[malcontent]

I bought a Buffalo Airstation router, yesterday. We have DSL from Verizon and a Westell Wirespeed modem. The internet only works when I'm hooked directly into the modem. Verizon told me the modem uses DHCP and the router is set up to get its ip address that way. For some reason, the router can't communicate with the modem. The set up is all correct, and even copying the MAC address doesn't help.

I searched the forums, but nothing seemed to involve the same problem. I've spent hours on the phone with various techs from both Verizon and Buffalo, and so far no one could solve the problem.

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Hi malcontent,

If there is reset button you can reset to factory setting and see if you can get the router to do its job. The limited experience I've had with Buffalo routers has been favorable as far as ease of set up.

Westell Wirespeed modems have a bridged Ethernet mode that you can use if you want to move the PPPoE client from the modem to the router. That can sometimes eliminate issues of a double NAT and is one less problem to have to deal with when trying to diagnose connectivity issues.

[silverbeard]

Hi malcontent,

If there is reset button you can reset to factory setting and see if you can get the router to do its job. The limited experience I've had with Buffalo routers has been favorable as far as ease of set up.

Westell Wirespeed modems have a bridged Ethernet mode that you can use if you want to move the PPPoE client from the modem to the router. That can sometimes eliminate issues of a double NAT and is one less problem to have to deal with when trying to diagnose connectivity issues.

[malcontent]

Thanks a bunch.

Unfortunately, I've resetting both the modem and the router. Neither worked. The problem does not lie with the router, but the modem (Westell wirespeed B90-210015-04.) I'm computer illiterate, though, and I can't figure out how to access the router's configuaration. I've tried typing 192.168.1.1 and a few other variations of that in to get the Westell menu to pop up. I've been told that I need to set it into bridge mode, but I have no idea how.

Verizon told me not to use PPPoE settings, but if you know a way to get it to work, I'll be willing to try.

Edit: Tried PPPoE settings, no success. I'm getting very frustrated. This is the third router we've bought and I've been trying 3 days straight to get this to work.


So here's the basic situation.
NIC card is set to "Obtain IP Address Automatically."
PPPoE doesn't work, and all information is correct.
Router can't communicate with DHCP servers.
Router works whilst in bridge mode, but only one computer at a time can acces the internet, so that's no good.
My modem happens to be one that can allow 2 computers on at once, one through ethernet, one through USB, don't know if that matters.
Router/PC/Modem have all been restored to factory defaults, etc. several times.
I've released/ renewed the ip adress because I thought it might be a MAC filtering issue.
Doesn't seem I'm able to configure modem.

Edited by malcontent, 21 December 2006 - 04:46 PM.

[silverbeard]

I'm not sure what verizon uses for their network authentication. You will have to set the modem to their network id system so that the modem is able to talk to the network (thus the Internet) the set up the router to your ISP's recommendations.

My ISP uses PPPoE and I'm familiar with setting it up (I work tech support for them) but there isn't that much difference in most subnet set ups. It's usually a matter of resolving addressing conflicts and hardware issues.

[malcontent]

You're right, there shouldn't be much difference. Turns up Verizon does use DHCP in California. And, it also turns up, you can't access the Wirespeed 2100's VC Configuration interface because there isn't one. It's supposed to be functioning in bridge mode already. However, the router can't connect to the DHCP server, because the modem isn't communicating with it. I just spent about 20 minutes on the phone with a tech and he adamantly refused to admit anything could be wrong with the modem.

Turns up I didn't do anything wrong, the equipment is just... well, you know.


One thing was suspicious, though. I had a linksys router about 6 months ago that worked fine. My sister's boyfriend messed with it and completely wiped the settings and we had to call Verizon to get the modem reset. Everything worked fine again. Then, the network went down and my mom told them we didn't have a Verizon router. Suddenly, no router will function with our modem, and they insisted we had to buy a Verizon one.

Is it possible for them to remotely configure their equipment in such a way that it would only work with other equipment from Verizon? Am I just paranoid?

Anyway, thanks for the help. Makes things a little less frustrating.

Edited by malcontent, 21 December 2006 - 06:37 PM.

[silverbeard]

OK Since they assign your address it's matter of making the router do it's job.

When the pc is connected to the modem what is the IP address and default gateway?
When connected to the router what is the IP and default gateway?

Go to Start /control Panel /Network Connections (Classic View). Double click on the Local Area Connection then the "Support" tab. The Information should be there.

Use the routers Default Gateway to surf to the router interface. What I remember about the Buffalo set up is that it was pretty much set everything to automatic and save the settings. It should grab an address from the modem and let you surf. Then it's a matter of setting up the wirelees security.