Making Cablecom-type cable modems Wireless?

Tech, TV, Mobile, Internet and Geek Corner
1
I want to make a cable modem accessable via Wireless by connecting it to a Wireless router, in this case a Zyxel 660HW, which is an ADSL modem/router/Wireless setup. I had the impression this should be possible but no luck yet.

In my example, the modem is from Net2000 but perhaps this scenario applies to Cablecom users also, as they provide a similar cable modem.

I have connected the Zyxel 660HW-61 wireless router with a crossover cable to the cable modem. The cable modem connects to the internet via the TV/radio socket. Now, the Zyxel works fine whenI connect multiple computers via a network cable to it, but as soon as I try the wireless, it does not give an ip address to the computer with the wireless.

I have set the WAN to bridging, but assume this is useless anyway, as I am using the ADSL wireless modem-router to act as a router only. I mean I am not using the ADSL Wan port but a cable modem like Cablecoms...

I have set DHCP to none, so I am not using the Zyxel to give it a static ip address, but still no luck. Firewall-NAT is off for now, and I tried WEP and WPA encryption just in case one might make a difference.

I have a feeling the problem might lie with the Cable modem, a Thompson THG520, because when I replace it with a Cablecom modem, the wireless access through the Zyxel is assigned a proper ip address. (I cannot use the cablecom modem as it is not accepted on the net2000 network).

any ideas? Does this sound like the cablemodem or the Zyxel wireless router is the problem?

Edit: I found the ip address of the Thompson modem but the bastards have blocked the advanced page, there is nothing I can configure! Could this mean the provider blocks people on purpose from having their own wireless? Does this mean I am stuck with network cables for a year, as a wireless access point might have the same problem? Man, that would not be good.

2
I don't think it is anything to do with Cablecom, I have wireless set up withour difficutly by plugging the LAN cable from the modem into a wireless router. I rekon the problem is with your Router, if you had it from an old connection then the supplier probably has the firmware blocked to not work with a different provider. You may have to bite the bullet and by a new wireless router, but they don't exactly break the bank these days.

3
You shouldn't really make the setup in this way. It sounds to me as the way your setup is working is the same as if you just plugged a little hub into your cablemodem. Cablecom would then see multiple PCs at your address and assign IP addresses directly to them. This has two disadvantages - there is a limit on the number of IP addresses they'll give you, and your machines will lose the natural protection they receive from being behind NAT (Network Address Translation) which normally happens if they are connected via a router.

The ADSL port on your existing router is the WAN (internet) port, and this is what should really be plugged into the cablemodem. However, we both know that isn't going to happen . The bottom line is you need a router that has a standard ethernet port as its internet port, and then you can plug this directly into the cablemodem.

The good news is there are loads of choices, and they are all very cheap. Most should be under 100 francs. I use one from Linksys.

4
Mark you are right, they assign me one IP address only, so I can only hook up one wireless, or multiple networked pc's if I add a switch in between, but not wireless and networked at the same time that does not work.

So if all pc/macs are networked, I can make them all access internet, but as soon as I use the wireless, I can only make one wireless connected computer work, nothing else.

If anyone ends up stuck with the same thompson, and cannot get any wireless to work, unplug the thompson for a few minutes as it caches the mac address of the wireless router.

Oh well, it means I am on the lookout again. Shame because I liked the Zyxel.

5
Hi,

Im in the middle of this little problem!

I had similar setup in the UK last year with a wireless modem and a router and a hub.. all worked quite nicely on the old ADSL.

Then I got fed up with with so many boxes and plunged for a new hub / adsl router / wlan box

Linksys something or other... works fabulously.... of course moving into a flat in Switerland and being an old skinflint I wasnt going to buy ANOTHER wlan router from CableCom..

So I plug my laptop into the Linksys router via a cable and the WLAN router goes via the CableCom box very nicely...

but switching on the WLAN I get an IP address from the LinkSys box, from the DHCP server - but the router cant talk to the internet traffic via the WLAN method.

Seems the little hub works fine but not via WLAN.. what did you do on yout Linksys (if anything) to connect?

6
Knowing what the "something or other" is would help a lot with helping you here.

But assuming that it is something similar to the WAG200G, I think that you are probably going to need a new router. This is the problem when you combine things into a single box, they then become specialized to a particular function. The convenience factor is definitely good, until you move to another country, or provider even, that is incompatible.

It is as if the WLAN and the ethernet ports are treated as seperate networks. The router will only pass requests from one network to the other if it knows that the request is supposed to go that way. Otherwise all requests go to the DSL port, which is not now connected in your case.

So, the reason that the WLAN isn't working is that the router won't send requests from the WLAN through to the ethernet hub, which your modem is plugged into.

The reason that it does work when both are plugged into the ethernet hub (and this is guesswork without having access to the internal architecture of the router) is that the request doesn't need to go as far as the router as the hub is very primitive and just spams all the ports with the requests. So all the requests get to the modem without the router being involved.

If that is too technical, or I haven't explained it very well. Bottom line is that you can't do what you are trying to do with a wireless router that has a modem built into it. You need a router with a port for the modem, rather than the DSL port that yours currently has.

I hope that this helps, even if it wasn't what you wanted to hear.

7
Sorry about the non-tech post:

The Linksys is a WAG54GS 1.1

Ive given up with trying to configure it using its internal routing... I found a post on a german site that seemed to hint about a solution, but only for the wired part.

Ive ordered the CableCom Siemens WLAN router... its configured for the modem out of the box... serves me right I should have ordered it months ago and saved myself a few evenings!

Anybody want to make an offer for a the LS router? Its going to be months before I go anywhere near the UK to drop it off with a needy pal/rely...

Tony.

8
Cool, the 54 is just a fancy version of the 200. But it looks like you've go it sorted now.

Hey, if we made this technology stuff easy then how would we make money out of it.