• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Wireless Router Connectivity Questions

J

jazzbo

Aug 25, 2000
7,937
32
50
San Francisco, CA
www.talkbass.com
#1
Hello tech friends. As Talkbass has proven in times past to be the best tech advice website around, (an interesting fact in and of itself), I thought I would throw two questions out for answering.

#1 - My friend has a small private practice in health care and his wireless router is a pain in the butt. It sends the signal, with full strength. The problem however, is that it doesn't have internet connectivity. Now, he has spent hours and hours and hours and hours, (seriously), on with Belkin's tech support, and my friend is a smart dude, but for some reason, he can't get on to the internet. The router is said to work fine, as is the wireless card. Several computers have tried, and no internet access, although it will sign on to the wireless account and connect with full strength. What's the deal? Why might this be?

#2 - I need to run a wireless router in my home. I have DSL. Can I split my phone line, and run one cable to the phone, and the other to the router, and just have the suckers side by side, split off the same jack?

As always, the trusted advice of fellow TBers is immensely appreciated.

jazzy-j-beaux
 
#2
Is your friend just trying to plug his DSL or Cable directly into the router. You need to run an ethernet cable off of the Modem that is connecting you to the ISP service into the Router. Same goes for home the phone line connects to a DSL modem. The Modem has to connect to the router, then the router can distribute IP addresses that are connected to the internet.
 
#3
If your friend has spent that much time on the phone with Belkin support then I don't think any of my troubleshooting steps that come to mind are probably going to help. However, I would be sure and troubleshoot with the ISP as well. When I got a new Motorola Surfboard modem to replace an older model I had the exact same thing but I called Time Warner Cable first and they just needed to do something on their end. He needs to make sure he can access the internet when he plugs a PC straight into the cable modem with no router in between. Could be a firewall issue too. Hard to say from my end.

As for your DSL, yeah, I split mine when I used DSL. I think I used a special splitter that was made to do that and cut out interference on the phone or something but I don't know if that's necessary or not.

bc
 
#6
DigMe said:
If your friend has spent that much time on the phone with Belkin support then I don't think any of my troubleshooting steps that come to mind are probably going to help. However, I would be sure and troubleshoot with the ISP as well. When I got a new Motorola Surfboard modem to replace an older model I had the exact same thing but I called Time Warner Cable first and they just needed to do something on their end. He needs to make sure he can access the internet when he plugs a PC straight into the cable modem with no router in between. Could be a firewall issue too. Hard to say from my end.
Click to expand...

You probably had to call Time-Warner to report the MAC address of the new router. Often, ISPs key to the MAC Address to provide connectivity.

To the OP: If the Belkin is a combo DSL Modem/wireless router bought to replace the DSL modem provided by your friend's ISP, then he's going to to have to do the same thing... call the ISP and give them the MAC address.
 
#7
Some wireless routers have the ability to pass through the MAC address of the originally connected PC (my new Netgear does, old one didn't). The defined MAC requirement is more common with Cable internet, less so with DSL.

BTW, there is a forum in dslreports.com where you can interact with actual ISP techs to get your connectivity questions answered. No idea if the ISP in this thread participates. But the site is a great resource. Someone, somewhere, has hooked up THAT model Belkin to THAT ISP, and probably posted about it....
 
#10
Marcury said:
Is your friend just trying to plug his DSL or Cable directly into the router. You need to run an ethernet cable off of the Modem that is connecting you to the ISP service into the Router. Same goes for home the phone line connects to a DSL modem. The Modem has to connect to the router, then the router can distribute IP addresses that are connected to the internet.
Click to expand...

Yes, this part has been done. The router is connected, with the proper cable, to the modem. This, of course, will be done at home as well.

DigMe said:
I would be sure and troubleshoot with the ISP as well. When I got a new Motorola Surfboard modem to replace an older model I had the exact same thing but I called Time Warner Cable first and they just needed to do something on their end. He needs to make sure he can access the internet when he plugs a PC straight into the cable modem with no router in between. Could be a firewall issue too. Hard to say from my end.
Click to expand...

What does "be sure and troubleshoot with the ISP as well" mean? The tech support did have us reset to a different IP address, (I think I'm getting these terms right), several times, but this was some time ago. He can access the internet when he plugs straight into the modem with no router, that part does work. And we've tried around the firewall also, so I don't think that that is it.

fenderhutz said:
Dump the Belkin. First issue.
Click to expand...

Boy don't we want to. He is going to buy a new router, (not Belkin, do you have any recommendations?), for his office, then give me the Belkin for home. If I still can't get the Belkin working at home, I'll just buy something else.

Atoz said:
You probably had to call Time-Warner to report the MAC address of the new router. Often, ISPs key to the MAC Address to provide connectivity.

