University Networking Help Please

[Icaras]

Hi there,

 

I just moved into university halls and I'm having some troubles with setting up wifi for my room. It's not strictly "Allowed" but I see at least 20 working in my range. If I just plug in my router to my PC and not into my network port, I get a standard 192.168.0.1 gateway from my wireless router, but when I plug it in I get the universities gate way "136.148.0.1" and I can no longer access my router through this gateway, or the old one that previously worked.

 

However, while plugged into data my router does give out internet via ethernet, but just doesn't give out Wifi. The signal works and I can type in the correct password, but it gets stuck on giving out an IP.

 

Could comeone help me out with getting wifi to work so I can actually use my phone and Wii U?

 

I'm usually a pretty good with being able to solve these problems but this really has me stuck.

[madhopsk]

Hello,

 

To start your consumer grade "router" is actually 3 devices (router, switch, and access point) crammed into 1 box. For your needs you only want to use the switch and access point. Start by plugging the cable from your university into a switch-port and and plug a cable from your PC into a switch-port. DO NOT USE THE WAN PORT (usually the yellow colored port). Next browse to your router by going to 192.168.x.x in your browser. x.x is usually 1.0, 1.1, 10.1 or something of the like. Once logged into the router disable the DHCP server and set the SSID you want to use. Connect to the wireless and you are good to go.

[Icaras]

My router doesn't have a WAN port, it has 5 ports at the back which are combo ports, it detects input or output and depending on which the light will flash green or yellow, what do I do in this scenario?

 

http://cdn1.expertreviews.co.uk/sites/expertreviews/files/images/dir_392/er_photo_196327.jpg

 

Or can I not use my old Virgin Media Netgear router and have to buy a new one due to the coaxial part? I figured I could just ignore it and it'll function the same.

[Zauski]

Might be a bit useless to you - but most phones, with unlimited internet, can "tether" now - wouldn't that help?

[dalekphalm]

My router doesn't have a WAN port, it has 5 ports at the back which are combo ports, it detects input or output and depending on which the light will flash green or yellow, what do I do in this scenario?

 

http://cdn1.expertreviews.co.uk/sites/expertreviews/files/images/dir_392/er_photo_196327.jpg

 

Or can I not use my old Virgin Media Netgear router and have to buy a new one due to the coaxial part? I figured I could just ignore it and it'll function the same.

Hi, welcome to the forums!

 

Anyway, the "Router" you have, assuming that picture is your exact model, is actually a Modem/Router combo device, so it doesn't have a "WAN" port because that little white circular port at the bottom is a Coaxial Cable connection.

 

These devices are generally not that great, but it may still be capable of being setup the way you need it to. It will be significantly more complicated though, as you need to "disable" the modem portion of the device, as well as disable DHCP in the configuration page. Some modem/router combo units do not have the ability to disable these functions, so you'll have to check and see.

 

Can you paste a screen shot of the configuration page? Please make sure to black out (with mspaint or photoshop) any important bits like your Wifi encryption key, and any user login information that might be left over from when it was used as a Cable Modem.

 

Basically @madhopsk nailed it on the head, except your device is even more complicated then what he has mentioned. A regular consumer router is actually: a "Router", "Switch", and "Access Point". Yours is also a "Modem" in addition to those 3 things.

 

You only need a Switch and Access Point, which your device can be potentially setup as.

[Icaras]

Hi, welcome to the forums!

 

Anyway, the "Router" you have, assuming that picture is your exact model, is actually a Modem/Router combo device, so it doesn't have a "WAN" port because that little white circular port at the bottom is a Coaxial Cable connection.

 

These devices are generally not that great, but it may still be capable of being setup the way you need it to. It will be significantly more complicated though, as you need to "disable" the modem portion of the device, as well as disable DHCP in the configuration page. Some modem/router combo units do not have the ability to disable these functions, so you'll have to check and see.

 

Can you paste a screen shot of the configuration page? Please make sure to black out (with mspaint or photoshop) any important bits like your Wifi encryption key, and any user login information that might be left over from when it was used as a Cable Modem.

 

Basically @madhopsk nailed it on the head, except your device is even more complicated then what he has mentioned. A regular consumer router is actually: a "Router", "Switch", and "Access Point". Yours is also a "Modem" in addition to those 3 things.

 

You only need a Switch and Access Point, which your device can be potentially setup as.

 

Your explanation was more than enough. I figured it out from that. I feel I'm pretty able just a bit out of my depth when it comes to networking.

Wifi works fine now and so does the switch portion. Just disabled modem mode and DHCP.

 

The wifi range is pretty crap though. Are there any options I can use to help sort this, or can someone recommend me a router sub £90 that will be good.

[dalekphalm]

Your explanation was more than enough. I figured it out from that. I feel I'm pretty able just a bit out of my depth when it comes to networking.

Wifi works fine now and so does the switch portion. Just disabled modem mode and DHCP.

 

The wifi range is pretty crap though. Are there any options I can use to help sort this, or can someone recommend me a router sub £90 that will be good.

If the wifi signal is crappy, then most likely you have bad interference from all your neighbouring wifi connections. You mentioned you were detecting like 20+ wifi networks.

 

First thing I would do is download and install inSSIDer, which is a wifi analyzer:

http://www.inssider.com/

 

It will scan the supported frequencies, and check to see which channels are being used the most, and help you find out if there is a wifi channel with lower usage on it. Here is a video on using it (Just a random one I found on youtube, so I can't say how useful it will be):

 

Also check Linus' video out on the subject:

 

It's a "As Fast As Possible" video though so it's not particularly in-depth.

 

Hope that helps! Basically, worst case, you either need a more powerful AP (The ASUS routers are generally quite high powered, or the Ubiquiti AP's are also highly recommended - but neither come cheap), or the wifi saturation just might be too much.