[TelstraClear] TC Cable, Belkin N Wireless router and static IP's

Forums › Vodafone New Zealand › [TelstraClear] TC Cable, Belkin N Wireless router and static IP's - solution

hutchwilco

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Topic # 87485 29-Jul-2011 19:49

This story/problem and solution description is here for other's benefit as the solution made little sense, but worked.

Just moved house and got a TelstraClear cable broadband connection and got problems with the router I had.
(F5D8233-4v3(01)
Entered the supplied static IP etc into the Belkin N Wireless Router and.... No internet connection - the internet LED flashes yellow.

weird. the laptop got online ok with the same IP settings directly wired to the cable modem...

a search online about it found on Belkin's own website, this exact problem. (http://www.belkin.com/au/support/article/?lid=ena&pid=F5D8233au4&aid=10186&scid=0)

Essentially they admit a bug in the firmware prevents a stable (or any) connection to TC cable.
They supply a "beta" firmware update (at the link above)

I updated the firmware using this special firmware download but still no joy.
I also tried the latest general release firmware for this router- no dice.

looked through geekzone's forum advice - "stay clear of belkin for telstra clear" - not a nice answer!
but it was mentioned that the LAN IP of 192.168.1.x might cause problems.
mine was by default 192.168.2.x so I thought " not an issue". wrong.

after other troubleshooting I changed the LAN IP to 10.0.1.1 and suddenly as if nothing had ever been wrong, I got a live connection.

so there it is, if you have telstra cable, and your belkin router just WON'T work. try changing the LAN IP. It makes no sense whatsoever but it worked for me.

hope this helps someone.

sbiddle

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Reply # 499557 29-Jul-2011 19:53

Did you power cycle your cable modem after installing the router? It can only bridge a single MAC address behind it and requires a power cycle to clear the bridge table.

hutchwilco

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Reply # 499594 29-Jul-2011 21:34

sbiddle: Did you power cycle your cable modem after installing the router? It can only bridge a single MAC address behind it and requires a power cycle to clear the bridge table.

No, I didn't. Well, not strictly everytime I tried to change something. It initially didn't seem to help so I admit I gave up that part of the process.

I'm back here because, after starting to work long enough for me to write the post above, it then lost connectivity, inexplicably (but, perhaps coincidentally at the same time a second wireless client tried to use the internet) and I haven't got it back yet, even after changing the LAN IP to some other numbers, changing firmware again etc.
Talk about frustrating.

I'll try to exhaust the modem power cycle and see where that gets me. Thanks.

hutchwilco

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Reply # 499597 29-Jul-2011 21:42

So, while the power cycle didn't help in itself, it got me thinking about MAC addresses - and the router has a MAC address cloning feature so I cloned my macbook MAC address in, cycled the modem power annnnd bingo. online just like that.

Thanks for the help (fingers crossed it won't die again in 10 minutes )

freitasm

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Reply # 499601 29-Jul-2011 22:08

sbiddle: Did you power cycle your cable modem after installing the router? It can only bridge a single MAC address behind it and requires a power cycle to clear the bridge table.

Actually a power down, 15 minutes wait for the address to be released at the node, power up.

For the record I used to have two Belkin routers here (the first one ethernet only, the second one ethernet + WiFi). While they did have a problem with freezing under heavy load, they worked ok for me for about eight years. Only recently I changed to a Linksys DDWRT router, and in the last few months a Cisco SRP router (this one with two built-in VoIP lines that I use with VFX service).

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sbiddle

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Reply # 499607 29-Jul-2011 22:19

hutchwilco: So, while the power cycle didn't help in itself, it got me thinking about MAC addresses - and the router has a MAC address cloning feature so I cloned my macbook MAC address in, cycled the modem power annnnd bingo. online just like that.

Thanks for the help (fingers crossed it won't die again in 10 minutes )

Now you'll just potentially open a whole can of worms trying to use two identical MAC addresses on the same network.

You need to reboot the modem - not doing that is potentially the root cause of your issue.

hutchwilco

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Reply # 499612 29-Jul-2011 22:34

sbiddle:
hutchwilco: So, while the power cycle didn't help in itself, it got me thinking about MAC addresses - and the router has a MAC address cloning feature so I cloned my macbook MAC address in, cycled the modem power annnnd bingo. online just like that.

