Woosh and router

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RiskFate

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#9726 9-Oct-2006 08:55

Hi there

I'm new to this forum and to Woosh - I'm hoping y'all can shed some light.

I'm trying to connect my Woosh modem to a couple of PCs via a router. According the DSE where I got the Woosh kit - "this should be fine - just use this cable (ka-ching!)". According to the Woosh help desk - "we don't support this, but it should just work". Linksys don't answer calls to their help desk.

It doesn't.

What I have - a Woosh modem, ethernet cable, Linksys WAG54G router, and a couple of PCs. PCs talk to each other fine via router.

What works -
* Using the USB interface to Woosh Modem on a standalone PC (works just fine)
* Using the ethernet cable plugged into network port of router. Either PC can connect to Woosh Modem via PPPoE connection. Connection speed (with booster ant.) is about 1,1M/b. But using this PPPoE connection only one PC can connect at a time.

I don't want to use Internet Connection Sharing.

This is where I get lost. I assume that I need to get the router to make the PPPoE connection, but when I configure it nothing happens. I have seen stuff on this forum and others referring to changing router IP addresses, default gateways etc, but non of that works. I'm lost. I don't want to ditch Woosh as the connection is twice what Telecom can provide, but this has to work.

Your help - anyones help - will be much appreciated!

Thanks

mpmorrison

42 posts

Geek

#48004 9-Oct-2006 12:03

Yes - it should just work.

However, this sounds suspiciously like the silly 'Linksys PPPoE standard' bug.

I haven't heard of this happening on a WAGXX router before, but on the WRTXX routers, it goes like this:

- early models of WRT routers used normal standard PPPoE, like most other manufacturers in the industry
- as of v5 of the WRT line, Linksys made subtle changes to their PPPoE implementation
- suddenly, many people around the world found that a lot of modems that use PPPoE just wouldn't work
- many people contacted Linksys support etc., who said a fix should be out soon... and so on ... and no fix was ever released as far as I know.

Whether this is what your problem is, I'm not sure, but it sounds similar.

Also, make sure you have set the router up correctly to use PPPoE. From a quick look at the userguide for this router, there's a drop-down list under "Internet Setup" with PPPoE in it, which should allow you to set-up your username etc.
However, from some of the wording it seems that the router is solely setup to run the WAN over the ADSL port, and only use PPPoE across ADSL - in which case I think the router won't be able to run PPPoE over Ethernet.

RiskFate

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#48017 9-Oct-2006 13:34

Thanks for the reply.

My guess is that PPPoE only works on the WAN port - which the Ethernet cable won't plug into. However, I have heard that Linksys say the router should work with the Woosh modem. I also have a newer DSE ADSL modem (not the XH1151) but that doesn't work either.

I guess what annoys me so much is that everyone is 'helping' but no-one is taking any ownership. I'm tempted to work out when my 30 day trial period is up and set a deadline for getting this sorted.

*sigh*

RiskFate

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#48284 11-Oct-2006 09:20

Just an update on this ...

I had a chat with the Linksys people online. I think is one of those situations where everyone is telling the truth but not all of the truth. Woosh are correct - their modem will connect to a router. But what they don't tell you is that a key requirement of the router is that it can establish a PPPoE connection via an Ethernet port. It would seem many (older?) routers in NZ will only do so via the WAN port (which is usually an RJ11 port). This includes the two routers I have ... time to log onto TradeMe I think.

If only Woosh would clearly state this as a requirement for a router, there would be less angst all round.

Any recommendations on a good router then?

grant_k

3539 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 124

Trusted

#48289 11-Oct-2006 10:28

RiskFate: Any recommendations on a good router then?

I used a ZyXEL P324 to share a wireless connection (BCL Extend) and it worked fine.

Now I have a ZyXEL P334W which has the additional features of Wireless, and Bandwidth Management, so I can reserve bandwidth for my VoIP calls.

The key point is to ensure that whatever router you buy does NOT have ADSL as its WAN port, but instead has an Ethernet port, as you had already worked out. Sometimes these devices are called a Broadband Sharing Gateway as in the case of the ZyXEL P324. Specs are here:

http://www.zyxel.com/web/product_family_detail.php?PC1indexflag=20040520161313&CategoryGroupNo=6C177657-CF3C-4B92-A898-2F6A2BA9D83D

As you can see, it does support PPPoE and I have also used it in the "Bridged Ethernet" or VLAN mode. My P324 is sitting on the shelf gathering dust and is for sale if you want it (send me a PM).

Cheers,
Grant.

barf

643 posts

Ultimate Geek

#48299 11-Oct-2006 13:13

save some money and buy another network card for your PC. plug the woosh modem into that. using XP put the tick into the box that reads 'share this internet connection' or similar (sorry Im a Windows n00b)

Sniffing the glue holding the Internet together