Home Networking and Router Help

[ctine]

Hi...I have read many and tried all the necessary set up procedures listed in forum(s), plus spoke with Comcast and NETGEAR technical support.

I am trying to install a NETGEAR wireless router; Model WNR834B to my desktop running XP, Comcast Triple Play with an ARRIS telephoney modem to connect with my laptop running Vista.

I have had no luck regarding any and or all installation procedures. Have Googled this and have followed any suggestions and still no wireless connection. Some have claimed that my modem is faulty (have internet when hardwired to modem), others claim a security block on Comcast's part for stand alone routers, etc. 

Have hooked up router to other ISP and all works fine.

Is there any other resources available to assisst with this installation?

Any suggestions and or recommendations is truly appreciated.

Thanks...

[Baric]

Comcast does NOT block any sort of router, they could care less is you're running a single PC or 10 behind a router.  They do, however, limit you to one active system at a time at the modem level (unless you pay extra) and in order to install your router, you will need to reset the cable modem.  In the case of the Arris telephony modem it's not sufficient to simply remove the power cord since the modem has an internal battery backup power system.  To reset the Arris, there is a little pinhole button on the rear of the device marked Reset, press it with a pointed non-metallic object like a toothpick or pencil tip.  This is wipe the modem's internal MAC table and allow it to recognize a new device, in this case the Netgear router.  An alternate method to reset the cable modem is to remove the battery pack.

And since you had the router hooked up at another ISP, I recommend you reset it to factory defaults to start from a nice, clean slate.  Then reapply any custom settings like password, SSID, encryption settings, MAC filtering, etc.

[ctine]

Thanks for the input... After researching MANY options, I decided to start with the initial installation of the "Triple Play". When the Comcast technicians were installing my service I was told that the only telephone jack that is a working jack would be the one connected to the modem. I have four other jacks located in my house that were now unusable. After showing my disappointment...the tech stated if an additional line is fed back to the Demarc box outside, all other phone jacks will now function. After feeding standard phone line from the Demarc box back inside to the jack where the modem is located; a "Dollar Store" splitter which I happen to have buried in a drawer in my garage was used. Both phone lines were fed into the splitter and then plugged into the modem. Needless to say I was happy that all jacks were now operating but I felt that this might be the cause of my router problem(s).

I disconnected the splitter and used the original setup (one live jack at modem location) and did a fresh install of all NETGEAR software, powercycled both modem and router, cloned mac-address and finally SUCCESS. All is working!!!  

I am guessing that the splitter off the back of the ARRIS modem was the trouble. Why...I do not know... My next step is to run CAT5 or CAT6 and do the correct installation for all said phone jacks to operate properly. I even thought of purchasing a new cordless telephone with multiple handsets but didn't want to add any additional interference.

Has anyone else had such an installation; if so, have there been problems?

Again...Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Baric]

I doubt that the phone splitter had any effect at all on the router issue.  As I said before, power cycling the Arris does nothing (because of the backup batteries), you have to reset it using the switch in the rear.  You worked around the problem by cloning your computer's MAC address into the router thus allowing the cable modem to use the already loaded MAC address in its CPE table.