Wireless access point / homeplug help?

[babs]

I recently took Sky up on their offer for the free new N hub (SR101). I Live in an old miners cottage with thick granite walls, so wireless from the router in half the house is impossible.

I have a pair of homeplugs which work great, so I set the old Sky router (D-link) as a wireless access point, as per instructions online. This was basically setting its IP address in the routers range and turning the DHCP server off.

I stuck this on the end of the homeplug pairing and tested, and it seemed to work great. However - and here's the problem, it doesn't seem to work for all devices.

Once I set it up and my HTC connected fine, my wife's Xperia didn't, and our Nexus 7 didn't. Nor did the PS3 upstairs.

I factory reset the d-link and tried again, this time the nexus worked and the others didn't.

The problem (after some googling) seems to be the client not getting an IP address. Which to me suggests the d-link isn't working as a switch properly?

Is there something obvious I haven't considered, or any pointers for setup I should do?

 

[caLLous]

Does the old router have a bridge mode? I had to enable that on my Cisco E4200 to get it to play nice as just a (practically unmanaged) router on the same subnet as the t'inter router.

 

[smurkin]

Shouldn't you be wireless routing rather than switching? I didn't think switches will assign an IP address. Did you try putting the D-link to DHCP?

 

[babs]

I'm not entirely sure. I've done everything according to the guide I found (sky user forum I think), and that says that what I've done is ok.

How would I go about changing it to routing, if that's not what I'm doing now. I've tried the DHCP on on the D-Link and it's no go. I imagine because both that and the new one are trying to act as DHCP servers on the same subnet.

Any pointers at this stage would be more than welcome.

 

[caLLous]

No idea tbh.

My Cisco has a specific "bridge mode" for this very porpoise:

 

[babs]

The sky D-link is a bit hobbled by its firmware, and as far as I know there's no way to flash it with something like dd- or open-wrt.

Under network setup I have this:

 

[Embattle]

Sky equipment is truly horrible and the inability to use something else is the main reason I'll never get Sky BB.

 

[smurkin]

I'm not entirely sure. I've done everything according to the guide I found (sky user forum I think), and that says that what I've done is ok.

How would I go about changing it to routing, if that's not what I'm doing now. I've tried the DHCP on on the D-Link and it's no go. I imagine because both that and the new one are trying to act as DHCP servers on the same subnet.

Any pointers at this stage would be more than welcome.

Well, I'm not sure as its not my area. My understanding is that switching moves packets around to MAC addresses, routing uses IP addresses. Hopefully a guru will drop in and correct me if I'm wrong. But you could try resetting to factory (DHCP) and simply plugging it in to the homeplug (ok sounds like you tried this). The complication is that each homeplug has an IP address and I would think your D-link would be operating as a separate hotspot - therefore a separate wireless network in your house.

 

[Ch3tan]

Can't you just use address reservation on the d link to register your devices?

 

[soze]

Sky equipment is truly horrible and the inability to use something else is the main reason I'll never get Sky BB.

I use a Draytek on Sky they just don't help you set it up.

Sky are also offering a free wireless repeater right now just log on and go to offers.

 

[babs]

I've got the repeater, the problem is that I can't get a wireless signal in the side of the house where I want it in order to repeat it.

 

[soze]

I've got the repeater, the problem is that I can't get a wireless signal in the side of the house where I want it in order to repeat it.

If you already have home plugs what about something like this? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CEB53JQ/?tag=ho01f-21

 

[babs]

I've looked at those, I was just trying to do it on the cheap with what I've already got. I get annoyed when something that should work, doesn't

 

[MYstIC G]

I have a pair of homeplugs which work great, so I set the old Sky router (D-link) as a wireless access point, as per instructions online. This was basically setting its IP address in the routers range and turning the DHCP server off.

This should work. Is the problem devices connecting to it or is the problem they connect and cannot access the internet?

 

[babs]

Devices won't connect, they try to but fail at getting an IP

 

[MYstIC G]

Devices won't connect, they try to but fail at getting an IP

Is the rest of the access point configured to use the main router as the gateway?

 

[babs]

That's what I can't seem to set manually, otherwise I'm sure it would be fine

 

[MYstIC G]

That's what I can't seem to set manually, otherwise I'm sure it would be fine

Fixed IPs would seem to be your best bet then fella, unless that's too much of a pain to do on every device you have.

 

[babs]

Ideally it wouldn't be, but it's seeming more and more like it might have to be