wireless w/ dialup connection

[jsiebecb]

Hello,

I've been looking at setting up a wireless network in my home just for the mobility of being able to go upstairs or out on my porch without running cables everywhere. I have a desktop with a dialup connection and then two laptops (one with wireless card and one with a Belkin USB Wireless Adapter.)

So I went out and bought a Belkin Wireless G Router because I thought I could simply hook my NIC of the Desktop up and then connect wirelessly to the router and get to my internet connection that way, but evidently this isn't the case. The router has one ehternet modem connection and 4 LAN ports to connect to. Is there any way I can set the router to share the dialup connection?

I have messed around and got my laptop to connect to the network wirelessly, but just can't get to the internet connection on the desktop PC. Any ideas?

Thanks!

-- Jordan

[YeOldeStonecat]

The router is handing out itself as being your gateway...so any internet traffic is trying to "go out the router".

As you noticed, most are designed to be broadband routers.

I have a feeling with some fiddling around...we could fudge it to work be setting it up as an access point only, and be introducing Windows ICS to your dial up hosts connection.......

Before trying that path....what's the chance of a problem free return, and getting a device designed for this purpose...
http://www.wiflyer.com/StoreFront.bok

[jsiebecb]

thanks for the reply

I figured that was what was happening, it was looking out of the router for the internet..

I came into the wireless router and was just trying to put it to use without having to go out and buy another product. Someone else pointed me to the wiflyer product, looks like it would do the trick.

Do you know of anywhere you can point me that would allow me to trick the router for the ICS to work?? I was trying to keep from buying something else and see if I could get it to work this way.. but I may have to.

Thanks a bunch for the help.

--Jordan

[YeOldeStonecat]

Whelp....I'm not fond of Windows ICS....but what you can do, is reconfigure it as an access point only. There's an option in the Belkin firmware to flip it from router, to AP mode. (I forget where...I gave my Belkin G router away a while ago)....

Log into it..perform that. Then..make a note of it's LAN IP address...and write it down where you won't lose it...something like 192.168.1.1. Now...turn off DHCP on the router. Actually before doing this...before turning off the DHCP service on the router...change the routers LAN IP address to 192.168.0.245. Release/renew your connection...log into the router again, this time at 192.168.0.245. Now...disable DHCP on the router. (doing this so you can log into the Belkin from your ICS boxes)

Link your ICS host computer to the router using a LAN port on the router...you will not be using the WAN port. Assign your host computers LAN connection an IP of 192.168.0.1, SNM of 255.255.255.0. Right click that LAN connection..and enable ICS.

On your ICS client...make sure TCP/IP is set to "obtain auto"

The Windows ICS host runs DHCP....which should flow through the Belkin running as a WAP...and your client PC should pick it up.

Once tested..once you can connect the laptop..now introduce your wireless security.

Advice for wireless...make sure your routers admin password is customized, not the default. Make sure your SSID is customized...not the default. If you can, use WPA or WPA2 psk for security...not the old complicated WEP. And advice for Belkins..disable the "turbo" mode.

*note...if you can never hit the Belkin after disabling DHCP..remember you'll need to assign your NIC an IP in the same range..which we did above. If still can't, if you think you messed something up...there's a reset button on the router, hold it down for a bit...performs a hard factory reset.

[jsiebecb]

All right cool. Thanks man. I'll give it a shot tomorrow and let ya know what I come up with. Thanks a bunch for the help. Laterz

--Jordan

[jsiebecb]

hmm. i'm having issues even hitting the router in the first place.. in the manual it says to connect to 192.168.2.1 in the browser but that always timesout and gives me nothing. I have the router hooked up to my host desktop via LAN port and nothing else hooked up.. any ideas? i tried again after a reset and still nothing..

thanks

--Jordan

[YeOldeStonecat]

When attempting to connect to it, is your TCP set to obtain auto?

[jsiebecb]

well.. i finally got it to connect after a series of rebooting the router and my computer in a sequence i can't remember... haha.. went and changed it to access point... and i changed the ip to 192.168.2.254..

after that i ran ipconfig/release and ipconfig/renew and then i can never hit the router again..

so i did a factory reset on the router and tried it again but can never hit the router again after that, whenusing the install cd, it always has problems establishing connection to the router. (my network connection always pops up limited or no connection after about 5 minutes of trying to connect during this)

I also have another question.. after I change it to an access point only, DHCP isn't anywhere on the settings, so I'm guessing that it is automatically disabled after it is switched to a AP right?? I hope that is the issue because I got that far. Can I not just connect, change to ap , and then be done with it? Or do I need to take the extra steps in changing the IP address?

I really appreciate your patience with me in this as this is all new to me. I thank you for your help. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!

-- Jordan

[YeOldeStonecat]

Right, when the firmware supports changing to AP mode...it assumes that the AP will cascade off of a router or some other device that will be running DHCP.

This is why it's good to assign the unit an IP address within the IP range of the network it will be used in...before flipping off DHCP.

I don't deal with Windows ICS on a frequency that allows me to memorize it to be able to do things with it in my sleep like I do with routers, I generally run away from ICS...but I believe with XP, it defaults to 192.168.0.xxx.

[jsiebecb]

okay. thanks a ton man. Been busy and haven't been able to mess with it much. But I think I can get it to go now. I appreciate the help bud. Thank you!

--Jordan

[Chooper]

Another possibility is to plug your ICS desktop into the WAN port of the router and use the router for DHCP and to route internet requests through ICS.

Give the Belkin router a WAN IP in the 192.168.0.xxx subnet with its default gateway being 192.168.0.1 (default IP of ICS host). The LAN ip of the router will have to be on a different network, 192.168.2.xxx for example. Leave DHCP enabled on the router. Once you've set up the router this way, you can flip your desktop to ICS and plug it into the WAN port of the router.

This way you will still be able to run DHCP from the router from the lappies or anything you may plug into the LAN ports and run internet access through ICS on your desktop.

I agree with Yeold as I typically run from ICS. This method however will give you internet access to your lappies but will not let you fileshare from your desktop easily. So if you just want internet access and not filesharing, you can use all of the intended functionality of the router.
--C