DSL modem bridged to Linksys router question.

[nOOky]

We have a Centurytel Westell 327w dsl modem that is in bridged mode that we are trying to get to work with a Linksys E1200 wireless router. We also have an older D-Link di-604 modem that won't work either.

The dsl modem is supposed to be "transparent" to the system I think so the E1200 should handle all the routing. I can't even access the E1200 though, the browser just gives me no network connection when I try to access it. I have reset everything, verified the internet works on the dsl modem before switching it to bridged, etc.

I have cleared the cache on the browser and done everything my severely limited understanding allows me to try. The computer I am doing this on is Windows 8.1 Pro.

 

[KingFatty]

Do the modem and router have the same address 192.168.1.1 and conflict when they are connected to each other? Try disconnecting the router from the network, then just connect it directly to a computer. Reboot the computer and router, and then see if you can access the router directly from that one computer.

Or maybe elaborate on what you mean by you can't even access the router? How are things being connected physically?

 

[nOOky]

Isn't the dsl modem not supposed to even be showing an ip when it's in bridged mode, and not accessible through the browser anyway? I have not tried connecting the E1200 directly to the pc without the dsl modem though and going into it that way, I'll try that.

I quit for the night because I was getting frustrated and it was time for a beer. I'll have to try again in the morning as it's at a different location, but thanks for that tip.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I often wonder if I'm the dullest knife in the drawer, when I see a possibility so simple that I might suspect myself dull or sharp in either direction. . . .

I'm not intimately familiar with the configuration of a DSL ISP account. I know that DSL is often limited to <=4 Mbps downstream, and maybe ~256K upstream.

But they both use "Cable/DSL" modems, I think. Or so I've seen the modems advertised.

I've had to go through "complete reconfiguration" at most three or four times in 13 years, but I've come to realize that the ISP advises to connect a PC directly to the modem to perform the golden handshake, which establishes your access to a DHCP connection from their end. In doing this -- keep in mind I'm "a little vague" -- they bind your MAC address (network card, likely) with the account at the ISP's end. Thus, with a router, you may have to use the "Clone MAC address" feature, and eventually, you may have already taken both the PC and the NIC to the county re-cycling center as a e-waste.

If you were to replace a router, you might then have a complete failure to connect anything other than the "intra-net" of your LAN.

Now -- like I said, I only have firsthand experience with Cable-internet and dial-up with proxy-server. My friends back east have DSL. But there was a time after a cable-outage when I chose to replace a Linksys BEF-SR41(?) 10/100 Ethernet wired router with my current E2000 CISCO. That was Late 2009, early 2010. It took me two days and some brief telephone consultations with the ISP to get it straight, and in the end, I pretty much figured it out myself. It was also precisely at that time that we retired the computer which had made the original handshake.

By the time I finally had it sorted out, I was at my wits end --- knowing full well that all our equipment was "working properly."