Options for connecting ISP supplied GW to wrt54GL

Hello,
this is the problem. The ISP supplied DSL modem/router supplied to me
is the Actiontec gt704. I connected one wired pc and one wireless.
2 issues - when ever the network is busy, be it thru using
bit torrent,copying files between the 2 pc's, online computer games,
etc. The device will often slow to a crawl and then reboot itself.
Secondly, wireless coverage is mediocre.

My proposed solution is to try and run the gt704 as close
as possible to pure modem mode as I can get it, and use it with
a third party wireless router.

I'm not sure what is possible with the gt704 mainly because
I'm a network novice and the doc included is very poor.
So far, I have setup DMZ in the device and used a static
IP in the wired PC to make sure it works. It does.

The second thing I did was to get my old Netgear rt314
to connect to the DMZ IP and plug the wired pc into that.
After running the rt314 easy setup, that to seems to work fine.

I'm now set to go out and purchase a Linksys wrt54gl
retire the Netgear for a second time and
connect it as I did the netgear, and use the superior
wireless and router capabilities of the new device.

Is this a typical setup, or are there other methods
I should be looking at? Any thoughts appreciated.

Dave

On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:54:26 GMT, dave xnet <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in <(E-Mail Removed)>:

>this is the problem. The ISP supplied DSL modem/router supplied to me
>is the Actiontec gt704. I connected one wired pc and one wireless.
>2 issues - when ever the network is busy, be it thru using
>bit torrent,copying files between the 2 pc's, online computer games,
>etc. The device will often slow to a crawl and then reboot itself.
>Secondly, wireless coverage is mediocre.

File sharing like Bittorrent opens a great many connections that can
cause many low end devices to fall over and die. Try greatly limiting
the number of connections.

>I'm now set to go out and purchase a Linksys wrt54gl
>retire the Netgear for a second time and
>connect it as I did the netgear, and use the superior
>wireless and router capabilities of the new device.

If so, use DD-WRT firmware with connections cranked up to 4,096.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 23:23:14 GMT, John Navas
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:54:26 GMT, dave xnet <(E-Mail Removed)>
>wrote in <(E-Mail Removed)>:
>
>>this is the problem. The ISP supplied DSL modem/router supplied to me
>>is the Actiontec gt704. I connected one wired pc and one wireless.
>>2 issues - when ever the network is busy, be it thru using
>>bit torrent,copying files between the 2 pc's, online computer games,
>>etc. The device will often slow to a crawl and then reboot itself.
>>Secondly, wireless coverage is mediocre.
>
>File sharing like Bittorrent opens a great many connections that can
>cause many low end devices to fall over and die. Try greatly limiting
>the number of connections.
>
>>I'm now set to go out and purchase a Linksys wrt54gl
>>retire the Netgear for a second time and
>>connect it as I did the netgear, and use the superior
>>wireless and router capabilities of the new device.
>
>If so, use DD-WRT firmware with connections cranked up to 4,096.
Thanks John. I'll look into that firmware.
I'm assuming because you didn't say anything to the contrary,
that the DMZ mechanism is an acceptible way to accomplish
what I'm trying to do.

regards,
Dave

On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:40:10 GMT, dave xnet <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in <(E-Mail Removed)>:

>On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 23:23:14 GMT, John Navas
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:54:26 GMT, dave xnet <(E-Mail Removed)>
>>wrote in <(E-Mail Removed)>:
>>
>>>this is the problem. The ISP supplied DSL modem/router supplied to me
>>>is the Actiontec gt704. I connected one wired pc and one wireless.
>>>2 issues - when ever the network is busy, be it thru using
>>>bit torrent,copying files between the 2 pc's, online computer games,
>>>etc. The device will often slow to a crawl and then reboot itself.
>>>Secondly, wireless coverage is mediocre.
>>
>>File sharing like Bittorrent opens a great many connections that can
>>cause many low end devices to fall over and die. Try greatly limiting
>>the number of connections.
>>
>>>I'm now set to go out and purchase a Linksys wrt54gl
>>>retire the Netgear for a second time and
>>>connect it as I did the netgear, and use the superior
>>>wireless and router capabilities of the new device.
>>
>>If so, use DD-WRT firmware with connections cranked up to 4,096.

