Chorus router question

DamienH

I've just had chorus installed here at home but the modem isn't a wireless one. I have my old Eircom Netopia wireless one here at home aswell so would I be able to connect the netopia to the chorus using an ethernet cable , giving me wireless internet? I've just got my laptop sorted and was looking forward to have wireless back again. Thanks

Knasher

I'm not really familiar with the equipment that eircom provides, so in pretty broad terms. If the eircom router is a modem/router combo (ie with an rj11 connection on the back) then you should disable the dhcp server on the eircom router and just plug the ethernet from the chorus one into the back of the eircom one. Otherwise you should be able to set the eircom one to aquire an address from dhcp and then plug the chorus modem into the wan port on the eircom router.

watty

not a good idea.

If the "Chorus" box has only one ethernet port it's only a Modem.

The DSL Modem/Routers have the Router/DHCP/DNS part often integrated into the internal Modem port, so work badly as standalone WiFi and not at all as ethernet routers.

You'll get a non-DSL ethernet Router + WiFi in Argos.

watty

Knasher wrote: »

I'm not really familiar with the equipment that eircom provides, so in pretty broad terms. If the eircom router is a modem/router combo (ie with an rj11 connection on the back) then you should disable the dhcp server on the eircom router and just plug the ethernet from the chorus one into the back of the eircom one. Otherwise you should be able to set the eircom one to aquire an address from dhcp and then plug the chorus modem into the wan port on the eircom router.

That in 99% of cases is impossible, as the router WAN port usually can't be assigned to dedicated ethernet Port, it's tied to the DSL modem.

jor el

The eircom modem is a DSL modem/router, not the right piece of kit for cable broadband. It will work, in a way, but it will be doing no routing, and providing no security (in to form of NAT, firewall, etc). It will essentially be a wireless switch, so the public IP assigned by Chorus will go to the first PC that connects. I think they allow 2 connections, so you would be able to connect 2 devices, but no more.

What you need is a wireless router (without modem), like this.

Kensington

The Netopia box is built to route through the DSL connection, it doesn't have a fifth LAN port to connect to a modem. You are able to "bridge" the Netopia whereby you turn off the DHCP server on the netopia and connect a network cable between your chorus cablemodem and one of the LAN ports on your Netopia. However, you're now relying on your chorus cablemodem to give each PC you have connected to the Netopia an IP address. I don't know about chorus, but ex-ntl areas give up to 3 IP addresses per modem. If chorus do the same, then you can only connect a maximum of 3 PCs to your cablemodem. And if they decide, in the future, to reduce the IP addresses per cablemodem to 1, you'll only be able to connect 1 PC at a time then. Also note, each of these IP addresses will be public IP addresses, directly exposed to the internet. Make sure each computer has any file sharing turned off, and also has up-to-date antivirus and firewall software installed and running on it.

Really, you should only use such a setup as temporary one. You should get yourself a non-DSL wireless router, with 5 LAN ports on the rear. Will be safer, will let you setup internal networks such as windows file sharing if you wish and will in all likelihood save yourself a whole lot of hassle!

DamienH

Thanks very much for all the replies, everything sorted now.

DamienH

Just to make sure, will this do the job?

Kensington

DamienH wrote: »

Just to make sure, will this do the job?

It will
You should consider something like this though, a little bit more expensive than the Belkin but you are able to flash it with an open source firmware which turns it into a rock solid router box.

watty

I'd go for Linksys or Netgear in preference though.

Some Belkin stuff is OK.