Home networking question...

[athithi]

I am having difficulty getting machines on different networks talk to each other. This is my configuration:

1. I have a cable modem
2. I have a Linksys Router that is hooked up to the cable modem (for Vonage service, primarily).
3. I have 2 D-Link routers hooked up to the Linksys.
4. My laptop connects to one D-Link router (DI-713p) and my desktop connects to the other D-Link router (DI-624).
5. I am able to access the internet just fine from my laptop and desktop individually.

I want to be able to connect from my laptop to my desktop to share files but am not able to do so. I can ping from my laptop to the DI-624 WAN IP, but am not able to go further to my desktop behind that DI-624. On the other hand, from my desktop, I am not even able to ping the DI-713p WAN IP. Both D-Links use static WAN IPs.

Linksys:
WAN IP - Dynamic from cable modem
LAN IP - 192.168.15.1

DI-713p:
WAN IP - 192.168.15.100
LAN IP - 192.168.0.1
Laptop IP - 192.168.0.100

DI-624:
WAN IP - 192.168.15.101
LAN IP - 192.168.1.1
Desktop IP - 192.168.1.100

Subnet Mask is 255.255.255.0 throughout.

Routing configuration on Linksys:

Route to DI-624:
Destination LAN IP: 192.168.1.0
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.15.101 (WAN IP of DI-624)

Route to DI-713p:
Destination LAN IP: 192.168.0.0
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.15.100 (WAN IP of DI-713p)

tracert from desktop (on DI-624):

- 192.168.1.1 (LAN IP of DI-624)
- 192.168.15.1 (LAN IP of Linksys)
- Request timed out.

tracert from laptop (on DI-713p):

- 192.168.0.1 (LAN IP of DI-713p)
- 192.168.15.1 (LAN IP of Linksys)
- 192.168.15.101 (WAN IP of DI-624)
- Request timed out.

Could somebody please tell me what I am doing wrong and what I need to do differently? TIA!

EDIT: I just ran a tracert to the WAN IP of the DI-713p from the desktop (connected to the DI-624) and it got there in 2 hops. But when I pinged the WAN IP of the DI-624 from the laptop (connected to the DI-713p) it took 3 hops. The 2nd and 3rd hop were the same - to the WAN IP of the DI-624 😕

 

[RebateMonger]

Is there a reason why you are using three routers?

You can obtain a nicely functional network by:
Connect a D-Link Router to the Cable Modem
Hook your Vonage Router to one of the D-Link's switch ports (LAN)
Hook all your PCs to the remaining 3 switch ports (LAN) on the D-Link. If you need additional ports (for more computers), attach a cheap switch to the D-Link.

With this arrangement, all the PCs can talk to each other and the the Internet. The Vonage phone will work fine. (This is how I have my Vonage modem/router hooked up).

It takes a couple of minutes to set this up. It's all automatically handled by the routers and requires no configuration at all.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Is there a reason why you are using three routers?

You can obtain a nicely functional network by:
Connect a D-Link Router to the Cable Modem
Hook your Vonage Router to one of the D-Link's switch ports (LAN)
Hook all your PCs to the remaining 3 switch ports (LAN) on the D-Link. If you need additional ports (for more computers), attach a cheap switch to the D-Link.

With this arrangement, all the PCs can talk to each other and the the Internet. The Vonage phone will work fine. (This is how I have my Vonage modem/router hooked up).

It takes a couple of minutes to set this up. It's all automatically handled by the routers and requires no configuration at all.

What this guy says it right on spot. We have our configuration exactly like this as well.

 

[sonoma1993]

Originally posted by: jlbenedict

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Is there a reason why you are using three routers?

You can obtain a nicely functional network by:
Connect a D-Link Router to the Cable Modem
Hook your Vonage Router to one of the D-Link's switch ports (LAN)
Hook all your PCs to the remaining 3 switch ports (LAN) on the D-Link. If you need additional ports (for more computers), attach a cheap switch to the D-Link.

With this arrangement, all the PCs can talk to each other and the the Internet. The Vonage phone will work fine. (This is how I have my Vonage modem/router hooked up).

It takes a couple of minutes to set this up. It's all automatically handled by the routers and requires no configuration at all.

What this guy says it right on spot. We have our configuration exactly like this as well.

same here, I have my linksys wireless router wrt54g connected to my cable modem, then my linksys voip router for vonage connect to my wrt54g router.

 

[athithi]

Thanks for the responses. I was out of town and just saw this. I have some issues with the DI-713p - the LAN ports connect only at 10Mbps (I believe this is a common issue with the DI-713p that occurs over time). That's why I bought the DI-624. But I am unable to connect wirelessly to the DI-624 unless the laptop is on the same floor as the router 🙁 Maybe its a problem with my 2.4Ghz phones, I don't know. So, I tried to be cute and use both routers - the DI-713p downstairs for good wireless connectivity and the DI-624 upstairs so my desktop can connect at 100Mbps. That way when I want to transfer large files, I hook up my laptop to the upstairs router (which is supposed to do 54Mbps x 2 but is never nearly as fast as using Cat 5e). Part of the reason I was trying to configure static routing was so I could learn a little 🙂 These routers are fairly old and I suppose I could fix the problem by getting rid of them and buying whatever wireless router is the latest and greatest on the market. But I am just curious to see if I can fix the problem with these routers. I guess I'll take another look at the setup you guys suggested, though I am fairly certain the DI-713p still allows Cat 5 connections only at 10Mbps.