# Problem with Fios networking with an Actiontec MI424-WR router



## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

I use an Actiontec MI424-WR router, because I have no choice but to use it in my service with Fios as the ISP. It is what unscrambles the coaxial signal from the big main box that Verizon installs in the property. I am told the big unit, essentially acts as a modem, seen here attached as a picture to this forum post. Then, the Actiontec acts as a router, but it is the only router in a Verizon ISP setup, that can unscramble their MoCA. I am told no devices besides Verizon provided ones can do so. So even if you decide to bypass the wireless in this Verizon provided/required Actiontec, you still have to route your network through it. 

I wanted better wireless. So I disabled the wireless in the ActionTec. In another picture attached to this post, you will see the Actiontec router, sitting on top of a rack mount unit. In this rack mount, there are two 24 port switches. Underneath those, is a multi zone audio system, irrelevant to this post. This rack mount is located in my basement. The new Asus AC1750 router, as seen in another attached picture to this post, is on the second floor, and I put Asus EAN66 extenders on floor 1 and another one also in the basement. The feed to the main Asus router, comes out of port one of the Actiontec, into the WAN/Internet main feed port of the Asus router on the second floor. That CAT run is no more than 75 feet from the Actiontec to the Asus 1750 router. The Asus wireless range extenders paired perfectly to the Asus router. Port 2 of the Actiontec feeds one of the 24 port switches, and port 3 of the Actiontec feeds the other 24 port switch. Port 4 is unused. Of 30 feeds connected to the combination of both of the two 24 port switches, only 2-4 of the actual lines are ever used at one time. We use predominantly wireless. 

Initially, the setup was working perfectly. The problem I am having, is the wireless later becomes intermittent, or stops working. My thought is because, the Actiontec is not a good unit, but unfortunately, my ENTIRE network is at the mercy of that unit because it has to be used to unscramble the Fios MoCA. So, again, the wireless is disabled in the Actiontec. I then use one of the Actiontec's wired ports, to feed the Asus router on the second floor. Asus wireless extenders on the 1rst floor & basement. I am getting great wireless speeds, when it's working, but my thought is the Actiontec is the culprit for the intermittent wireless signal. The Asus gear cannot work perfectly if the source feed unit it gets its signal from, is a bad and/or unreliable unit. I also suspect at times, that wireless extenders cause more interference and/or network unpredictability than good. 

Any thoughts? Is it the Actiontec unit, the Asus extenders (as extenders are known to still be semi problematic & unreliable still these days) and/or both?

Thanks for any help!


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## TheCyberMan (Jun 25, 2011)

Hi lets see an *ipconfig /all *from a device connected wirelssly to the asus 1750AC router first and a xirrus screenshot.

Second lets see an *ipconfig /all *from a device connecting thru the asus EAN66 and a xirrus screenshot.

Please mark so i can identify which is which please.


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

I will do this for you but will not be able to until the start of this upcoming week (setup is on a different property that I will not be on location of until then). I will connect wirelessly to the 1750AC router as you asked & take a Xirrus screenshot. However, both Asus EA-N66 units are in repeater mode, so wirelessly, I cannot directly connect to them. They just repeat the SSID that the 1750AC broadcasts. So, in terms of the Xirrus screenshot for the EA-N66, are you asking me to connect to one of them via ethernet cable from my laptop?

Thank you!

Nick


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## TheCyberMan (Jun 25, 2011)

I will await the *ipconfig *and xirrus screenshot form the 1750 router please mark as such so I know it is from that router.

Understand about the extenders please do this wirelessly and please let me know the IP addresses of each extender please als when you post the information.

You are welcome.


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

The Actiontec shouldn't have any effect whatsoever on your wireless signal. If it was the Actiontec it would be odd if it didn't affect all connectivity, wired and wireless.


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## Tomshawk (Jan 23, 2013)

While doing the other tests mentioned above

Plug a laptop directly into the back of the Asus Router and test speeds.
If it fails like the wireless, unplug the Asus and plug your laptop directly into the wall jack that it plugs in to.
My thinking is basically, the wire in the wall or termination issue.


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

Attached is a visual of the physical network.
Wired use in EVERY aspect of EVERY port works in this network. Wired connections off of the Actiontec, wired connections off of the Asus, wired connections from the wall ports throughout the house that are essentially fed by the 24 port switches. So wired wise, there is no issue whatsoever, and if anything, it's blazing fast. I have also tested all of the physical wires in every aspect of this network to assure there are no wiring fails, bad cables, bad terminations. 

