Wireless at home with DirecWay

[SamSpade]

I'm gonna try this again...

A few months back, I got a new wireless router with the purchase of a laptop. Since it was such a b!tch to get the first one working - I decided to wait a while before "upgrading" (the new one is faster than the old one).

Wife is out of town, providing the perfect chance to be without Internet for a few days.

No luck - STILL can't get the damned thing to work.

NOW - my question----

I've been to dozens of sites for a setup - most of them describe a configuration which, in my gut, strikes me as Class A stupid - link the satellite modem to a host, and then connect the router as an access point from the host.

What I had BEFORE - was, link the router as a wireless access point DIRECTLY to the satellite modem - and that's the configuration I'm trying again, but without success, because, truth be told, I managed to get it right last time through sheer LUCK.

If *anyone* has a good idea of how to do this - I'd like to hear it. Of course, if I don't hear it by the time I leave here today, it'll have to wait until next week - since I obviously WON'T HAVE INTERNET if it doesn't work.

 

[MMDad]

I'm gonna try this again...

A few months back, I got a new wireless router with the purchase of a laptop. Since it was such a b!tch to get the first one working - I decided to wait a while before "upgrading" (the new one is faster than the old one).

Wife is out of town, providing the perfect chance to be without Internet for a few days.

No luck - STILL can't get the damned thing to work.

NOW - my question----

I've been to dozens of sites for a setup - most of them describe a configuration which, in my gut, strikes me as Class A stupid - link the satellite modem to a host, and then connect the router as an access point from the host.

What I had BEFORE - was, link the router as a wireless access point DIRECTLY to the satellite modem - and that's the configuration I'm trying again, but without success, because, truth be told, I managed to get it right last time through sheer LUCK.

If *anyone* has a good idea of how to do this - I'd like to hear it. Of course, if I don't hear it by the time I leave here today, it'll have to wait until next week - since I obviously WON'T HAVE INTERNET if it doesn't work.

I had to go from the modem, to the router, and then to my computer via ethernet to do the network setup. Once that was done, I could remove the ethernet and go strictly wireless. It took me all of ten minutes to set up three computers, the router, and the modem.

 

[itsbob]

I've done it with DirecWay.. and did nothing to the Satellite Modem.. but you may have to setup the wireless router, using an ethernet cable to it to activiate it. It will find the internet connection on it's own, after setting it up, unplug the ehternet cable and you're in business.

 

[SamSpade]

Ok, well -- I've tried just about everything I know. The problem I guess I'm facing is this:

Right out of the box, both the router and the satellite modem want to have the same IP address : 192.168.0.1. So, in the past I changed the router's address to 192.168.0.254, just to put it as far away as I could.

But my question seems to be, what should be the Gateway address, the DNS address? Should it be the router - which is between my computer and the satellite modem - or the satellite modem itself? Basically, should it be xxx.xxx.xxx.1, or xxx.xxx.xxx.254? Should I also turn OFF DNS on one of them? SOMETHING isn't working, and I'm guessing it's that, because sometimes, I can actually run stuff like AOL Instant Messenger - but can't run a browser.

 

[Schizo]

are you running DHCP on the router?

 

[SamSpade]

are you running DHCP on the router?

Since nothing is working now - I have no idea. I've turned it off, and on, so many times - couldn't tell you.

Tell you what - where SHOULD it be running?

 

[Schizo]

Since nothing is working now - I have no idea. I've turned it off, and on, so many times - couldn't tell you.

Tell you what - where SHOULD it be running?

It should be running to automically assign IP addresses

http://www.dhcp.org/

 

[SamSpade]

It should be running to automically assign IP addresses

http://www.dhcp.org/

That is not what I asked - I asked, WHERE should it be running?
Also, where should DNS be running?

 

[Schizo]

That is not what I asked - I asked, WHERE should it be running?
Also, where should DNS be running?

You mean as in the modem or the router?

both should have DHCP running.

 

[SamSpade]

You mean as in the modem or the router?

both should have DHCP running.

Both? Why should they both be assigning addresses?

 

[Oz]

Don't ask me why, but I have a few extra grey hairs from upgrading my router about a year ago. When you change your router, you need to let your ISP know this so they can reset your satellite modem. Contact DirecWay for further instructions.

 

[SamSpade]

Don't ask me why, but I have a few extra grey hairs from upgrading my router about a year ago. When you change your router, you need to let your ISP know this so they can reset your satellite modem. Contact DirecWay for further instructions.

I think I'd rather just put the old one back. Talking to DirecWay tech support IS an exercise in getting gray hairs. They put you through a ton of meaningless, pointless tests, barely speak English, and when they've sufficiently wasted your time, they refer you to someone else who tells you they don't advise that configuration unless you buy business version.

In short - USELESS.

 

[Steve]

Maybe I missed it but...what brand of modem and router?

The signal connection order is cable/satellite ---> modem --->router ---->LAN.

Your ISP must have the MAC address of your modem in order for you to receive the signal, or else they won't recognize you as a paying customer.

If your ISP is running DHCP, the IP address will be assigned by your ISP to the router through the modem. The router will pass this IP address to all wireless clients equally. The ISP will only see one IP client, the router; the router will dynamically parse out the bandwidth of this one IP address to all clients. That's why DHCP must be enabled on the router. The modem will only modulate/demodulate the signal, and will be assigned no IP address.

