Author Topic: IP address issues - Is static a good thing for me?  (Read 3606 times)

Offline mfsoa

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IP address issues - Is static a good thing for me?
« on: November 14, 2015, 12:52:04 PM »
Hoping someone can help out-

I have a combined Centurylink modem/router w/ 4 ethernet ports. When I use this device by itself the many wired and wireless devices in the house, including 1 SB Touch (ethernet), 3 SB Duets (2 x ethernet, 1 x wireless) and 1 SB Radio (wireless), seem to work reliably enough. I have a few switches also and these seem to work just fine.

But, my son claims that in order to play some online game on his phone, he needs to be connected to (maybe just in the presence of, or maybe triangulated by etc.) two wireless networks. So we plugged in another wireless router (Cisco, also 4 ethernet ports) into one of the ports on the Centurylink modem/router and this creates a second wireless network in the house.

But I think I'm having IP conflicts I assume because both routers are trying to issue IP addresses. (my understanding is limited - enough to be dangerous though) and the various SB devices become disconnected and very difficult or impossible to reconnect until I disconnect the Cisco.

We just disabled the DHCP server on the Cisco and maybe that will do the trick but I have questions-

1) If we disable DHCP on the Cisco, can we still connect to it wirelessly? The signal is much better on this router.
2) Will I benefit from static IPs for my many devices? If so, do I set them in the Centurylink modem/router? Do I set the IP of the Cisco in the Centurylink?

I guess these are simple questions for some but I have never issued static IPs before and I'm not sure where this is done - I guess at the modem/router and not the devices. I guess this is done by MAC address of the connected devices?

Thanks for any help

-Mike



Offline richidoo

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Re: IP address issues - Is static a good thing for me?
« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2015, 02:13:07 PM »
Hoping someone can help out-
I'll try, but anyone feel free to step in and correct my 20 year old ethernet training! I was certified on Cabletron and 3com! hahaha

Quote
I have a combined Centurylink modem/router w/ 4 ethernet ports. When I use this device by itself the many wired and wireless devices in the house, including 1 SB Touch (ethernet), 3 SB Duets (2 x ethernet, 1 x wireless) and 1 SB Radio (wireless), seem to work reliably enough. I have a few switches also and these seem to work just fine.

But, my son claims that in order to play some online game on his phone, he needs to be connected to (maybe just in the presence of, or maybe triangulated by etc.) two wireless networks.

Assuming your cable internet speed is faster than your wifi then he is trying to eliminate the wifi leg from being the slowest by using two legs of wifi. I doubt typical 100Mbps wifi is too slow for any networked video game, but I could be wrong.

Some routers are dual band, meaning they can duplex on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz band simultaneously. But I had not heard of the abiity to use both bands simultaneously from the same client. Not all routers can do that. The phone may not be able to do that either. ymmv  I don't enough to advise about that.  A single leg of 2.4Ghz with minimal interference and good signal is still capable of >10Mbps, so that should be more than enough for any video game. It's not the bandwidth they need, it's the response time.

You can use a network speed testing app to check your speed, like
speedtest.net, and testmy.net.
Then try all the different wifi channels on your wifi (change them in wifi setup) to find the fastest (least interference.) This can make a big difference if your neighbors and their portable land lines and all there GHz appliances are all on one channel. Use trymy.net to do extended testing if it is intermittent fast and slow. It will automatically run tests on your scheduled interval with your size test.

Then if you really want to go crazy, set a priority in the router for his phone or even for his game ahead of other clients. You and your wife will really love that when you are streaming a movie, but remember, "it's for the children!™"    Your cable modem may not be able to do priority routes, but some home routers have such advanced features. On my ASUS router they call it NAT Acceleration, Cut Through Acceleration, and Flow Acceleration. Also Jumbo frames enabled might help, but might hurt, you have to test.

ALso Wifi channel bandwidth will have an effect on performance, especially if there is interference. My router's setup info is here:
http://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1011431/
Maybe you can look into yours for similar settings and google what the hell they mean.

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So we plugged in another wireless router (Cisco, also 4 ethernet ports) into one of the ports on the Centurylink modem/router and this creates a second wireless network in the house.

But I think I'm having IP conflicts I assume because both routers are trying to issue IP addresses. (my understanding is limited - enough to be dangerous though) and the various SB devices become disconnected and very difficult or impossible to reconnect until I disconnect the Cisco.

You only want one DHCP server on your LAN. You can set its IP range to serve more addresses if you need more than 256. That's probably the source of your problem.

Quote
We just disabled the DHCP server on the Cisco and maybe that will do the trick but I have questions-

1) If we disable DHCP on the Cisco, can we still connect to it wirelessly? The signal is much better on this router.

The Cisco can be set to be only a "wireless access point," not a router. It will connect to the SSID of the main router with the DHCP server. Disable the Cisco DHCP, of course you already did that.  Speed tweaks I mentioned above could be applied to the Cisco WAP too.  

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2) Will I benefit from static IPs for my many devices? If so, do I set them in the Centurylink modem/router?

Usually not. Static IP does not increase speed or convenience. Some devices can't do DHCP, but they are few nowadays. Poor networkers like printers and such sometimes easier to manage with static, and if you want to hit a main resource like a NAS or your routers then then should be static so you can remember the addresses easily. But it's just as easy to hit their names.

The way I do it is to set DHCP server's dynamic IP range from .100-.150 and the rest are static. Make the routers .1 (main) and .2 (WAP) and then make NAS and printer .200, 201, etc.

Make as many clients DHCP as possible. They can heal their own IP problems if their software allows it. They are getting better and better at that now.


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Do I set the IP of the Cisco in the Centurylink?
No, I think you just tell the cisco to be a WAP to the CenturyLink router. Once you set WAP it will show you what it needs. You don't want it to route, unless you want to give him NAT priority over other traffic on the Cisco.  

Quote
I guess these are simple questions for some but I have never issued static IPs before and I'm not sure where this is done - I guess at the modem/router and not the devices. I guess this is done by MAC address of the connected devices?

The DHCP server sets aside static IPs, so they won't be issued to dynamic IP clients. But then you are the who issues them to the clients needing static IPs. You decide what IP each client should get. You enter the IP and all the other info like subnet mask and gateway IPs, DNS IPs into the client's network setup dialog manually.


Hope this helps!
Rich
« Last Edit: November 14, 2015, 02:25:48 PM by richidoo »

Offline shadowlight

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Re: IP address issues - Is static a good thing for me?
« Reply #2 on: November 14, 2015, 02:52:46 PM »
Mike,

Couple of other things to add over what Rich already mentioned. 

Make sure that the SSID on the CenturyLink and Cisco wireless access points are different.  If you have the same ssid you will run into issues.  If the Cisco wireless is better than CenturyLink I would turn off the wireless on the CL router and take a wired connections from the CL router to the Cisco Lan.  Doing that you can use the Cisco as wireless access point and the DHCP is still controlled by the CL router.  I use T-Mobile's Asus router to provide 2 different ssid.  One for 802.11ac which is mostly used for audio right now using 5Ghz band and another for the other devices running at 2.4Ghz.  As Rich said make sure that you do not have any interference from other access point but using different channel id for your router.  I think you are safe from channel interference since your neighbor's are far from you but make sure that the CL and Cisco are using different channels.