I have yet to use Xirrus. If I am understanding correctly, I will still be able to wirelessly connect to the EA-N66's even though they are in repeater mode? Xirrus will show it as an option as a wireless A.P. to connect to despite SSID repeater mode? One thing I just thought of too, when I paired the EA-N66's, both of them, I went through the default I.P. address it is in from factory default, paired it to the Asus 1750 router, & then unplugged it. I then did the SAME thing with the SECOND EA-N66, while the other one was unplugged. Then they were both unplugged for a few minutes, then I plugged one in on the first floor, the other down in the basement. I paired them on the 1rst floor. I think out of the box their I.P. also are 192.168.1.1.

Currently, the Actiontec Verizon unit I.P. is 192.168.1.1
The Asus 1750 router is 192.168.2.1
I forget what the default I.P. addresses are for the EA-N66's, but my thought now is, there obviously may be an I.P. conflict with those units. Though they successfully paired to the Asus 1750, I am sure this is a stupid question, but could the possibility of I.P. conflicts from the EA-N66's be the cause of wireless issues then? I never changed their I.P. addresses.

I can plug each EA-N66 direct to my laptop & change their I.P.s. When you were saying take a screen shot THECYBERMAN, were you also implying with Xirrus that I would log into each I.P. for each device, which SHOULD all be different (which at the moment they're not), and do screenshots of all of their stats in that manner?

Sorry if any of the questions are silly or any details redundant. Wireless is the only issue at the moment, its stability basically. When I set this all up initially, even the wireless was blazing fast TOO. Now, it's not working entirely. My thought is now, more so possibly, that the EA-N66's are causing wireless calamity to the Asus router at the moment?

Based on the info supplied thus far, any speculation as to the culprit units in the equation? The Actiontec, the EA-N66's, both?

I am certain this is a silly settings issue, something simple I did not set up right or at all yet.


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

Sorry for any type-o & grammar mistakes in that response. Also, just an FYI, I will not be on site to that property, until sometime next week. I am just hustling to do all I can to try to get as many answers as I can in advance. Very stressed out. Thank you all so much for your feedbacks thus far!

Nick


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

Good point Fjandr! Thank you!


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## Tomshawk (Jan 23, 2013)

2 Things

1) since you have the ability to log into the EA-N66, change their IP address to the same network as the Asus router, set them as 192.168.2.2 and 2.3 IP address conflicts and the fact that your EA-N66's IP's are probably the same IP and not in your internal network can cause issues

2) Your actiontech is nating a public IP to a private but your Asus is Nating a Nat address. This can cause issues, can you call your provider and ask them to change your antiontech to bridged mode. Even though everything is working wired, this can cause issues.


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

One problem I have, I can't put the Actiontec in bridge mode. Fios cable boxes are I.P. based also, so they get their identity, parts of their actual functionality, & assignment also from this Actiontec unit. Fios told me if I use bridge mode, I will not see my menu guide on my cable boxes or be able to use on demand. So I unfortunately cannot do this. Just out of curiosity though, to know, what would bridge mode potentially correct?

I also spoke to a network guy at Microcenter in Cambridge, MA who has Fios, who told me he simply disabled wireless in his Actiontec, & also uses this specific Asus router for wireless instead. He does not use wireless extenders. He says he has no issues with his network.

That said, what is it about being in bridge mode vs not that would affect things?

Also, if the Microcenter gents setup works without issues, would this narrow it down to I have caused wireless issues because of I.P. conflict with the EA-N66's?

I am hoping & beginning to believe I have caused issues with the I.P.'s of the EA-N66's & that this may be the main issue at hand? Odd, that the whole setup worked initially for a few days, then not at all. What basically occurs in said incorrect current setup, where it starts working with fast wireless, then to not at all? Just curious to know what exactly it is I have caused with these I.P. conflicts. 

Thanks again! 

Nick


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## Tomshawk (Jan 23, 2013)

I'm not going to say changing the ip's will fix the problem but, the conflicts can cause issues so I would suggest doing it.

It's not so much that the actiontech is in bridging mode, as it is the Nating Nat which is because the router is not in Bridged mode.

I have clients that work fine nating nat at home and others with tons of issues with it nating nat.

Nat can be a pain sometimes


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

Have you done this for any clients you have that have Fios? Is there in fact a way to bridge in the manner you speak of that won't compromise the cable TV boxes?


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## Tomshawk (Jan 23, 2013)

No, I have not done this for clients with Fios.
It's just that Nating Nat sometimes causes issues, not that that is your problem

I would leave it as is, just change the IP addresses of the EA-N66's and test.

Let us know how it goes


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## TheCyberMan (Jun 25, 2011)

Apologies for not getting back sooner to you Nickgilman.

First off since devices connected to both the actiontec and asus 1750 have stable internet access the problem does not lie there.

The IP addresses of the actiontec and asus are fine else there would be no internet connectivity thru the asus router.

The issue I believe is with the configuration of the EA N66 repeaters which should be bridged over to the asus 1750 *not the actiontec router since it has wireless disabled*.

