Belkin Wireless Router + NTL STB = no joy

[goodstuff]

Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m helping a friend to get his NTL broadband (via a Set Top Box) to go through a Belkin wireless router to give him wireless internet in his house. And Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m am not having any joy.



He bought the Belkin before he got NTL and therefore the router is a bit over the top for what he needs. Itâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s called F5D7632-4 and apart from sporting the usual 4-port wired & 8012.11b and g-support it also contains an ADSL-modem.



Since the feed from the STB is in the form of an Ethernet-cable Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve deducted that the cable-modem is integral to the STB and therefore Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve tried to hook it straight to one of the four Ethernet-ports on the router.



By the way, I started by setting this up by hooking the Ethernet, via the USB-converter, straight to the computer and registered on the NTL homepage. So I know the internet is working.



So, back to what Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve tried. After having hooked up the Ethernet-cable from the STB to the router I switched the router on and got the usual green lights for power, wireless and the port into which the cable was going. So far so good.

Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve installed a USB-thingy to give the computer wireless access and managed to connect to the router (the usual 192.168.2.1-stuff). But I get no internet-connection.



In the setup of the router thereââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s some text on the status of the internet-connection and that just stays on †œNOT CONNECTEDââ‚ ¬ÂÂÂÂ� despite my attempts at connecting. When running the Wizard this gives me various options of whether itââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s PPPoE, PPPoA, Static IP, etc. Then thereââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s the username, password bit and whether Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m on a DHCP or manual IP/ Gateway, etc. All the usual stuff. But nothing works. Itââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s still not connecting.



Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve read some threads saying that I have to clone the MAC-address of the registered computer (or was it the STBs modem?) but I canââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t for my life find the option in the setup for the router (and, yes, Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve got the latest firmware version) so Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m assuming it canââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t be done on this specific model.



NTL support wonââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t give me any advice, and why should they †“ itââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s not their piece of kit, and Belkin claims I have to use a router with a cable model. But what really bugs me is the fact that the modem is in the STB so surely itââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s only a case of channelling my already existing connection to the internet from the STB to the router to make it wireless? Surely a router with a built-in Cable-modem wonââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t make a difference? I mean, Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m bypassing the ADSL-modem by hooking straight into the 4-port Ethernet part of the router, arenââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t I?



I really need to hear from someone whoââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s tried this with similar kit and get some form of comfort that Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m doing this the right way before asking my friend to chuck his new router and buy another oneââ‚Âà ‚¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¦ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢à ƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…¡Ã‚¬Ã‚¦





/g

[Paul K]

If it was designed for ADSL then the odds are it won't work. You sound like you have plugged the STB into a LAN port and not a WAN port which means it won't work that way either.
Your mate needs to get the correct model of wireless router I'm afraid.

[Scopeuk]

those 4 ethernet ports act as a switch/hub and wont route the conenctions of you your friend has a adsl router and he needs a cabl/dsl router which has an ethernet wan socket.
you beat me too it paul

[goodstuff]

Talk about getting quick responses!

I spoke to Belkin this morning (only time of the day they pick up the phone) and they said the same thing; my mate needs a router without the modem.

But what about the threads I've read on cloning the MAC-address etc? IS this still required?

'Cause I don't want to get him to scrap one piece of kit for another just to find it's still not working...

[Paul K]

Your mate needs a wireless router like this one
http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...?ProductID=502
which is designed to work with cable broadband and not ADSL.
A quick read here will help clarify things
http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...?CategoryID=65

[Scopeuk]

mac address cloning isent needed if your using a cable modem and is usefull on stb but not essential

[Paul K]

Apart from if the router won't register against your account for some reason and then cloning the mac of your current working NIC or interface device into the router is a quick easy way of getting it all working properly again

[King Of Fools]

He needs a F5D7230uk4:
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...%2Etworking%2F

[Paul K]

Originally Posted by King Of Fools

He needs a F5D7230uk4:
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...%2Etworking%2F

Which would be the router linked to in my post above

[dunno]

thanks people this has actually helped me with a post i made earlier any way i think i am gonna buy http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Sho...p?ProductID=502 what i wanna know is do i have to a belkin usb adapter or will any one do ?

[handyman]

Any one should do, they are interoperable.

BTW belkin are good but poorer signal strength.
__________________

try a linksys wrt54g (i think thats the model) much better range although many people here report having to upgrade the firmware (not too hard) for improved perfomance.

linksys = owned by cisco

cisco = powers most of the internet

[dunno]

which would you recommend then handyman ?