To the OP: If the Belkin is a combo DSL Modem/wireless router bought to replace the DSL modem provided by your friend's ISP, then he's going to to have to do the same thing... call the ISP and give them the MAC address.
Click to expand...

What does the italicized part mean? You're speaking an entirely different language.

The Belkin is not a combo modem/router. There is a separate modem.

jkritchey said:
BTW, there is a forum in dslreports.com where you can interact with actual ISP techs to get your connectivity questions answered. No idea if the ISP in this thread participates. But the site is a great resource. Someone, somewhere, has hooked up THAT model Belkin to THAT ISP, and probably posted about it....
Click to expand...

Well, I've tried several tech forums before, and I've always found Talkbass to be far better. But, worst case scenario, I'll give it a try.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Thank you everybody for the suggestions. Any other advice that might help?
 
#12
jbo -

ISP = Internet Service Provider. But since it works when plugged straight into the modem then there is no need to talk to them.

As far as routers go I've had great results with my Dlink DIR-655. it's gotten great reviews from PC mags and websites and it generally even gets good reviews from DLink haters who have used it.

bc
 
#15
If your friend is running a healthcare practise, using a wireless router, and doesn't know what he's doing technically he's got bigger problems than not being able to connect to the internet. I'm assuming he's got some potentially sensitive and private data traveling over that network...

He'd be best off dropping a $100 for someone who knows what they're doing to sort it out. Even if he gets connected, he needs to make sure that the security is locked down tight. I'd have doubts about running that kind of network over wireless at all. Ideally he'd want one wired network for the secure data, perhaps with a firewall to more open wireless network, which in turn connects to the internet.

Ian
 
#17
most ISP's are set to dhcp so he shouldn't have to worry about that, they all get issued once you connect.

Is his cable modem running off the same wire as a television in his waiting room? One thing i have dealt with recently is my router wont get a good connection while i have my TV pluged into the same wire through a splitter. I have to get them to come run a separate line straight from my box to my modem. I do get a connection, but it only lasts about ten minutes. After that, my router resets and searches for an ip address, but it wont pull one unless i unplug both router and modem and plug back in.
 
#18
IanStephenson said:
If your friend is running a healthcare practise, using a wireless router, and doesn't know what he's doing technically he's got bigger problems than not being able to connect to the internet. I'm assuming he's got some potentially sensitive and private data traveling over that network...

He'd be best off dropping a $100 for someone who knows what they're doing to sort it out. Even if he gets connected, he needs to make sure that the security is locked down tight. I'd have doubts about running that kind of network over wireless at all. Ideally he'd want one wired network for the secure data, perhaps with a firewall to more open wireless network, which in turn connects to the internet.

Ian
Click to expand...

All good points Ian, but I left that part out of the discussion because it is addressed with appropriate seriousness. Issues of privacy and security are primary.

By the by, I ask a lot of these questions myself as well because my friend's experience is a good learning experience for me, as I will be opening a private practice myself in several years, (also in health care, but in a different field). Although he is not experienced in the tech department, he has acted in many ways as an amazing mentor in running a successful private practice. As he is successful however, you can imagine how much he would like to get this resolved.

Robert B said:
I'm assuming he does have the router set up with the gateway and DNS IP addresses?
Click to expand...

Well, this is something that I, (for my buddy), went over with the tech support folks for pronlonged periods of time. But, knowing that the computer "connects" to the wireless connection, but just won't access the internet, should we assume that this isn't done? How do you do this?

And to the individual who asked, there is no television. It is in an office that has a phone/fax machine, printer, laptop, microwave, and small refrigerator. There are two power outlets in this room, so all devices run from through surge protectors, from two power outlets.
 
#19
So, my buddy is using SBC Yahoo DSL, (it's what's available), and a Dell laptop. What router do people suggest he buy today? He's going out to the store and recommendations on a specific make and model are greatly appreciated.

What about this?

Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router
 
As an Amazon Associate, TalkBass may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via links on this site.
#20
first question:

If your friend removes the router and connects his PC directly to the modem does it work?

If it does, go to a command prompt, type in " ipconfig /all " and look at how the modem is configuring the pc.

Make sure the modem is configured this way on the outside (wan) port. (ip address, subnet mask, gateway, dns)

Next, check the settings of the router on the inside port. It can be any address. Commonly its 192.168.0.1 or some such thing, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 . Your PC should be in the same network as this. So, if in the above example, your PC should have an ip address of 192.168.0.x where x is any number between 2 and 254. Your pc also should have the same subnet mask as the router. The PCs gateway should be the same address as the inside of your router. For the dns, you can try the same address as the inside of your router or some of these common dns.

207.217.126.81 (earthlink)
4.2.2.2 (microsoft)

~~ edited ~~

I forgot ... if your router has wired and wireless access... get the wired to work first, then setup the wireless second. Does the wired work currently?
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back