Disappointed Old Age Pensioner

[Norman]

I have been a Telewest Blueyonder customer for several years and so it made sense that I would use them for my Broadband connection. My O/S is Windows XP Home and my wirless connection is a rather out of date one using Netgear MA101 adapter and ME102 Access Point plugged into my set top box. This set up always has, and still does work fine.

My wife, also a pensioner, said that she would like to learn how to use the internet. So, for christmas, I bought her a laptop with a view to having it share my wireless connection. That is when my problems started.

I purchased a Netgear WGR614 Router and a Belkin Wireless G Notebook Network Card. Although I followed all the instructions I could not get a shared internet connection. So I called Telewest who, after failing to get me a shared connection, told me that the Router was faulty and I should get it replaced. I contacted Netgear who tested the Router and told me it was fine and they then tried various things to get me a shared connection. After some time I was told to contact Telewest again to get the MAC address of the set top box. I won't bore you with all of the passing me back and forth other than to say that it included twenty minutes on Telewest's more technical support line at a cost of £1 per minute.

After all of this which amounted to several days and many hours of frustration, I had to give in. Unfortunately, I have osteoarthritis of the spine, heart failure, and an exceedingly painful hernia, and all of the scrambling about trying to set up this shared connection had taken a huge toll on me.

The result?

My wife's laptop is back in its box still unused nearly three months after I bought it for her and I am now not in any condition to do anything about it. Hopefully, if I can get my hernia repaired (waiting on hospital appointment), then I will be free of the pain and will attempt once more to solve this shared connection problem. Meanwhile, having just found this forum, I felt that at least I could let off a little steam that has been simmering inside of me for the last few weeks.

Norman

[MovedGoalPosts]

Moved to Networking

---------- Post added at 11:29 ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 ----------

to Cable Forum

There are a couple of things you can try (you may have already done so)

When you take your old router off the network, and replace it with the new router, make sure you have powered off and then back on again the Set Top Box (STB).

It can be easier to configure the router first using a wired connection between it and a computer (or laptop). Then later enable the wireless connection.

There shouldn't be a need to clone the MAC address of anything into the router. The router should be seen by the sSTB, once it has been rebooted. I use oroadband via STB but on ntl rather than Telewest. Any device connected for the first time has to be registered with the ntl servers, so I suspect you will need to register the router with telewest. This is done online, rather than over the phone and should simply be a matter of entering your telewest user ID and password onto a screen.

To confirm the wiring layout should be:
Set Top Box <> wired <> Router (WAN port)
router port one <> wired <> computer ethernet port - at least for setup porposes
router <> wireless <> computers / laptops (once setup of router is complete)
make sure for the wired setup that your computer has everything set to autodetect in network settings and internet explorer.

[Norman]

Hi Rob C,

I'm afraid that Telewest and Netgear had me going through everything that you have suggested. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to help and now, several weeks after giving up, I cannot really remember the exact details of the various messages that Netgear were able to pull up during a lengthy direct connection.

Perhaps, when I am free from pain, I will try again with better luck.

Thanks for replying to my blast from the past. At least I feel better for getting it off my chest and, if I do try again, I at least know about this forum now and can come here for advice.

Norman

[MovedGoalPosts]

Getting network connections up and running either goes swimmingly, or cauyses all sorts of hassle. Unfortunately the cable cos run away the moment they hear the word "router", simpl 'cos there are so many variants.

With persistance we can usually get it going.