** Reply to message from "Lewis G Rosenthal"
<os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com> on Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:45:32 -0400


  

On 10/08/07 11:38 am, Lothar Frommhold thus wrote :
    

Hello all:

I want to set up a WLAN at home using Roadrunner or similar and cable. Roadrunner will support Windoze operating systems only and I wonder if one can use eCS 2.0 and get it to work (2 laptop computers plus 1 printer). I have currently a DSL WLAN up and running (but find the connections to be unreliable and flaky). Would the same (or similar) setup be working with the Roadrunner cable modem? Any help you could give me is much appreciated.

      

Hi, Lothar. While most everyone has already addressed your issue, let me just add a couple other points to bear in mind:

    

   4. In order to obtain a DHCP lease (address), it is sometimes
      necessary to clone the MAC address of one of your wired machines
      into your router (not the Road Runner interface, but your own
      router/firewall behind it, such as a LinkSys WRT54G). If you find
      that you simply can't obtain an address, check this out.
   5. Further to #4, remember that as you will likely only get a single
      DHCP address, it is usually necessary to power down your cable
      equipment when switching to a different piece of hardware (unless
      you clone the MAC address). You may need to remain offline for a
      couple of minutes for your lease to expire and be able to obtain
      another one for the "new" hardware. This is normal, and probably
      similar to your experience with DSL hardware (assuming you're not
      using PPPoE or static addressing).

Good luck, and let us know how your new connection works out!
    

Items 4. and 5. are moot since you are using a router to connect to the modem.  

In the last 2 weeks I've done what you want to do with Qwest DSL, RR cable, and
a local wireless supplier.  All 3 use different "modems" but that is totally
transparent to anything past the router.  Make that 4 systems - the only one I
had to do anything to besides entering the account id and password was a local
cable company that Comcast bought out.  That one wanted the MAC address of the
ethernet card they provided and it took a phone call to get it set to the MAC
address of the ROUTER instead of the ethernet card they provided.  I used an
old Linksys BEFW1164 router on one and a Netgear $25 fry's special on the
Comcast line - both routers were smart enough to handle the negotiations once
they had the required data.  Only one service wanted the MAC address - the
others wanted only an account ID and password.  The laptops and other boxes
never knew the difference other than having to force the 24/7 units to get a
new DHCP lease to get a pass-thru DNS address.