Newb headaches over home network

gdmd

Junior Member
Nov 21, 2015
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Hello,

Brand new to this forum. I do some indie software so not computer illiterate but I don't know much about networks. Going nuts and hoping someone can tell me where I'm making my mistake in the following:

Moved into a new place 6 months ago. On DSL ISP we were in last home. No phone jack except in the kitchen and master bedroom, even though we use all connections in the family room. Wasn't getting enough signal in the living room from the kitchen (not far at all, but a couple walls i the way), especially for the ChromeCast to work (drops connection constantly). Renting so didn't have a good way to run cat5 (or phone for that matter) so I bought some Belkin powerline adapters and got an older netgear router from a friend. So trying to get modem/router in the kitchen to send network over the powerlines (LAN port to LAN port) and have second router in family room broadcast it. None of this is ideal as the modem/router, second router and powerline adapters are old, but I don't have a bunch of money to throw at this, ie. to get a new router an just see if that fixes it.

I feel like I've been able to get it to work for moments at a time, but now the best I can get is an internet-less connection from the second router. I am willing to bet this is an issue of me not completely understanding how to configure all the different IPs, gateways, etc properly.

What I've come up with (not doing the trick):

ADSL
PPPoE

Zyxel Q1000Z (MASTER)
• Network Name: *****
• Security Type: WPA-WPA2 Personal
• Security Key/Passphrase: *********
• Channel: 11
• 802.11 Mode: b or g or n
• DHCP Server: Enable
• Modem IP Address: 192.168.1.2 (netgear really wanted to be 1.1)
• Beginning DHCP Address: 192.168.1.100
• Ending DHCP Address: 192.168.1.254
• Subnetmask: 255.255.255.0
• Speedtest.net
o CAT5: 46mbps down
o wireless: 33mbps down

Netgear WGR614v7 (SLAVE)
• Wireless Settings
o Name (SSID): *****2
o Channel: 1
o Mode: g and b
o Security: WPA2-PSK [AES]
o Passphrase: *********
• WAN Setup
o Connect Automatically, As Required: enabled
o Disable SPI Firewall: enabled
o NAT Filtering: open (security issue or fine b/c not connection to internet?)
 Disable SIP ALG: yes
• Use Router as DHCP Server: disabled
• LAN TCP/IP Setup
o IP Adrdress: 198.162.1.1
o IP Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
o RIP Direction: none
o RIP Version: disabled
• UPnP: off
• Speedtest.net
o CAT5 only between routers
 CAT5: 46.94mbps down
 wireless: 19.13mbps down
o CAT5 and Belkin powerline adapters between routers
 CAT5: 20.61mbps down
 wireless: 9.62mbps down (17.45 after switching cables)


Any help is immensely appreciated! (BTW, I can live with the 10 mbps at the end of the line if the connection is strong).
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
94,655
14,928
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The netgear is supposed to be in AP/bridge mode, not router mode.
 

gdmd

Junior Member
Nov 21, 2015
4
0
0
Well dang. Doesn't look like my firmware supports that mode nor the hardware support the aftermarket dd-wrt firmware. I suppose that means I'm out of luck?
 

gdmd

Junior Member
Nov 21, 2015
4
0
0
I was hoping that disabling DHCP and manipulating the IP settings would be the equivalent of AP mode.
 

gdmd

Junior Member
Nov 21, 2015
4
0
0
Thanks guys for the help!

I have made a breakthrough, but I'm not out of the woods yet. Apparently it's my powerline adapters that are messing me up. When I am using the powerline adapters I am getting an internet connection via the slave router on a Windows 8 pc, but my android phones and a newer Windows 8 pc are not. The phones are getting hung up on "Obtaining an IP address" and eventually report "AP currently not in use. Internet connection slow."
view
But when I use a crossover cable directly between the routers I can connect with all devices. Unfortunately I can't run ethernet to where I need the second router.

Any ideas? Thanks again for all the help thus far!

[edit] I forgot to mention that I have tried the crossover cable on both sides of the powerline adapters. I didn't know about these cables at all before reading the article posted by JackMDS and it mentioned them. I was kind of wondering if my powerline adapters may be switching and cancelling out the crossover, but even then, why would I be getting internet through the second router with the adapters on one of my computers still?
 
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