If your ISP does not use DHCP and they have given you a specific IP address, then you will need to assign this IP address to the router manually using the router's setup software. A typical home network router possesses two IP addresses, one for the internal home and one for the external Internet connection. The internal, LAN-IP address is normally set to a default, private number. Linksys routers, for example, use 192.168.1.1 for their internal IP address. D-Link and Netgear routers typically use 192.168.0.1.

Your ISP does not care what these are set to, only you do. But if you were assigned an IP address, your external IP must be set on the router or you'll never connect.

 

[SamSpade]

Maybe I missed it but...what brand of modem and router?

The signal connection order is cable/satellite ---> modem --->router ---->LAN.

Your ISP must have the MAC address of your modem in order for you to receive the signal, or else they won't recognize you as a paying customer.

If your ISP is running DHCP, the IP address will be assigned by your ISP to the router through the modem. The router will pass this IP address to all wireless clients equally. The ISP will only see one IP client, the router; the router will dynamically parse out the bandwidth of this one IP address to all clients. That's why DHCP must be enabled on the router. The modem will only modulate/demodulate the signal, and will be assigned no IP address.

If your ISP does not use DHCP and they have given you a specific IP address, then you will need to assign this IP address to the router manually using the router's setup software. A typical home network router possesses two IP addresses, one for the internal home and one for the external Internet connection. The internal, LAN-IP address is normally set to a default, private number. Linksys routers, for example, use 192.168.1.1 for their internal IP address. D-Link and Netgear routers typically use 192.168.0.1.

Your ISP does not care what these are set to, only you do. But if you were assigned an IP address, your external IP must be set on the router or you'll never connect.

Ok, thanks. It's D-Link. And that's right, it's 192.168.0.1

On the other hand - I do think the satellite "modem" is more than a modem - it just doesn't provide "wireless". Because if you link a PC directly to the "modem" and type 192.168.0.1 into the URL line, you will get a web page designed for configuring the satellite hardware. So it's not just an empty pipe.

Well, I'm out of here for the weekend. Wish me luck. If you see me on here this weekend, it worked. If not -

 

[Steve]

Ok, thanks. It's D-Link. And that's right, it's 192.168.0.1

On the other hand - I do think the satellite "modem" is more than a modem - it just doesn't provide "wireless". Because if you link a PC directly to the "modem" and type 192.168.0.1 into the URL line, you will get a web page designed for configuring the satellite hardware. So it's not just an empty pipe.

Well, I'm out of here for the weekend. Wish me luck. If you see me on here this weekend, it worked. If not -

Good luck, then! I just read the spec sheet for the DW7000 and - assuming you have this version of satellite router/modem - I think I might know the answer to your problem. The following guidance will also apply to the DW6000.

The DW7000 is both a modem and a router, but it does not handle wireless, as you said earlier. So, you're going to have to configure the DW7000 as a relay device to your wireless router. You do this by disabling the DW7000's routing capabilities. The DW7000 will still receive and demodulate the signal from DirectWay and will be assigned an external IP, which will then get passed to the wireless router. The DHCP on the wireless router will handle assigning IPs to the clients.

If the DW7000 and the D-Link router both have internal IP address sets of 192.168.0.1, then you will have to change one of them to avoid IP sharing conflicts. I would change the internal IP address set for the DW7000 to keep things in a relay configuration. Apply the new DW7000 IP as the "external" IP address on the D-Link. This is easily done from either router's management screen.

 

[crabcake]

I had Direcway for about a year and a half, and I never managed to go wireless no matter what I tried/did and who ever looked at it.

Good luck! I'd go with cable ... even if that means you gotta run a 5 mile line to the nearest neighbor who's got it.

 

[Steve]

I had Direcway for about a year and a half, and I never managed to go wireless no matter what I tried/did and who ever looked at it.

Good luck! I'd go with cable ... even if that means you gotta run a 5 mile line to the nearest neighbor who's got it.

Cable or satellite, the signal still comes in; its what you do with it after its demodulated that makes the difference. My cable modem has one output, which goes to a computer or a router. Sam needs to configure the DW7000 to act the same way. Then he should be okay.

 

[crabcake]

Cable or satellite, the signal still comes in; its what you do with it after its demodulated that makes the difference. My cable modem has one output, which goes to a computer or a router. Sam needs to configure the DW7000 to act the same way. Then he should be okay.

Whatever all that means, it never worked for me. I just chalked it up to being some kind of conflict with the signal being "wireless" to begin with.

 

[Steve]

Whatever all that means, it never worked for me. I just chalked it up to being some kind of conflict with the signal being "wireless" to begin with.

They are both wireless, but they're on different frequencies. You can deploy multiple wireless access points on the same network, so long as they don't conflict with each other. This sounds like a problem with the DirecWay modem/router combination, and getting that device to work right. When we fist got Windows XP, GMP Cable couldn't help me set-up the network on the new operating system because they didn't know how. Sounds like he's having the same problem with his support.

 

[crabcake]

Sounds like he's having the same problem with his support.

The words "Support" and "DirecWay" do not belong in the same internet. They were about worthless every time I ever called them.