How to setup Digiweb through Netopia(eircom) router

SickBoy

A friend of mine has broadband from Digiweb. He has the bog standard Thompson router(no wireless).
He asked me to setup a wireless network for him.
I have a spare eircom Netopia router. I connected the Thompson Digiweb router to the Netopia. I disabled DHCP on the Netopia and when his desktop is wired to the Netopia router he gets an IP address(83.something...) via DHCP and everything is fine and dandy.
The problem begins when I connect his laptop to the Netopia via wireless. No matter what I try I cannot get it to pickup an IP address.
I'm wondering is the Thompson router only able assign 1 IP address?
Anyone ever try this and get it working?
Any help is appreciated!

SB...

zAbbo

The netopia router is an ADSL modem, you need a broadband router which has a RJ45 connection (LAN), and not a RJ11 connection (phone line)

You need to plug the cable from the thompson box into the WAN port of the broadband router.

I used to have metro running off a standard D-Link wireless router, that you can pick up from pcworld/komplett etc.

SickBoy

Hi zAbbo,

Thanks for the reply.
I understand that the Netopia is ADSL but I'm not trying to uplink the Thompson to the RJ11.
I've got the Thompson connected to the Netopia via standard cat5 cable.
His PC is then connected(wired) to the Netopia and getting a DHCP address from the Thompson so it looks like routing is working correctly(PC->Netopia->Thompson)
The problem is his laptop is not getting an IP address connecting via wireless.

watty

it Won't WORK

The Netopia has a "virtual" internal ethernet port connected to the INTERNAL DSL modem. Only this internal port is WAN port of Router. It can't route at all between one external ethernet port and another. It's acting as a switch. So 1st device connected will get sole IP address given out by Thomson MODEM's DHCP.

You need a router with an ethernet WAN port (5th port).
Maplin has Sitecom.
Argos has about 3 varieties.
Elara, Komplett Dabs etc online.

Some people like Argos call them Cable Routers (They are not), any ethernet WAN router will work.

If it has a phone port for phone line and internal DSL modem, it's the wrong kind.

penfold944

watty wrote: »

it Won't WORK

The Netopia has a "virtual" internal ethernet port connected to the INTERNAL DSL modem. Only this internal port is WAN port of Router. It can't route at all between one external ethernet port and another. It's acting as a switch. So 1st device connected will get sole IP address given out by Thomson MODEM's DHCP.

You need a router with an ethernet WAN port (5th port).
Maplin has Sitecom.
Argos has about 3 varieties.
Elara, Komplett Dabs etc online.

Some people like Argos call them Cable Routers (They are not), any ethernet WAN router will work.

If it has a phone port for phone line and internal DSL modem, it's the wrong kind.

Actually, it can be done.... You can still use the netopia as a wireless access point... I did this many times - you just need to set the default gateway on your DHCP pool to point to your internet router....

And there is where your problem lies - the thompson box is a modem - not a router... It will only give you out 1 IP address which is your public internet IP address.

You need a router that can translate your internal addresses to that public internet address... And thats where you get a cable/ethernet router from Maplins/Argos etc...

That way you can hide multiple machines behind a single public IP address.

watty

yes. it will work as an access point only.. never an ethernet router. but you need a router to connect it, and since it is little extra expense in built in wiFi and a power saving. You may have difficulting even a single client on a DSL router configured as an airpoint due to the way the airpoint part works.

Only really specific "bridging" airpoints work on a modem directly without a router. They naturally come in pairs. DWL810 is one. They are not widely available as routers are more usefull.

axer

SickBoy wrote: »

A friend of mine has broadband from Digiweb. He has the bog standard Thompson router(no wireless).
He asked me to setup a wireless network for him.
I have a spare eircom Netopia router. I connected the Thompson Digiweb router to the Netopia. I disabled DHCP on the Netopia and when his desktop is wired to the Netopia router he gets an IP address(83.something...) via DHCP and everything is fine and dandy.
The problem begins when I connect his laptop to the Netopia via wireless. No matter what I try I cannot get it to pickup an IP address.
I'm wondering is the Thompson router only able assign 1 IP address?
Anyone ever try this and get it working?
Any help is appreciated!

SB...

OP what type pf eircom router is it? How many ethernet ports? Do you just want to use it as an access point?

Is the digiweb broadband coming in via his phoneline? Have you tried setting up the netopia box as his router and not using the thompson box at all?

EDIT: I see above that the thompson box is only a modem so op go get a router for it. I highly recommend getting the Linksys WRT54g - a fantastic piece for kit. You can get it here. You can replace the firmware with X-WRT or DD-WRT to give it some amazing features.

watty

No phones are needed or used for Digiweb Metro. Hence the uselessness of the DSL Netopia.

The Thompson Modem is fed by coax cable. The Digiweb HQ has the identity of it, so even an equivalent Modem with a coax feed socket won't work.

You can't replace the Thomson Modem on Metro, except with a Modem supplied by Digiweb. You can add any ethernet WAN router you desire. The OpenWRT software (Linksys WRT54G3G another option) is good, but not for everyone. Most people are better to simply configure the off the shelf SW.

Do set a long random WPA PSK AES key (write it down 1st, with mix of CAPS, lower case and numbers, no realdates or words in it) for any WiFi.