# [SOLVED] Terrible wireless setup - many questions



## Elbowmeat (Jun 30, 2010)

I'll begin by saying I'm new to these forums, and thank you in advance for anyone willing to help. I appreciate what you people do here (as a student IT guy myself).

On to the network troubles. Here's what were looking at:
-Motorola Modem/Wireless router in 1 (terrible, I know, but my only modem option) - wireless disabled
-Asus WL-520GU router running Tomato 1.27: WPA2 AES encryption
-7 total computers
-2 hardwired, XP (desktops)
-4 wireless, Windows 7 (desktop, htpc, 2 laptops)
-1 wireless, XP (laptops)

My computer:
-Custom built desktop, windows 7
I was previously using 2 wireless adapters:
-Netgear WG311T
-Linksys RangePlus USB WUSB100 ver.2
I switched to only the netgear for simplicity and IP purposes (most specifically port forwarding). I was seeing little/no benifit from having 2 adapters.


First question:
Will I have to port forward through both routers? I've read that I do indeed need to, so I've tried to do this, but it doesn't seem like my port forwards are going through when I run an open port test on them. Both routers are set up exactly the same for each port forward, but I can't seem to get this to work.

Second:
I've also been noticing many wireless drops from my computer (the most used computer in the house). I'm not sure if this is my adapter or my router at this point, but it seems whenever I pin it down to 1 or the other, something makes me change my mind. It seems to fluxuate bars often (sometimes I get up to 4 bars, I have 1 currently). It also seems to drop/lag more often when I play a Source game (TF2, L4D2, CS:S).

Third:
Questioning where to turn, I decided to try a change of my DNS. I currently am running Google's free DNS. Is this a good choice? I've heard OpenDNS is also a good choice.


In general I've just had plenty of networking problems, none of which I can seem to find a definite fix to. I've played with my settings (completely turned off QoS, disabled NAS, changed wireless channels, messed with wireless encryption types, even messed with settings I'm not even completely sure what they are). I'm at a loss at this point, and it's been hard to admit I need help in many areas. Anything you can do for me will be appreciated. I can provide additional information as needed. Thank you!


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

*Re: Terrible wireless setup - many questions*

The smart play is to either bridge the first router to eliminate it's NAT function or configure the second router as a WAP and eliminate it's NAT layer. That will eliminate the difficulty of two NAT layers for port forwarding.

If you're getting varying signal strengths, the top suspect is interference or simply insufficient signal. First step would be to try changing channels on the router.

I use my ISP DNS servers, they've worked fine for me. I have Verizon, and they've been quite reliable. The only reason to change the DNS servers is if you're having issues.

Let's see this from the problem wireless machine.

Download and run this Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector, click the *Networks* link on the upper left and paste a screen shot of that screen here. Note that this application requires NET Framework to run. If you get an error about a missing function, download and install NET Framework.


To post a screen shot of the active window, hold the _*Alt*_ key and press the *PrtScn* key. Open the Windows PAINT application and _*Paste*_ the screen shot. You can then use PAINT to trim to suit, and save it as a JPG format file. To upload it to the forum, open the full reply window and use the _*Manage Attachments*_ button to upload it here.



If you decide to configure your secondary router as WAP, Tomato will support that configuration out of the box.


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## Elbowmeat (Jun 30, 2010)

*Re: Terrible wireless setup - many questions*

Thanks for the reply John.

I'd really like to avoid bridging the routers, as when move out after the year is over, I'd like to be able to pop my parents old netgear router in as a substitute for mine, and not do much configuration.

I was talking to the network admin where I work, and he told me he was having the same port forwarding problem with Uverse, and he added his router to the DMZ on his Uverse box to fix the problem. I tried doing this, but upon doing it realized the modem will only take IPs similar to its own.

This extends upon my port forward problem, since it is currently set to 192.168.0.1, I can only set DMZ AND port forwards to 192.168.0.___

I tried setting the modem IP to be 192.168.1.2, however I got the following error: 
Error converting one or more entries:

LAN IP Address is Invalid
Make sure it does not match Guest Network IPs or overlap their IP pools:
192.168.1.1
192.168.2.1
192.168.3.1
TRY AGAIN


I will do some googling on this and see if I can find a solution. I feel like this should do the trick if I can find a fix. Thanks!


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## Elbowmeat (Jun 30, 2010)

*Re: Terrible wireless setup - many questions*

I had a brain fart: setting my router to 192.168.0.2 now...

After I did this, I came upon problems, and worked through them. I set my router in the DMZ, and now I can't connect to the modem unless directly connected. Is this caused by DMZ? I should also not have to port forward on my modem because of DMZ, correct?

According to 2 port checking websites, my ports remain unopened...I just can't seem to solve this.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

*Re: Terrible wireless setup - many questions*

I repeat, bridge the primary router.


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## Elbowmeat (Jun 30, 2010)

*Re: Terrible wireless setup - many questions*

Like I said, I want to try to avoid bridging at all costs. That's kind of a last resort.

On thing I forgot to mention, I have an Ooma phone between my modem and my router.

Attached is the Xirrus picture you requested. Each adapter is shown.

I've tried turning off Rg passthrough on my modem (the NAT layer). It for some reason breaks the connection, making me have to rest the modem. Is disabling NAT on the router a good option? I don't exactly know how NAT all works at this point.

I'm trying to port forward through both devices still. Do I port forward on my my modem to the router, and from the router to my computer?

Any help is still appreciated. Thanks!


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

*Re: Terrible wireless setup - many questions*

Well, the Ooma phone is adding yet another NAT layer.

With a kludge like that, it's a wonder you're getting Internet access at all. 

Since you don't seem to want to go with the suggested solutions to the issue, I'm going to leave this one for others to evaluate and assist... I've told you how I'd solve the problem.


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## crazyfist (Sep 7, 2011)

*Re: Terrible wireless setup - many questions*

Thanks for the help on this topic John. Disabling NAPT mode on the modem appears to solve my issues and I for one am not too lazy to change one simple setting if I ever want to set my network up differently.

For what it's worth, Rg passthru was disabled by default and turning off NAPT mode enabled it. With modem DMZ set to the router's IP and router's DMZ set to my desktop's IP I was still having issues with port forwarding, you need to bridge it as John kindly pointed out several times.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

*Re: Terrible wireless setup - many questions*

Thread is over a year old . . 

closed


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