Netopia Cayman 3341 advice

tuxy

im getting a Netopia Cayman 3341 with my radsl from eircom can i just plug this modem into a broadband router then connect other pc's in my house to the router?

tuxy

i just read on another thread all i need is a switch is that correct?

dazberry

The Cayman has a USB and RJ45 (network) port, so you should be able to use it either way.

Actually tried to set one up today for someone and just couldn't get it to work reliably via RJ45. It was working, and is still working faultlessly via USB. In network mode it worked intermittently, but it wasn't usable for more than one PC, and the performance seemed pretty poor. Could have been a prob. with the box itself (the setup was technically fine).

Otherwise I've been led to believe that Eircom won't support that box if its in RJ45 mode, only USB 'cos I guess that's how its sold.

I've experience of a few different setups, including my much maligned but faultless dlink, and the dog of a cisco in work. The Cayman is probably the nicest I've had to setup - only if it had worked tho'.

D.

ednwireland

setup a couple of these boxes on enhanced i didnt see any problems with the rj45 mode initially st it up with nat and dhcp replaced an existing isdn router put in the user name and password and off it went currently its setup without any of that just to route real ip addresses to a firewall (thats not entirely logical when you set it up but it does work) anyway if eircom have fiddled, don't think so cos everyone i know is using it in rj45 mode
have you got your ethernet setup to use dhcp (check ip settings)
also i think you don't need a crossover cable cos it sorts that automatically

dazberry

Originally posted by ednwireland
i know is using it in rj45 mode have you got your ethernet setup to use dhcp (check ip settings)
also i think you don't need a crossover cable cos it sorts that automatically

It all worked for about 5 minutes and then would stop, and it appeared some connections would preclude others. dhcp and nat enabled, and it was setup without a crossover cable. TBH I couldn't see anything wrong with the setup persay - DNS and default gateway etc. all were setup correctly. Its a strange one.

D.

Ripwave

Originally posted by tuxx
im getting a Netopia Cayman 3341 with my radsl from eircom can i just plug this modem into a broadband router then connect other pc's in my house to the router?

I haven't used one, but from th lots of posts about them here on boards, it seems that this is a very flexible piece of kit, that can be configured in "router" mode, or "bridge" mode.

In "router mode", it will provide DHCP and NAT services, allowing you to use both interfaces (USB and Ethernet) at the same time. In "bridge mode", it will just provide a straight through connection, giving the public IP address to the device behind it, and that device would have to be responsible for any NAT handling for multiple PCS.

So yes, you can do what you need to do with the Netopia. Configuration is straightforward by all accounts, so just connect your primary PC to it first, and check out the configuration, and see that it all makes sense to you before changing modes.

thegreek

I had to look at a colleagues home setup. He had setup the Caymen for USB and it worked fine but it wouldn't work when connected to Linksys wireless router by rj45.

I disabled DHCP and enabled igmp. If your router supports it let it do the dhcp.

Put in the static IP the Eircom give on their broadband support page on the Caymen.

Pointed the Linksys router to the static IP and all worked fine and fast. (No cross-over cable and no switch)

Not sure about sticking more machines on yet. It may all end it tears

tuxy

so you think i would be better off buying a broadband router rather than a cheap switch?

dazberry

Originally posted by tuxx
so you think i would be better off buying a broadband router rather than a cheap switch?

Well a cheap switch would be a lot cheaper than a four port router/modem. If you can, try and borrow a switch/hub (even an old 10mb one) and see if you can get it setup and working ok with multiple machines. If it works, go and buy one, otherwise then perhaps look at getting a 4 port broadband router/modem. No point in spending more than you have to - unless you want to

D.

tuxy

so if im using a switch what cables do i need to connect the Cayman to the switch straight through or crossover?

dazberry

Originally posted by tuxx
so if im using a switch what cables do i need to connect the Cayman to the switch straight through or crossover?

Since you're not bridging switches then a normal cable should be fine - remember the Caymen is just like another (very small) computer.

In my case I needed to bridge 2 switches, the dlink modem/switch combo (because one PC is also connected to it downstairs as a server) and my main switch upstairs with the other PCs. In that case I had to use the uplink port on the net-lynx, but didn't need to make a cross-over cable because the net-lynx auto-detects the cable type on the uplink port.

D.

tuxy

ok so ill pick up a cheap switch and see if that works when i have dsl installed thanks for the info