Need help on configuring spare ACT broadband router for first floor HT setup

[arnprasad]

Hi all,

many thanks in advance as I have been posting lots of queries and you guys have been very helpful.

Continuing with my earlier queries regarding a second HT setup for my kids at first floor - we have too many gadgets that need internet. While some can do with wifi - others do need a wired connection including a receiver, a desktop, a NAS server....etc.

Here is my current setup - On the ground floor I have the primary internet router from Hathway (ZTE brand). From this router I have taken a 50 foot ethernet cable and connected it to a Xiaomi router. It works very well since the Mi router is plug and play. This setup also resolves the issues I had accessing my WD My cloud NAS server (I have a post on this). the only issue with this setup is that the Mi router only has two ethernet slots and I need more than that.

Given that ACT was my previous service provider - I have their netgear router with me. When I replace the Mi router with this one (since it has four ethernet slots) - the networking part of the router works well - which is that computers connected to it talk to each other. however internet is an issue. When I access the browser it automatically takes me to routerlogin.com. Using Admin and password - it takes me to the router setup home page where there is a box called internet and it says that internet is not working. Please let me know why. Do I need to configure something on this router or does ACT restrict their router usage for non ACT purposes?

Here is my setup :

Ground floor - hathway broadband connection via ZTE router (In fact they have given me two boxes..not sure why..maybe a modem and a router??)
First floor - Mi router or Netgear router connected to ground floor ZTE by a network cable. Mi router works flawlessly. Local networking between computers work well on netgear router but says internet not available.
I would prefer netgear on first floor since it has four slots vs two on Mi.

one short cut can be that i connect mi router on first floor to ground floor ZTE and then connect netgear to mi router - but I am anticipating similar problems. If netgear cant work with ZTE...i doubt it will work with Mi. Also I need all my computers and the WD NAS to be connected to the same router - others computers cannot detect WD NAS.

So the final solution I want is

ZTE(ground floor) to Netgear (first floor). WD my cloud ex 2 NAS, ground floor desktop, first floor desktop - connected to Netgear so that both these desktops access my multimedia files on WD. Connecting WD and desktops to ZTE doesnt work as detailed in post below:

Need help with Hathway ZTE router/WD EX 2 NAS/HTPC

Hi.. a bit difficult to explain my predicament..let me know if further clarifications are required. In my ground floor - I have the Western Digital (WD) EX2 My cloud in RAID 1 config (4 TB+4TB where I have saved all my audio and video). . Earlier I had Act broadband. I connected both my...

www.hifivision.com

 

[generalxxxstark]

Do I need to configure something on this router or does ACT restrict their router usage for non ACT purposes?

ACT does actually restrict their router. I got one from then with a new connection but it is severely limited to how we can configure it. Even opening ports was a pain and I had to contact them for anything I wanted to do with it. I immediately switched to a different one. Although this was about 2 years ago.

 

[arnprasad]

thanks ..I do have an older TP link router as well....I tried doing the same with it couple of years back with ACT..let me try again. I just want a secondary internet connection on first floor...you would think it would be so much easier when you have a spare router lying around!!

 

[generalxxxstark]

thanks ..I do have an older TP link router as well....I tried doing the same with it couple of years back with ACT..let me try again. I just want a secondary internet connection on first floor...you would think it would be so much easier when you have a spare router lying around!!

Indeed.. Those stock routers are fine for most of the basic home internet needs. I doubt they even have Gigabit Ethernet ports.

Is a 100 Mbit connection going to be enough for your NAS usage? I too have a plex server running and a 100Mbit bandwidth easily fills up, especially when there is already a lot of traffic running through the network.

