UPC internet with homeplug adatper

wierdal

Hey all.

I've been having a lot of trouble with UPC internet for the last while. About 2 months ago we started losing internet connection. We replaced the Horizon box, had technicians out, added an external modem but nothing has fixed the over all problem.

The only thing I can think of is that I have a set of home plug adapters going between the modem and the attic where the PS4 is. It looks like the network starts to fail/deteriorate when the home plugs are plugged in. The ip address on all the devices change from 192.168.192.x to 192.168.0.x. The external modems ip address don't change but the dns starts failing. When I change to google DNS it still doesn't resolve. Only way to resolve is to unplug the homeplug adapters and restart the modem.

Has anyone else seen this or have any idea if I should have done something with the homeplugs before connecting them ? The wifi signal is too poor to connect up the the attic so they are needed unfortunately.

Any help much appreciated.

Wierdal

Cuddlesworth

wierdal wrote: »

added an external modem

The ip address on all the devices change from 192.168.192.x to 192.168.0.x.

Exactly what device is plugged into what and where. Pictures of the connections would help.

Damien360

What is your setup exactly. From what I read you have an external modem but have you still got the horizon box acting as a modem/router combo also ? That is not going to work.

I have Upc but not with horizon box, ps4/PS3 on one home plug, sky box on another and last home plug up connected to the router. I used fixed IP addresses for all the boxes and it has been reliable for a few years.

wierdal

So at the moment we have the Horizon Box only providing TV. I am trying to get this reactivated for the 5ghz but UPC insist it is active even though there's no internet connection through it.

The external Cisco EPC modem is providing the internet so every wireless device in the house (6 or 7) are connected to this. This external modem has no connections to the Horizon Box as there is a splitter diving the two.

The Homeplug is currently unplugged so internet is fine for the moment, but when it is being used it is running the connection to the attic to the PS4.

The Horizon box is broadcasting 2 signals (2.4 and 5ghz) but no one is connected to them. These are acive due to UPC believing these are providing the whole internet connection as the Horizon box is supposed to be active the the Cisco EPC not.

I have tried unplugging the External modem and connecting back up to the Horizon box on it's own but no joy.

brimur69

I wonder if the homeplug is causing a switching loop somehow. Either that or, if you end up on a different subnet then maybe your plugs are connecting to someone elses house via the electrical wiring and you end up on their network Also check that you do not have more than one dhcp server setup, the Horizon box might still be running its DHCP server and giving out addresses but routing them to itself thinking its the gateway instead of to the new modem

wierdal

I was thinking the same about the electircal wiring but the majority of the problems is with the wireless devices rather than just the PS4.

There shouldn't be any other devices running DHCP. Well technically there is with the Cisco EPC there but that isn't communicating with the Horizon box so that shouldn't be an issue. Unless some device in the house had a DHCP server installed onto it by mistake.

The weird thing about is that the default gateway comes up as 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.192.1. I can access a router config page for both of them. The 192.1 is the Horizon box, but the 0.1 is a different UPC router config page, but with a white background (google says this is a Technicolour TC7200 modem which UPC used to use). I was thinking maybe there is some dodgy firmware on the Horizon box. If I got to the 0.1 config page I can turn on the wifi and create an additional broadcast. So I can have 2 from the Horizon box, 1 from EPC and then another from the "imaginary" router. If the wiring was wrong would this explain the issue ? I am picking up some neighbours intnernet connection through the homeplug and it is joining the network, and seeings as its 2 DHCP modems on the network it's throwing the devices off ?

Thanks,

Wierdal

Cuddlesworth

wierdal wrote: »

I am picking up some neighbours intnernet connection through the homeplug and it is joining the network, and seeings as its 2 DHCP modems on the network it's throwing the devices off ?

Possibly.

I would do a couple of things. Wire yourself into the horizon box, disable the DHCP server and wifi. You don't need either anymore, the horizon box is a piece of crap anyway.

Check the makers of your homeplug for an app to talk to it. It should show you the devices that your local homeplug is seeing. In your case it should be a single device on the other end. If you see more then 1, you have issues. There is no way in hell a homeplug should be able to talk through two main fuses across a 3 phase supply. I would be knocking off fuses on your mainboard, then following the cable if the additional homeplug disappears.

If your still having problems, change the wifi password on your Cisco EPC. Its possible somebody has bridged into your network maliciously.

wierdal

At the moment we have no internet. The Cisco box was disabled so that the Horizon box could be re enabled but it was done incorrectly.

I'll have a look at the homeplug adapters once I have the internet sorted out.

Thanks for the input.

Wierdal

wierdal

Hi folks,

Sorry for the lack of update.

I contacted TP Link and explained the situation. They asked to to install a utility to scan the connection. So I plugged in only 1 of the adapters directly into my laptops and turned wifi off. When I ran the scan I could pick up another TP Link device who's MAC address does not match either of mine. It's also being picked up as a 200 and mine are 500. The only other TP Link devices in my house are the wifi adpaters in the PCs but the laptop was not on the network so it couldn't be them, also given the fact that I can connect to another modem when connected to the homeplug.

I called UPC to see if they can confirm it is a neighbours connection and it's just some faulty wiring in my house but they wouldn't give me any answers. I have been contacting TP Link but they keep getting me to send them pics of the adapters and stuff instead of giving me answers.

Ideally what I would want to do is set up some type of MAC filtering on the 2 adapters so that they only speak to each other. I have explained this to TP Link but I've yet to get a response about it. The other option would be to get a new set that are a different brand assuming that the 2 different brands will not still communicate ?

Thanks,

Alan

ED E

Crossing brands wont help, AV200s and 500s will interchange between brands.

What you want to do is pair your homeplugs so that they encrypt the link, this will lock out the other homeplug.

The "foreign" mac is likely a neighbours, normally your RCB would nuke that signal but clearly its not. This may mean degrade HP performance for you.

Cuddlesworth

wierdal wrote: »

Hi folks,

Sorry for the lack of update.

I contacted TP Link and explained the situation. They asked to to install a utility to scan the connection. So I plugged in only 1 of the adapters directly into my laptops and turned wifi off. When I ran the scan I could pick up another TP Link device who's MAC address does not match either of mine. It's also being picked up as a 200 and mine are 500. The only other TP Link devices in my house are the wifi adpaters in the PCs but the laptop was not on the network so it couldn't be them, also given the fact that I can connect to another modem when connected to the homeplug.

I called UPC to see if they can confirm it is a neighbours connection and it's just some faulty wiring in my house but they wouldn't give me any answers. I have been contacting TP Link but they keep getting me to send them pics of the adapters and stuff instead of giving me answers.

Ideally what I would want to do is set up some type of MAC filtering on the 2 adapters so that they only speak to each other. I have explained this to TP Link but I've yet to get a response about it. The other option would be to get a new set that are a different brand assuming that the 2 different brands will not still communicate ?

Thanks,

Alan

Make sure that the signal is going over the RCD into your neighbor's house because that is incredibly unlikely in a 3 phase setup with 2 RCD's.

Plug the homeplug in, connect to it using the utility. Kill all other fuses in your house except the one that the tp link is on. Run the utility, check for the 200Mbps device. If it's there, move to another plug with another fuse, kill the first fuse and do it again to make sure it's 100% external.

If you don't see the 200Mbps device, turn each fuse on and test one after the other. If it comes back, identify the fuse and get an electrician to follow the cable.

If it is going over the mains to another person house, which is still incredibly unlikely, then you're going to need to pair your devices. There is a fair chance here that your neighbour might accidently being using your power and its a good time to identify it before they move the bloody thing since it's likely to be broken on their side too.