>Thanks John. I'll look into that firmware.
>I'm assuming because you didn't say anything to the contrary,
>that the DMZ mechanism is an acceptible way to accomplish
>what I'm trying to do.

So-called "DMZ" is a _huge_ security hole, not a real DMZ, and won't
help on any connection problem. In general, I strongly advise against
using the "DMZ" feature. Do minimal port forwarding instead, opening
and closing them as needed (e.g., with UPnP).

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 01:44:59 GMT, John Navas
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:40:10 GMT, dave xnet <(E-Mail Removed)>

>>Thanks John. I'll look into that firmware.
>>I'm assuming because you didn't say anything to the contrary,
>>that the DMZ mechanism is an acceptible way to accomplish
>>what I'm trying to do.
>
>So-called "DMZ" is a _huge_ security hole, not a real DMZ, and won't
>help on any connection problem.

John, I'm not exposing a PC to the DMZ IP - instead, the Linksys
wrt54gl router will be connected there.

> In general, I strongly advise against
>using the "DMZ" feature. Do minimal port forwarding instead, opening
>and closing them as needed (e.g., with UPnP).

I'm setting DMZ on the Actiontec as a method of connecting it
to the Linksys.
Nothing else will be connected to the Actiontec and wireless will
be turned off there too.

The wrt54gl WAN port will be connected to the DMZ IP on the
Actiontec LAN port via a CAT5 cable. Within the Linksys router
will be NAT and SPI to handle the security.

As I mentioned in my first post I really want the Actiontec to
be just a DSL modem and to disregard all it's other capabilities.
Perhaps there is some other method of setting up the Actiontec
modem to accomplish this, but I'm not aware of it.

Here is what it will look like:
DSL connection >DSL phone cable> Actiontec dsl/gateway (DMZ) >CAT5>
Linksys >CAT5> pc1
Linksys> wireless> pc2

Why am I doing this? I agree the use of the wrt54gl seems redundant
because the actiontec does it all. The reason is, the actiontec is a
poor piece of kit. This is why I am attempting to offload
the NAT/router/wireless functions to the new device and use
the Actiontec purely (or as close as I can get) as the modem.

Hope this is clear -
Dave

On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 03:09:02 GMT, dave xnet <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in <(E-Mail Removed)>:

>John, I'm not exposing a PC to the DMZ IP - instead, the Linksys
>wrt54gl router will be connected there.
>...
>Why am I doing this? I agree the use of the wrt54gl seems redundant
>because the actiontec does it all. The reason is, the actiontec is a
>poor piece of kit. This is why I am attempting to offload
>the NAT/router/wireless functions to the new device and use
>the Actiontec purely (or as close as I can get) as the modem.

I doubt that will remove any real load from the Actiontec, since it's
still going through NAT (and now you'll have double NAT). See if
there's a way to configure the Actiontec as a bridge, rather than as a
router.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

On Mon, 05 Feb 2007 05:40:29 GMT, John Navas
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 03:09:02 GMT, dave xnet <(E-Mail Removed)>
>wrote in <(E-Mail Removed)>:
>
>>John, I'm not exposing a PC to the DMZ IP - instead, the Linksys
>>wrt54gl router will be connected there.
>>...
>>Why am I doing this? I agree the use of the wrt54gl seems redundant
>>because the actiontec does it all. The reason is, the actiontec is a
>>poor piece of kit. This is why I am attempting to offload
>>the NAT/router/wireless functions to the new device and use
>>the Actiontec purely (or as close as I can get) as the modem.
>
>I doubt that will remove any real load from the Actiontec, since it's
>still going through NAT (and now you'll have double NAT). See if
>there's a way to configure the Actiontec as a bridge, rather than as a
>router.
Thanks for responding again. Now we're getting down to it.
DMZ worked, but your suggestion is better, and yes,
the Actiontec did work as a bridge using the retail firmware.
Thanks again.
Dave