this, Bridging is always enabled - does this mean I just have to set up the PPoE, VPI, VCI, username and password on the Linksys once it's physically connected to the Netopia?

Let me repeat myself.

The Wireless forum has a sticky explaining how to do this. It's #10 in the FAQ.

focusman

I had a look at the sticky and tried the suggestions contained within it, as well as those posted on this thread, but unfortunately I was still unable to get the setup to work.

cheers anyway
focusman

Foxwood

focusman wrote:

I had a look at the sticky and tried the suggestions contained within it,

They're not suggestions, they're instructions. If you post details of the point at which your experience diverges from the explanation in the FAQ, someone might be able to help, but if you won't provide the details, you won't get a detailed response.

flashcash5

Foxwood wrote:

Let me repeat myself.

The Wireless forum has a sticky explaining how to do this. It's #10 in the FAQ.

Hi,

I was wondering if you could leave the WLAN signal in tact that the netopia router is broadcasting and connect a linksys router to it via ethernet broadcasting a different signal, Thus creating two WLANs/SSIDs with internet access via the one DSL line?

Looking at FAQ #10 in the wireless sticky, it appears that the DHCP Server has to be turned off on the netopia for the linksys router to work, even on its own.
If i leave the DHCP Server active on the netopia and carry out the other bridging steps, can i reach my goal? I understand that some advanced routing or rip configuration may be needed on the linksys to tell one WLAN about the other but this shouldnt be a problem.

Any help is appreciated but if you have this combination of hardware, twould be great if you could do a quick test

Thanks in advance, any help is appreciated.

Foxwood

flashcash5 wrote:

Hi,

I was wondering if you could leave the WLAN signal in tact that the netopia router is broadcasting and connect a linksys router to it via ethernet broadcasting a different signal, Thus creating two WLANs/SSIDs with internet access via the one DSL line?

You can have a dozen access points all wired to the same LAN all with different SSIDs - the SSID has nothing to do with the wired network that your access point might be connected to.

If you try to connect the WAN port of a wireless router to a LAN, then you may have complications if you try to communicate between different devices on the LAN. Unless you know what you are doing, and why you are doing it, don't try to use 2 routers on your network - put some sticky tape over the WAN port of the second router, and only use it's LAN ports.

Looking at FAQ #10 in the wireless sticky, it appears that the DHCP Server has to be turned off on the netopia for the linksys router to work, even on its own.
If i leave the DHCP Server active on the netopia and carry out the other bridging steps, can i reach my goal? I understand that some advanced routing or rip configuration may be needed on the linksys to tell one WLAN about the other but this shouldnt be a problem.

FAQ #10 is about turning off the Routing on a DSL "router" and turning it into a "modem" only (or a "bridge"). When you do this, there isn't any DHCP function for you to leave turned on, and the Linksys wouldn't allow any DHCP packets from the Netgear through to it's LAN anyway.

flashcash5

Thanks for the quick reply Foxwood. The DSL cable is connected to the netopia wireless modem and the connected to a linksys wireless router through the LAN port, not the WAN port.

I definately want the two routers to function as routers with a DCHP server running from the netopia. So it sounds like bridging mode on the netopia modem is not for me.

Is there any other alternative? Could i configure the linksys to handle the PPPoE settings along with the modem?

Any more thoughts are welcome..:)

Foxwood

flashcash5 wrote:

I definately want the two routers to function as routers

Why? The only reason to use the Linksys as a router is if you want to prevent a PC that is connected to the Netgear form talking to a PC that is connected to the Linksys. (A PC on the Netgear won't be protected from a PC on the Linksys, though). There are situations where this is useful, but so far, you haven't explained what you're trying to do, you've just told us how you're trying to do it.

with a DCHP server running from the netopia.

A DHCP server on the Netopia can not serve clients that are connected to the Linksys, unless you connect the Netopia to a LAN port on the Linksys - and leave the WAN port of the linksys disconnected.

So it sounds like bridging mode on the netopia modem is not for me

You can bridge the Netopia and use the Linksys as your router, or you can use the Netopia as a router and ignore the router in the Linksys, by connecting a LAN port on each box together.

Is there any other alternative? Could i configure the linksys to handle the PPPoE settings along with the modem?

You can probably configure the Linksys to make tea in the morning, if you put enough effort into it. The question is, why would you bother? What is it that you're trying to achieve?

watty

Your dedicated to helping beyond the call of duty, Foxwood. if the OP can't explain what he wants (best forget totally about the HW and focus on what PCs and what wires or wireless they have) you can't help.

flashcash5

Ok so, to explain what i wanted:
Two networks using the one internet connection and yes, i did not want the people on the netopia router to get icmp traffic through to nodes on the linksys side (except for the gateway of course) I also wanted two seperate SSID's for each group so as to eliminate complications for my users. I had my RIP protocol configured correctly on the linksys as DNS was resolving but i did not have the netopia configured correctly to send icmp replies back to my network.
I got it working anyway with help from this
http://www.netopia.com/support/hardware/technotes/CQG_028.html

Thanks for your help and sorry for not explaining what i wanted to do exactly, just needed specific help, thats all.;)

Beta Bill

I bought a router today and separately the Linksys USB connection for PC. (by the way €79.95 for both in PC World is pretty good).

Tried to connect to my broadband Zyxel modem (BT) - wouldn't work. Rang support and they told me it wont work and they dont support it despite haivng been advised by their tech people the day before to do this and buy one in PC World etc. I ignored this advise and rang again later and got someone else whop actually showed an interst in my problem!!

Long story, but the manual says connect the blue Ethernet cable from "Internet" port on the Linksys to Ethernet port on the old modem. WRONG! spoke to another teccie and he said bo**ix connect it instead to one of the four numbered ports 1,2,3,4 beside the "Internet" port.

Working brilliantly! hope this will help someone else out.................