Thanks David, I think there might be something up with the router, or with my install of DD-WRT. I chose DD-WRT over Tomato just because the latter seems to have limited documentation, and the former seemed easier.
I also couldn't imagine how AC would make the router mis-identify itself, but I thought maybe it was mis-identifying the router (maybe saying "I know this MAC ID, it belongs to 'Andrew1234'"). That problem seems to have gone away, and I can't find Andrew1234 in any screen on the router, but last night I connected to it for the first time in a couple of weeks and got a dreaded 169.* address. Power cycled the router and all was fine (198.2.x.x etc.). Which again makes me wonder about my firmware install and/or the router itself. To your other suggestions, unfortunately I can't really reconfigure the Bell gateway since if I'm not here and Bell needs to troubleshoot, it has to be as delivered. Also it's part of a Fibe TV (=AT&T U-verse TV) setup, so messing with the gateway is risky (e.g. DVR wouldn't play recorded videos when offline, which really surprised me as a long-time TiVo customer). Isn't an Access Point typically wired to the router and then has wireless clients? Or is there a different kind? I have 3 wired-only clients (TV receiver, VoIP ATA, networked printer) at the distant location and don't have much flexibility on where the gateway is located. Since I can't run a cable from gateway to the distant location, it seemed a wireless bridge (wireless for the hop to the distant location, then wired clients off it) was the way to go. I would be happy with having wireless clients at the distant location, but (a) I read somewhere that it would reduce the available bandwidth for the bridge part, and (b) typically wireless clients can see the base gateway. I'm open to setting up a repeater but I thought that meant a cabled connection from gateway to remote router, which I can't do. SmallNetBuilder has some interesting articles but I'm finding it somewhat intimidating (haven't found any diagrams showing "what this looks like", which would help a lot). Thanks again! - - Andrew mailto:[email protected] Thursday, March 28, 2013, 4:39:46 PM, you wrote: > I don't see how Access Connections can cause your router to > reidentify under its old name. I have an E2000 flashed to Tomato, > and there is no vestige of its old identity remaining. > Can you put their Gateway into bridge mode, and then use your E2000 > as the router? That way your E2000 is doing all of the address > assignments. If you really need the Gateway to be assigning > addresses (for example, you have other devices that will continue to > access the net from that device) then you probably want to make your > E2000 an access point, not a bridge. There are some nice articles > with useful howtos at smallnetbuilder.com > For your situation you might want to set up the E2000 as a repeater > instead. > David > -------------------------------------------------- > From: "Andrew Webber" <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 12:44 PM > To: "ThinkPad List" <[email protected]> > Subject: [Thinkpad] Cisco E2000 as bridge (problems) > Hi, I bought a Cisco E2000 router a while back, based on > recommendations here. It's worked like a champ. Bell insisted we use > their Gateway for Fibe TV. The Gateway ended up in a suboptimal > location and I'm looking at running 3 long ethernet cables (and I'm > not even sure it's practical to do that). So now I'm trying to convert > the E2000 to a Wireless Bridge. > Yesterday I installed DD-WRT with relatively few problems, and then > configured it as a Wireless Bridge with value 192.168.2.6 (Bell > delivers their stuff with 192.168.2.x). Testing last night, I had > internet access on my X220 (wireless turned off). A wired-only TiVo > also worked, and further we were able to watch an hour of recorded TV > using a Bell PVR (DVR) hanging off the E2000. I was thrilled. > This morning, it wasn't working nearly as well. I'm asking here > because (a) I wondered if Access Connections or something was > interfering, and (b) you guys know a lot. :) > A couple of things are happening. One is that when I took the X220 out > of standby, and sometimes when I unplug and replug the cable, it > reports "Identifying Network" fora long time and then times out. > If I power cycle the E2000, it almost always comes up as "Andrew1234" > (its old name) and 192.168.1.1. That usually clears if I unplug and > replug the cable, then I get the exected "BELL000" type value. > I deleted from Access Connections all profiles related to this > router (both wireless and wired). Not sure that made any difference. > Through all this, if I turn on wireless, I can connect directly to the > Bell Gateway in the other room. So I know the Bell connection is up > and connected to the internet. > A couple of times, Windows 7 reported both the Unidentified Network > _and_ BELL000, the former on wired and the latter on wireless. I have > the WiFi radio turned off but I guess it's turning on automatically > when the wired connection times out. > Is there anything I can do? I can't call it "working" and suitable for > the VoIP ATA if we have to keep power cycling and unplugging cables. > Thanks! > - - > Andrew mailto:[email protected] > _______________________________________________ > Thinkpad mailing list > [email protected] > http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad > _______________________________________________ Thinkpad mailing list [email protected] http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