For the time being forget the xirrus screenshots and as Tomshawk advised connect using a wired connection to the repeaters:

1. To see if you have internet connectivity.
2. Provide us with an *ipconfig /all* for us to review and advise further.


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

Updates after finally getting on the property today:

Reset the Asus 1750 router. SSID 2.4 = Oldfarm & SSID 5.0 = Oldfarm-Guest

EA-N66 Extenders were reset to factory defaults. Then both paired to the 2.4 SSID Oldfarm.

I.P. Addresses:
Verizon actiontec: 192.168.1.1
Asus 1750 Router 2nd floor: 192.168.2.1
Asus EA-N66 extender 1rst floor: 192.168.2.137
Asus EA-N66 extender basement: 192.168.2.106

Had Asus rep on phone while doing this. Turns out I did the setup the first time, the exact same way he instructed this time. The I.P.'s get assigned automatically with these extenders, so even the first time I set them up, 
there was no conflict to be had with I.P.s. I mentioned all of this to the rep, & asked if there was anything else I could be overlooking. I found out you cannot assign the I.P.s to these units as you would choose, auto assignment is their only feature. They were obviously assigned off of the Asus router as indicated by their addresses. 

The only thing we he suggested to do additional this time, that I did not do last time, was update the firmware on all 3 Asus devices. I did so today. 

When pairing the extenders, I was on the 1st floor. The main router is on the 2nd. First I paired the extender that will sit in the basement, while sitting at the first floor desk, to the Asus router on floor 2. I then placed it down in the basement & powered it on. Next I paired the one meant for the 1st floor, at the same desk 1st floor desk. This time both the main router & the extender in the basement, BOTH with the same SSID, appeared as options in devices to pair to. I paired the one meant for the 1rst floor, to the router on floor 2, and placed that where it is intended to live. Hopefully this was the correct way to pair. (As opposed to pairing the 1rst floor one to the 2nd floor router, & the basement extender to the 1st floor extender. < This would be the only other option in setup pairing, which did not seem sensible to me.)

So far, the wifi is working. Again, wired connections, never an issue. 4 pictures are attached. 
#1 - A Xirrus screenshot.
#2 - Wifi speeds before the EA-N66's were added to the network
#3- Wifi speeds after the EA-N66's were paired to the Asus router.
#4- An ipconfig /all of the network status, while I was connected by wifi, where all 3 Asus products were active

Findings:
#1- The wifi seemed faster without the extenders
#2- Printer communication seemed better without the extenders in the equation also. An HP Premium 8600 is on the 1st floor, paired wirelessly to the router. Communication seems intermittent with the extenders involved. It seemed better prior to their addition.
#3- My gut feeling is these extenders cause more good than bad, but maybe I am doing something wrong in their setup. The user interface to them is very basic, with not alot to them.

What other information & screenshots would you all like? Any new thoughts based off of all of this info?

Last time I established the network like this, I did so in the exact same manner I did today, except today I updated the firmware. So my fear is it not being stable again in a few days or not working entirely again soon. I could be wrong though, maybe the firmware will sort it. However, I know I am laos not providing some screenshot & key info that was requested of me from you all. This all said, what else do you need from me?

Much thanks again!

Nick


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

Some additional info & screenshots:

2 pics of the main Asus 1750 router
1 pic EACH of EACH extender


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

Wanted to add one list bit of detail & ideas:

I expressed earlier today that unless I have something wrong in my current overall setup that I am overlooking, that my gut is telling me the extenders cause some intermittentcy & chaos on the overall wifi signal, along with wifi communication from the Wireless HP 8600 & the main SSID broadcast.

With the Asus 1750 router on the second floor, WITHOUT the extenders, the wifi was 5/5 bars on floor 2 & 4/5 on the 1rst floor, some places on the first floor 5/5. It broadcasts strongly on its own. My greatest concern was to be able to have wifi work well in the basement too. The wifi off of JUST the main router, isn't the best in the basement, for obvious reasons. The distance, the fact that all surfaces are finished, but most of all, because like all basements, there is so much in utilities & HVAC ducts & plumbing etc. All the typical stuff that interferes with wifi something fierce.

A thought I had is, I could possibly eliminate the wifi extenders on floor one & in the basement, & instead use the main verizon actiontec router that lives in the basement & feeds the entire network, to feed it's own SSID for just the basement. Basically, turn the wireless on for the basement, & the Actiontec would take care of the basement, & the Asus 1750 the 2nd & 1st floor. That is another idea. The wifi sucks off of the Actiontec, but not so bad if it is just for one floor. However, anyone see any problems with that? My having an active SSID from the Verizon Fios moca based Actiontec broadcasting to the basement, & the Asus 1750 (which is fed from one of the ports off of the Actiontec) broadcast from above? Didn't know if that would cause any conflicts.