 

[arnprasad]

How do i know whether its 100 Mbit or gigabit? let me google and find out. I dont want any gigabits..I just want basic internet connection. My internet connection is 100 mbps only from Hathway. My end goal is very simple:

(a) All my multimedia files are on my WD EX 2 cloud
(b) I got two desktops (ground floor and first floor) and one laptop.
(c) I want to access files on WD using these three computers. It sounds pretty simple but I have struggling big time. Part of it could be I am not that smart....but I have tried various combinations and googled extensively

 

[generalxxxstark]

How do i know whether its 100 Mbit or gigabit? let me google and find out. I dont want any gigabits..I just want basic internet connection. My internet connection is 100 mbps only from Hathway. My end goal is very simple:

(a) All my multimedia files are on my WD EX 2 cloud
(b) I got two desktops (ground floor and first floor) and one laptop.
(c) I want to access files on WD using these three computers. It sounds pretty simple but I have struggling big time. Part of it could be I am not that smart....but I have tried various combinations and googled extensively

I just read your other thread. Is your WD now visible on your ZTE router network?

 

[arnprasad]

No..that is why I got WD also to first floor. Since Mi router only has two slots, I got WD and first floor desktop connected to it. First floor desktop is able to access WD files. The only way I can get ground floor desktop also to access WD is to run one cable from first flloor router to ground floor desktop. Hence I need a third slot on the router that Mi doesnt have. thats why i was trying to replace Mi router with either TP link or Netgear - neither work Thanks for helping me out

 

[superczar]

Hi all,

many thanks in advance as I have been posting lots of queries and you guys have been very helpful.

Continuing with my earlier queries regarding a second HT setup for my kids at first floor - we have too many gadgets that need internet. While some can do with wifi - others do need a wired connection including a receiver, a desktop, a NAS server....etc.

Here is my current setup - On the ground floor I have the primary internet router from Hathway (ZTE brand). From this router I have taken a 50 foot ethernet cable and connected it to a Xiaomi router. It works very well since the Mi router is plug and play. This setup also resolves the issues I had accessing my WD My cloud NAS server (I have a post on this). the only issue with this setup is that the Mi router only has two ethernet slots and I need more than that.

Given that ACT was my previous service provider - I have their netgear router with me. When I replace the Mi router with this one (since it has four ethernet slots) - the networking part of the router works well - which is that computers connected to it talk to each other. however internet is an issue. When I access the browser it automatically takes me to routerlogin.com. Using Admin and password - it takes me to the router setup home page where there is a box called internet and it says that internet is not working. Please let me know why. Do I need to configure something on this router or does ACT restrict their router usage for non ACT purposes?

Here is my setup :

Ground floor - hathway broadband connection via ZTE router (In fact they have given me two boxes..not sure why..maybe a modem and a router??)
First floor - Mi router or Netgear router connected to ground floor ZTE by a network cable. Mi router works flawlessly. Local networking between computers work well on netgear router but says internet not available.
I would prefer netgear on first floor since it has four slots vs two on Mi.

one short cut can be that i connect mi router on first floor to ground floor ZTE and then connect netgear to mi router - but I am anticipating similar problems. If netgear cant work with ZTE...i doubt it will work with Mi. Also I need all my computers and the WD NAS to be connected to the same router - others computers cannot detect WD NAS.

So the final solution I want is

ZTE(ground floor) to Netgear (first floor). WD my cloud ex 2 NAS, ground floor desktop, first floor desktop - connected to Netgear so that both these desktops access my multimedia files on WD. Connecting WD and desktops to ZTE doesnt work as detailed in post below:

Need help with Hathway ZTE router/WD EX 2 NAS/HTPC

Hi.. a bit difficult to explain my predicament..let me know if further clarifications are required. In my ground floor - I have the Western Digital (WD) EX2 My cloud in RAID 1 config (4 TB+4TB where I have saved all my audio and video). . Earlier I had Act broadband. I connected both my...

www.hifivision.com

You need to do two things

1) Disable the DHCP server in any secondary router that you want to repurpose as an access point
2) You probably already know this but the cable coming from the primary router needs to into a LAN port on the secondary

 

[rikhav]

You need to do two things

1) Disable the DHCP server in any secondary router that you want to repurpose as an access point
2) You probably already know this but the cable coming from the primary router needs to into a LAN port on the secondary

