Reconfigured Westell 6100 for wireless and my internet connection stopped working

[cbgb1]

I had my internet/phone service activated last week, but the line wasn't working, so a technician came out yesterday to restore phone service.  Both phone and internet were working when he left.  I was able to connect through my LAN connection directly to the modem.  This morning, I reconfigured the modem to work with my existing Linksys wireless router, following the instructions from the website.  Somewhere along the way, I lost the green internet light on my modem and now I cannot even connect to the internet directly through the modem. 

And because I reconfigured my wireless router for this modem, its not working with my cable modem either.  How do I get my internet to start working again?  I can't reconfigure my modem because I cannot connect to the internet with it.  I tried contacting Verizon tech on my phone, but the woman on the other end doesn't really seem to know more than me about the problem.  I spent 20 minutes with her telling me to type in 192.68.1.1 which won't work because I can't connect to the internet with the modem.

I'm getting frustrated with this whole process and thinking about just cancelling my service as I'm within my 30 day window. My cable broadband has never given me any troubles and I'm beginning to wonder if its worth the switch just to save a few bucks.

[smith6612]

What you're doing is bridging your DSL modem so that your router can hold the Public IP address. As a part of the process, setting the bridge will normally be suggested by Verizon to disable the DHCP server in the Westell, which is what is making you lose access to the modem's Administration page, NOT the lack of Internet connectivity. Also, as part of the bridging process, the router was probably set to use PPPoE. Cable modems do not use PPPoE, generally DHCP which is the reason why your router will not work with the cable modem either. Without bridging the DSL modem, you would wind up in a Double NAT situation which can create problems for some applications, and it adds complexity to the network that doesn't need to be added. The Linksys would also have to have it's IP address changed so that you can get out to the Internet.

So anyhow, to access the modem's Administration page while in a bridge, the easiest way to do it is to assign your PC a Static IP address such as 192.168.1.200 , using a default gateway of 192.168.1.1 and a Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.0. From there, pointing your Web Browser to 192.168.1.1 should bring up the Administration page so that you can change settings on the modem itself (such as to undo the bridge or to verify your settings).

To verify your bridging settings, once you're in the modem verify that in the "My Connection > Network Connections > Broadband Connection" section of the modem where the VC settings are, that the VC connection is set to Bridge mode, not Routed Bridge mode. From there, plug into your Linksys and use DHCP to get an address from the Linksys, and then verify using the Linksys' administration page that it is set up to use PPPoE and it is using your Verizon Username and Password for PPPoE Login.

[cbgb1]

Thank you very much for responding.  I'm not computer illiterate, but feel that way when it comes to routers and modems.

I tried what you suggested, assigning my pc a static IP address and opened a browser window to go to 192.168.1.1, however, it still will not open anything.

If the internet light on my modem is not green, doesn't that mean that the internet is not working?  My modem is acting exactly the same way it did when I first plugged it into a dead outlet.  My phone still has a dial tone though, so I know the line isn't dead.  I just can't understand that if reconfiguring the modem (i.e., using the browser to access 192.168.1.1) requires an internet connection, but my internet connection light is not on, how will it be possible.

Any other suggestions?  Should I just call my cable company and see if they can help me reconfigure my wirelss router to stay with them?

[smith6612]

To get the router working again with the Cable company, log into your router and switch it from "PPPoE" to DHCP. Reboot your cable modem and plug in the router, and you should be able to have it work again.

As for the Westell, if you cannot access it what so ever, hold down the reset button found on the back of it for 30 seconds. This will reset the modem to factory defaults. Give the modem about a minute to do it's thing, and from there try connecting to it's Administration pages once again. Be aware, if it does work it may prompt you for a Username and Password. Enter in admin/password as the credentials. From this point, you will need to change the modem password. Change it, and then visit http://192.168.1.1/verizon/redirect.htm and disable the modem's walled garden. From there, you can verify whether or not your modem is using PPPoE or DHCP (Verizon uses DHCP in ex-GTE areas mostly) looking right on the main page, and bridge the modem by changing the setting in the VC Connection section of the modem.

Also, the modem doesn't even need to be physically connected to a telephone jack/Internet and synced to the DSLAM access the administration page. That is served up by a local web server found on the modem itself which is in operation from the time the modem boots. It'd be pointless to make a modem not accessible settings-wise if the Internet is down; it'd be considered a dumb modem from that point and would not even have an administration page, thus would be in "Bridged" mode from the get go.

It is worth mentioning though, that if the modem is bridged the Internet light will be off. That only lights if the modem is doing the Authentication/holding the Public IP address. The ONLY reason that Internet light will light up in a bridge mode is if you are using an ISP that uses PPPoA, instead of PPPoE (Verizon is not one of these providers). To bridge a PPPoA connection, the modem would need to authenticate the connection before your router attempts to use PPPoE to authenticate. This is due to the fact that DSL runs over an ATM network, and ATM packets can only be decoded by the device immediately connecting to the network, such as a modem. Of course, that's in most cases.