Apple Airport Express and Comcast

I have been using a D-Link DGL-4500 for a few years as my home router.  I have tried many different models from Cisco, NetGear, D-Link, Buffalo, Belkin and Asus looking for a better router, but the DGL-4500 has been a very solid performer and has features that I want/need- such as DHCP reservations, specific port forwarding and port translations.  Tonight I gave the Apple Airport Express a try- and so far it looks pretty good.

One issue with the Airport Express is that it does not do MAC address cloning- which is fairly useful for carriers such as Comcast that cache the MAC address and tie it to to the provided Internet IP address.

I have a Motorola Surfboard SB6120 cable modem and I found that it has a standard IP address of 192.168.100.1.  Putting this address into a web browser brings up some interesting information about my cable connection- including a ‘Reset All Defaults’ option that should clear the MAC address that is bound to the CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) info for the modem.  I say ‘should’ as it did not appear to actually reset when I tried it.  Instead I found a way to have the modem recognize a new MAC address.

• Unplug power from the cable modem and the router (Airport Express)
• Disconnect the Ethernet cable between the modem and the router
• Plug in both devices, letting them boot independently and complete their startup (look at the lights on the modem/router to see when it is done).
• After the Cable modem is done, wait another full minute.
• Plug in the Ethernet cable between the cable modem and the router broadband connection

If all works like it did for me, the cable modem should recognize the new device and use its MAC address for the new CPE.  It takes about a minute to reconnect to the internet, but it should complete.  If not, then you will probably need to call Comcast tech support and tell them you have a new router and they can clear the CPE info remotely.

To setup the AirPort Express, you will need an iPod/iPad or a Mac with the AirPort Utility.  This will be detected in network settings on an iOS device, or it is under Applications –> Utilities under MacOS.  If you are using a PC, you will need to download the Windows Airport Utility from Apple before you start trying to configure this new Internet connection.

I have been fairly impressed; the AirPort Extreme allows for separate private & guest networks, has a decent DHCP reservation system and has a pretty intuitive port forwarding setup.  Fore example, I was able to create a forwarding rule that forwards TCP 80, 21, 3550, 4550, 5550, 5511 and 8866 in one statement (these are used for GeoVision remote monitoring). 

Range seems pretty nice on the Apple device; I will try it out for a few days and see if it is really worth the $180 Apple is asking for it… :)

DD-WRT on NetGear WNDR3300

I have dedicated a router to my Clear connection as I have the feeling they will be terminating my service due to ‘excessive usage’. The router I am using for this is a NetGear WNDR3300 that I picked up for $50 (refurbished) at Fry’s several months ago.

The router has been working great for the past few months- but last night it decided to be difficult… Wireless would sometimes connect and I would get an IP, but I was unable to connect to anything via HTTP- even the router management interface. I tested a bit to confirm it was the router and not my laptop and decided to look for a firmware update.

There are many reports of the WNDR3300 dropping connections- and a few web sites pointed out that there is now a DD-WRT firmware version for the NetGear WNDR3300.

I downloaded the ‘initial install’ and flashed; it seems to be working as-is, so I will need to research the other versions to see if I need to upgrade further. I have used DD-WRT on older LinkSys routers and been pleased with the results. I will test on this NetGear and see how it goes…

I also did a check to see if there is a DD-WRT for my DLink DGL-4500; nothing shows up for this model, but my the former version (the DGL-4300- which I also own) indicates ‘not possible’ on the supported hardware page of dd-wrt.com. I assume this means that the DGL series does not use a compatible chipset?

DSL Outage and D-Link DGL-4500

I awoke this morning to a terrible revelation- my Internet was down!

I did the normal basic trouble-shooting before calling BellSouth- who was equally confused as to what was happening. After a little research I determined that I was not getting DNS resolution. I immediately thought this was a BellSouth issue, but I finally discovered a new ‘feature’ in my D-Link DGL-4500 router.

There is an ‘Enable Advanced DNS Service’ option in the ‘Manual Configure’ page of my Internet settings page":

Checking this box over-rides the ISPs DNS server settings and changes them to:

204.194.232.200
204.194.234.200

If these servers are not responding (as is the case this morning), all DNS lookups fail and web pages/other services can only be reached by IP address.

Unchecking this box allows the router to use the default BellSouth DNS Servers:

205.152.37.23
205.152.150.23

I am not sure if this ‘feature’ was added in the latest v1.20 firmware (that I installed yesterday) or if this was an old feature and the servers went down during the night….

DSL Modem Option 3: TRENDNet TEW-635BRM

The NetGear routers do not provide port translation; the LinkSys routers are ‘feature poor’; my DLink is having 802.11b/n issues… So I decided to try out a TRENDnet TEW-635BRM.

The TRENDnet seemed to be a viable alternative; it has an integrated DSL modem, Wireless N, QoS and WPS- and it does both port forwarding and port translation!

However it does not do DHCP reservations… The is not specifically a ‘deal-killer’ but I am fairly OCD on my network settings and not having my PC at 192.168.10.100 may be just enough to drive me insane…

TRENDnet was even go good as to put a router emulator on their site for testing.

I will play with this device for bit more, but I have the strong feeling that I will be re-flashing my DGL-4500 and going back to the old DSL modem…