Thanks for the help (fingers crossed it won't die again in 10 minutes )

Now you'll just potentially open a whole can of worms trying to use two identical MAC addresses on the same network.

You need to reboot the modem - not doing that is potentially the root cause of your issue.

Honestly, this exact model of router is recognised by Belkin as having an issue with NZ Telstra Clear network (link in my OP). So the fact that it wasn't connecting wasn't some missing info, it was some accidental hangup in the firmware. I tried rebooting modem and router many times, after each change in firmware, or LAN IP, or DNS, or static IP, and no dice. I spent most of the day on this problem. Tonight I clone the MAC address and suddenly it works.
I'm confident I won't have problems with cloning the MAC address.
Here's what the router help page on the router itself says about the MAC cloning feature:

When you install the router, the Router's own MAC address will be "seen" by the ISP and may cause the connection not to work. Belkin has provided the ability to clone (copy) the MAC address of the computer into the router. This MAC address, in turn, will be seen by the ISP's system as the original MAC address and will allow the connection to work. If you are not sure if your ISP needs to see the original MAC address, simply clone the MAC address of the computer that was originally connected to the modem. Cloning the address will not cause any problems with your network.
To Clone your MAC address, make sure that you are using the computer which was ORIGINALLY CONNECTED to your modem before the Router was installed. Click the "Clone MAC address" button. Click "Apply Changes". Your MAC address is now cloned to the router.

Ragnor

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Reply # 499613 29-Jul-2011 22:35

freitasm: I changed to a Linksys DDWRT router, and in the last few months a Cisco SRP router (this one with two built-in VoIP lines that I use with VFX service).

Side question

Did you ever test the max throughput you could get with the Linksys/DD-WRT on your 100Mbit cable trial?

sbiddle

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Reply # 499619 29-Jul-2011 22:44

hutchwilco: Honestly, this exact model of router is recognised by Belkin as having an issue with NZ Telstra Clear network (link in my OP). So the fact that it wasn't connecting wasn't some missing info, it was some accidental hangup in the firmware. I tried rebooting modem and router many times, after each change in firmware, or LAN IP, or DNS, or static IP, and no dice. I spent most of the day on this problem. Tonight I clone the MAC address and suddenly it works.
I'm confident I won't have problems with cloning the MAC address.
Here's what the router help page on the router itself says about the MAC cloning feature:

The fact that MAC address clone works indicates that you either didn't power cycle the modem or didn't leave it off for long enough. It means the network still has the MAC address of your PC in the ARP table in your cable modem or the CMTS.

Every network device in the world has a unique MAC address for a good reason - they are suposed to be unique. MAC clone is typically used when people want to get around restrictions that may be imposed by a provider who only lets them associate a single MAC address (such as a supplied router), and the only way to replace the router is to clone the MAC so a new one will continue to work.

sbiddle

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Reply # 499620 29-Jul-2011 22:46

Ragnor:
freitasm: I changed to a Linksys DDWRT router, and in the last few months a Cisco SRP router (this one with two built-in VoIP lines that I use with VFX service).

Side question

Did you ever test the max throughput you could get with the Linksys/DD-WRT on your 100Mbit cable trial?

Routing performance of these isn't bad but there are a heap of variables. Have any QoS or port forwarding and the processor really struggles. I certainly wouldn't recommend a 54GL as a router these days, there are plenty of better options out there that are DD-WRT compatible if you want to run that.

Ragnor

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Reply # 499933 31-Jul-2011 03:48

sbiddle:

Routing performance of these isn't bad but there are a heap of variables. Have any QoS or port forwarding and the processor really struggles. I certainly wouldn't recommend a 54GL as a router these days, there are plenty of better options out there that are DD-WRT compatible if you want to run that.

Yeah I've had a 54GL running Tomato for years, handles 15Mbit ADSL2+ line rate fine. Was just thinking it would be interesting to see what it can handle. Can't think of easy way to test higher throughput though and like you say many variables.