[TelstraClear] DHCP setting question

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louisgoodier

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#364784 7-Aug-2010 18:55

Ah, skimmed over the cable part !! Sorry !

Mac address part still stands :P

Rickles

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#364786 7-Aug-2010 19:00

Thanks Louis, nice explanation on this matter and answers my original question.

I have to put 'something' in the router settings because it won't save the other IP and DNS settings unless a MAC is stipulated (a NetGear WGR614).

In your opinion, does it make any difference which MAC (router or PC) is used since it is apparent that TelstraClear don't use MAC authentication?

I have MTU set at 1500 which seems to be fine for my ethernet and wifi connected computers ... no packets lost when running a couple of tests.

Cheers,

R.

louisgoodier

27 posts

Geek

#364791 7-Aug-2010 19:09

@Rickles

MTU generally doesn't matter until you hit secure websites. Https packets don't like being fragmented, any other traffic will be fragmented to whatever size the medium/harware can handle. The IP protocol deals with this, and TCP will ensure delivery. Hence TCP/IP stability.

In terms of MAC address, my suggestion would be using the one on the router. Using your computers MAC as a clone may confuse how the network functions and just isn't necessary.

Performance shouldn't be impaired either way as the router will always strip the header containing the MAC address and re-write it with its own MAC for internal traffic and the clone for external. It just requires the router to be a little smarter with incoming traffic because the MAC address in the packet isn't its own.

Rickles

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#364793 7-Aug-2010 19:20

Louis,

Thank you, comments are appreciated.

R.

LennonNZ

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#364796 7-Aug-2010 19:33

louisgoodier: @Rickles

MTU generally doesn't matter until you hit secure websites. Https packets don't like being fragmented, any other traffic will be fragmented to whatever size the medium/harware can handle. The IP protocol deals with this, and TCP will ensure delivery. Hence TCP/IP stability.

Urghh. Argghh..Umm... please do a little more reading please. Your statement was quite wrong.

louisgoodier

27 posts

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#364797 7-Aug-2010 19:35

Please correct me - baring in mind it was very general.

HP

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louisgoodier

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#364799 7-Aug-2010 19:40

The larger the packet - the less overhead hence more efficient. However most of the technology in New Zealand cannot carry a MTU of 1500 just ping your routers default gateway with:

Ping [GATEWAY] -f -l 1500

Generally with an increased MTU value there is a decreased stability, particularly with secure connections.

LennonNZ

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#364802 7-Aug-2010 19:51

ARGGHH.. "Generally with an increased MTU value there is a decreased stability, particularly with secure connections."

What are they teaching people these days??? please louisgoodier.. your Statements would make most people cringe who know about this kind of stuff.

louisgoodier

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#364803 7-Aug-2010 19:54

Correct me then.

LennonNZ

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#364811 7-Aug-2010 20:10

Have a read of this...

http://www.znep.com/~marcs/mtu/

It can effect any kind of traffic not just HTTPS traffic but as banks try and make everything secure they sometimes block ALL ICMP and break stuff for themselves.

louisgoodier

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#364814 7-Aug-2010 20:23

Granted - It affects all traffic, but this is mostly noticed in secure connections that have ICMP blocked at the firewall so any device behind the firewall gets no notification of the packet being too large.

I'll admit networking is my weakest point in computing, simply because I'm a programmer and haven't ever needed to dive too deep. However, most people notice an MTU value being too high whilst trying to access https pages such as hotmail, gmail, bank sites, etc. This is what I was referring to as a "decreased stability".

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