Also any disable firewall if enabled by default in the secondary router
And please buy good lan cable
The no name ones are very cheap but they break in few months internally.
And you will keep trying 100 different things to figure out why connection is not working

 

[rikhav]

You need to do two things

1) Disable the DHCP server in any secondary router that you want to repurpose as an access point
2) You probably already know this but the cable coming from the primary router needs to into a LAN port on the secondary

Also any disable firewall if enabled by default in the secondary router
And please buy good lan cable
The no name ones are very cheap but they break in few months internally.
And you will keep trying 100 different things to figure out why connection is not working

 

[generalxxxstark]

No..that is why I got WD also to first floor. Since Mi router only has two slots, I got WD and first floor desktop connected to it. First floor desktop is able to access WD files. The only way I can get ground floor desktop also to access WD is to run one cable from first flloor router to ground floor desktop. Hence I need a third slot on the router that Mi doesnt have. thats why i was trying to replace Mi router with either TP link or Netgear - neither work Thanks for helping me out

Understood.

Basically your WD was set up with your old ACT stock router which is probably on a different subnet of 192.168.1.1. When you move or switch routers you have to update the settings on your WD to work with this new router. If you're new router also happens to use the same subnet as the older one, it'll work, just like your Mi router is. But if it's not, like your ZTE router, you will have issues. Either you log in to your ZTE admin page and see what IP your WD is assigned, or you might have to soft reset your WD mycloud settings.

Secondly, chaining routers is not the best way to configure your NAS, if the NAS is on Router A's network, it won't be visible on Router B's. Ideally, you would want the WD to be visible throughout the entire network, instead of having to run a cable from your ground-floor machine to your first-floor router. I would suggest configuring your secondary router on the first floor as an Access point and have it under the same subnet as the first.

 

[arnprasad]

Not sure if I am romanticizing old times...but I think ten or fifteen years ago...if I had multiple computers on same router at home....I could see all of them under network and i could drag and drop files just like they were another D or E drive. Now it seems due to security, windows has made it very difficult first to identify/reflect all computers on same network and even if u identify, drag and drop files is not that easy. Is this true or is it I dont remember what happened 10-15 years back?

All I want is very simple - in windows explorer I want to see all the other computers in my home under network apart from the WD and I should be able to drag and drop files from one computer to another.

 

[arnprasad]

Understood.

Basically your WD was set up with your old ACT stock router which is probably on a different subnet of 192.168.1.1. When you move or switch routers you have to update the settings on your WD to work with this new router. If you're new router also happens to use the same subnet as the older one, it'll work, just like your Mi router is. But if it's not, like your ZTE router, you will have issues. Either you log in to your ZTE admin page and see what IP your WD is assigned, or you might have to soft reset your WD mycloud settings.

Secondly, chaining routers is not the best way to configure your NAS, if the NAS is on Router A's network, it won't be visible on Router B's. Ideally, you would want the WD to be visible throughout the entire network, instead of having to run a cable from your ground-floor machine to your first-floor router. I would suggest configuring your secondary router on the first floor as an Access point and have it under the same subnet as the first.

Many thanks. Let me read this few times more and maybe show it to some tech friend of mine in case I dont understand. While I dont want to have two routers in my home and plug them together - I dont get wifi to all parts of my first floor. That was the initial reason during my ACT days to have a second router on first floor. But now due to WD issues - it just got more complicated. While the WD may technically be a NAS router - for me its just a dumb drive where I store all my files. I dont use any NAS features like trying to access files on it from outside my house...etc.

 

[arnprasad]

You need to do two things

1) Disable the DHCP server in any secondary router that you want to repurpose as an access point
2) You probably already know this but the cable coming from the primary router needs to into a LAN port on the secondary

Thanks...let me understand the first line better by reading it few more times and may be googling it.