This is just another idea. I would ideally rather be able to just get the extenders to work, if it is possible, if I am overlooking something that's just not making them work properly at the moment.....................


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## Tomshawk (Jan 23, 2013)

3 things,

1) from the screenshots, the speedtest with the extenders on or off is not that much of a difference and shouldn't be causing the issues you state, that doesn't mean they are not but not by the screenshots.

2) Because the Asus broadcasts so well on floor 2 and 1, I would definitely eliminate the extender on the 1st floor, possibly the basement as well.

3) Yes, you could enable the wireless on the Actiontec, but if you do, you'll want to setup a different SSID, in my opinion, less confusion, especially for the printer, and when connected to it, printing it not going to work. so it may be best to leave the extender in the basement, especially if you want to print from anywhere.

another thought, would be to leave the basement extender but take it out of repeater mode, Set it up as an AP


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## TheCyberMan (Jun 25, 2011)

Since you have a good signal from the asus router on the first and second floors with 4/5 bars and 5/5 bars i do not think there is a need for an extender only if the bars are 3 or less.

The setup i would use in this case is this:

Enable wireless on actiontec in basement same as Tomshawk advised.

I do not see the point in connecting to the asus on above floor from the basement using an extender when you have a router in the basement already.

I also assume all devices wish to do file and printer sharing from each other so i would set the asus up like this:

Connect an ethernet cable from a Lan port on the actiontec to a Lan port on the asus.
Configure the asus to match wireless settings on the actiontec SSID, 802.11b/g/n settings channel bandwidth etc.
Match the wireless security settings to actiontec settings.
Disable DHCP server on asus.
Leave IP address on asus as 192.168.2.1
Follow guide below but do not change IP address:
Connecting Additional Routers | Tech Support Forum

All DHCP assignments will come from the actiontec router keeping everything in the same subnet for sharing files and printers.

Any wireless devices connecting to thru the asus will need to have the asus router IP address 192.168.2.1 configured in their IPv4 settings on the wireless network connection so they connect thru the asus to the actiontec.

The asus will be acting as a switch only basically.

Now if you still find in the basement you are having signal issues you can connect one of the extenders as an access point in the same way as above or in repeater mode but change the extender IP address to 192.168.3.1 a different subnet to the actiontec and asus router and it should work the same.


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

So if I am understanding you correctly, I can get rid of the extenders entirely? Since the Actiontec will take care of 5/5 bars in the basement, and the Asus 1750 located on the second floor gives 4/5 + 5/5 bars to floor one and two?

Currently the Asus router is connected from a LAN port on the Actiontec, to the WAN/Ethernet port of the Asus 1750 on the 2nd floor. You are saying that if I INSTEAD plug into a LAN port of the Asus router, where I don't change the I.P. turn off the DHCP on the Asus 1750, and match the wireless info off of the Actiontec & copy it to the Asus 1750, that this would be the most sensible setup that would optimize the setup & avoid subnet issues?

One thing I did not follow. Is it correct to say the Asus would be acting as just a switch, if it is in fact broadcasting the Actiontecs SSID, almost as if the Asus 1750 is acting as a wifi repeater but essentially not programmed in such a fashion? Additionally, why would the wireless devices on the network need the Asus I.P.? Are you speaking of ANYTHING that connects to the wireless network, or more so peripherals, such as the printer?

Thank you all again very much!??!?

Nick


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## nickgilman (Dec 23, 2010)

This is what didn't make 100% sense to me, as to why:

"Any wireless devices connecting to thru the asus will need to have the asus router IP address 192.168.2.1 configured in their IPv4 settings on the wireless network connection so they connect thru the asus to the actiontec.

The asus will be acting as a switch only basically."


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## TheCyberMan (Jun 25, 2011)

Just imagine it as a simple four port switch which connects to a router and then you connect your devices to the switch using an ethernet cable to receive an IP address from the router the only difference this one has a wireless capability and that is why your wireless devices need to have the default gateway set to the asus IP address on the first and second floors.

Else they may try and connect to the actiontec in the basement where the signal may be degraded. That is why i say connecting thru the asus to get the DHCP assignment and negate the weaker signal from the actiontec. 

You will be connecting to the actiontec thru the asus router.

If you need portforwarding it will have to be done on the actiontec only as that is controlling the network.

If you have a strong signal in the basement then you may not need an extender down there as well.

The reason i say do a Lan to Lan port connection and configure it as i explained it will keep all devices in the same subnet 192.168.1.0 and file an printer sharing will be able to be done with ease.

If you had a Lan to WAN port assignment from actiontec to asus then devices connected to the asus would not be able to do file or printer sharing with devices connected to the actiontec as the asus is in a different subnet 192.168.2.0 subnet.


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