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Home network issue... need help...

W

wjogert

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 11, 2007
Messages
3,108
OK, I tried to search for the answer myself. I have read so many threads and online articles that my head is spinning. I guess it would help if I wasn't virtually clueless about networking.

Current setup: Excede Internet ViaSat modem --> Netgear WGR614v6 wireless router --> Hawking Tech 5-port switch (for my tech bench), OOMA telo modem, 1 hard line to HTPC.
All the equipment is in the basement, in my "shop". The hard line goes to 1st floor living room. Everything else in house is wireless.
Network works adequately, although the wireless signal is VERY weak on the 2nd floor.

I want to move the wireless router upstairs. To do this, I wired the ViaSat modem --> switch --> hard line upstairs to the wireless router --> hardline from router to HTPC. The OOMA modem is still in the basement, connected to the switch.

My issue is that the router just WILL NOT connect to the internet through the switch. I tried substituting the switch with an old hub, and still wont work. I tried swapping the Netgear router with a Cisco LinkSys router, still no good.

The closest I have come to finding an answer online is that I would need 2 separate IP's from internet provider? If this is so, I have no idea why, or how to implement, lol.

I think another option would be to ditch the wireless router, keep hub in basement to run bench and OOMA, move the switch upstairs at end of hard line and connect to HTPC and a wireless access. But then I need to buy an access point.

Any advice or suggestions to make this work is appreciated.
 
SUMMARY IS:
--internet modem, OOMA voip, and tech bench all in basement... need 5 ports min.
--1 hard line from basement to upstairs.
--need wireless plus min. of 2 ports, upstairs.
 
ISP->pfSense->switch (throw your hub away unless you actually need port mirror on the cheap)->LAN port of Netgear, disable DHCP on Netgear.
Connect everything else to the switch as well.
 
@ RocketTech:

What am I doing with pfSense? Am I flashing it into the router? Or just installing it into the PC's on the network?

I didn't think to disable DHCP on the routers. Thanks!

And, I'm connecting the switch to a LAN port of the router, NOT the WAN (internet port)?
 
Doesn't the router wan connection need to be connected to the cable modem? I'm pretty sure that is the normal setup, so ensure you have your connections setup this way.
 
Sounds like the problem is the how the router is put in the chain of things.

When it worked you had ViaSAT to Netgear WAN port, then Netgear LAN side to everything else(via the switch).

The setup you described after the move has ViaSAT to everything else via the switch, to Netgear WAN port, then Netgear LAN port to HTPC.

The problem is that the WAN and LAN sides of the netgear are different IP subnets. The WAN side is configured to hook directly to the ViaSAT modem and get an IP from the provider, and then everything else is expecting to hook to the LAN side and get an IP (on a different subnet) from the NetGear. I bet if you wire the hardline to the netgear upstairs into the ViaSAT and then into the WAN side of the Netgear it will start working and serving internet to wireless clients again.

To make your setup work you would need to reconfigure both the ViaSAT modem and the Netgear. You would make ViaSAT be the DHCP server and router(if this is even possible), and make Netgear be just a dumb wireless AP. OR wire it something like this:

ViaSAT---hardline to NetGear WAN port----NetGear LAN port to hardline back down to Switch---everything else. The HTPC can plug into another LAN port on the netgear, along with anything else you have right there. You just need to find a way to get up to the router and HTPC and wire to get back down again. You can do this on one CAT5 cable on the blue/brown pairs if that is all you've got, or pull another CAT5 up the same path.
 
My suggestion was to install pfSense on a spare computer (can be quite old) and use that as a router, allowing the netgear to be re-deployed as an AP. The Netgear could also be used as a switch for nearby equipment.
Google pfSense and don't be surprised if you think I'm a genius.
 
You'll want the router handling the WAN traffic. Best bet is to either pick up a second AP or Router put into AP mode or follow RocketTech's advise and roll a pfSense box which would act as your new WAN router.
 
Hmmmm... OK. RocketTech may have just the right solution because I have been planning to build a media server, which would reside in the basement also. So rather than just plugging into the network, it would become my network server?

So, I just need to accelerate my build of the media server and install the pfSense??... :))

That would be perfect.
 
pfSense would need it's own box- you would not install it on onther OS, unless you did it in a VM. That may or may not be a good idea.
 
ahh, ok. So the PC runs pfSense as an OS.

I assume the PC will need two LAN ports also?
 
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