Second point..I am doing it correctly....My Mi router works perfectly...maybe coz its an after market purchase and not tied to any provider. Whatever logic I use for Mi doesnt seem to work on Netgear (coz it may be tied to ACT) and also to TPLink (This too is after market purchase..but may be its not plug and play like Mi)

Let me understand both the above posts and figure out a solution. Thanks again for helping me out!

 

[superczar]

Thanks...let me understand the first line better by reading it few more times and may be googling it.

Second point..I am doing it correctly....My Mi router works perfectly...maybe coz its an after market purchase and not tied to any provider. Whatever logic I use for Mi doesnt seem to work on Netgear (coz it may be tied to ACT) and also to TPLink (This too is after market purchase..but may be its not plug and play like Mi)

Let me understand both the above posts and figure out a solution. Thanks again for helping me out!

I had a Mi router at one point in time.
It runs a fork of openwrt and I think (not sure) the code on it auto detects if it is in AP mode and disables the local dhcp server.

The fundamental idea is this
Most home networks are on a 255.255.255.0 subnet (/24) (this is a setting on the primary router)
what this means is all devices on the LAN expect to be on a IP range that conforms to x.x.x.y where everything with the same x.x.x is expected to be on the LAN and thus visible to all other devices on the same LAN.
Typically this means something like 192.168.1.1 (or 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.2.1) for the router and 192.168.1.2 or 3 or 4 till 254 to be a part of the LAN and anything else as outside the LAN

The primary router will have a DHCP server that will issue a unique IP in the same subnet / range to everything that connects to it and all is well

If in case you have a DHCP server on primary router issuing 192.168.1.x to any device trying to connect while there is another rogue DHCP server elsewhere (say your ACT router) issuing 192.168.0.x to some devices then devices that got say 192.168.0.3 will not talk to a device that got 192.168.1.4

That’s why there can be only 1 DHCP server on the LAN

Not sure if I am romanticizing old times...but I think ten or fifteen years ago...if I had multiple computers on same router at home....I could see all of them under network and i could drag and drop files just like they were another D or E drive. Now it seems due to security, windows has made it very difficult first to identify/reflect all computers on same network and even if u identify, drag and drop files is not that easy. Is this true or is it I dont remember what happened 10-15 years back?

All I want is very simple - in windows explorer I want to see all the other computers in my home under network apart from the WD and I should be able to drag and drop files from one computer to another.

You aren’t romanticizing bygone days ...all of this will happen on a correctly configured network

 

[arnprasad]

Too much for me to understand..will get someone else to read this and translate. Thanks again!

 

[surfatwork]

Connect zte to netgear router with Lan cable as planned.
Plug in a laptop to the netgear with a lan cable. Plug in the wd drive too. Can you see the drive from the laptop?
If yes, then check the laptop's ip address. Let this be A

Now connect the laptop to the primary router (zte). Check the laptop's ip address. Let this be B.
Both A and B will be of the form 192.168.<some digit X>.<some digit Y>
The "some digit X" should be the same for both A and B.

 

[arnprasad]

Hi.. Tried to connect tp link today.. Turns out it is a adsl2 router.. So Lan cable won't go in as input.. What is the way out pls.. Model is TD W8968

Right now my low tech workaround is that at any point of time only one computer is used.. So I keep changing the network cable from first floor desktop to ground floor desktop on the second slot of the router.. First slot being occupied by the WD cable .. Works but many times a day I have keep changing cables

 

[rikhav]

It should be possible just to use router part and not do any configuration for modem..

So basically just use as a router.

How to do I am not too sure as I have never used modem cum router

 

[superczar]

It should be possible just to use router part and not do any configuration for modem..

So basically just use as a router.

How to do I am not too sure as I have never used modem cum router

@rikhav @arnprasad
All you need to do is 2 things as mentioned earlier
1) Ignore the modem port, Use only the LAN ports with the wire from 1st router going into any of the LAN ports and other devices connected to the rest of the LAN ports

2) This is important - you need to go into the settings of the said modem+router and search for a setting called DHCP server.. Once you find it, disable said server