Wireless Bridge and HH3 - DHCP Problems

[wrcsimon]

Morning all

I've been having a few problems with my broadband setup recently and was wondering if anyone could give me some pointers. I'd describe myself as competant with networks but in no way an expert so would be more than happy to find my issues are down to me doing something basic wrong!

For a while and across several service providers as I've moved houses, I've used a Zyxel P330W router to act as a wireless bridge to my main wireless broadband router. At the moment I am doing this with a HomeHub3 in order to get an internet connection to my Xbox 360 and internet TV which are both wired internet access only unless I purchase extortionately priced wireless adaptors. Unfortunately my preferred option of running 20m of cat5 up the stairs has been vetoed by the other half hence my current setup!

So, to the problem. With all my other routers including a previous HH2, and indeed to start with on my HH3, I set up the Zyxel as a wireless bridge to the hub following guides available on the internet and it just works - the DHCP on my primary router serves IP addresses to the devices connected to the Zyxel and they get internet access. (I can go into what I'm doing on the Zyxel in more detail if necessary, but thought I'd save some reading time). A couple of months ago I noticed I no longer had connectivity to my upstairs Xbox and TV. It's taken me until the bank holiday weekend to try and sort the issue but thus far I've had no luck!

Currently, when devices plugged into the Zyxel router try to connect to the internet they do not get served an IP address using DHCP. I can by-pass this by giving them an IP address manually on the same subnet as the Home Hub ( one that's outside of its DHCP range) and using the Home Hub's IP address as the default gateway and DNS server, but then I find that NAT doesn't work properly and devices keep dropping their connection, for example it's impossible to stay connected to Xbox live for more than a couple of minutes using this method. I reckon this may be due to all the requests coming from machines behind the Zyxel being given the IP address of the Zyxel router itself rather than the machines behind it and as such they aren't able to be routed correctly back to the machines attached to it, but that's just a theory I have at the moment.

I have checked the DHCP settings on the homehub and they are all normal. However, none of the devices connecting through the Zyxel, or even the Zyxel itself, appear as connected to the homehub, even when they are using it as a gateway and able to access the internet.

I'm a bit stuck as to what may be causing the problem. DHCP on the Zyxel is turned off as it always has been when I've used it as a bridge, and it seems to connect to the HH3's wireless network fine and be able to route traffic through to the internet, just the lack of DHCP and NAT at the moment is making the setup pretty much impossible.

If anyone can help shed any light on this, I'd really appreciate it. Otherwise I guess it's trying to pick up a wireless dongle for the Xbox on the cheap!

EDIT: Sorry forgot to mention, the HH3 is currently running the latest firmware having checked it against the BT website.

[Keith_Beddoe]

You would be much better forgetting about wireless connections to the Xbox, as wireless is generally unreliable.

There are much better ways of connecting without running cables.

Network connection problems and possible solutions

The home hub 3 does not behave very well with wireless bridges, as it confuses the DHCP server.

Universal Wireless Repeaters usually work, as they only present one MAC address to the HH3.

[wrcsimon]

Thanks for the quick reply Keith, sounds like the HH3 generally isn't a fan of the bridges! Unfortunately I already have a set of home plugs downstairs for the BT vision box. My understanding is that you can't run more than one set of these within the house, is that correct? I guess the other choice as you say would be a wireless repeater which do look cheaper than the Xbox dongles and presumably I could add a wired switch to one and route a few devices through it?

Otherwise I'll probably be moving house again with the year so will just have to plan how I set up the next one better!

Thanks again for the help.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Yes you can add more powerline adapters of the same type, each one acts as an Ethernet access point.

If you look at this page

Resetting Powerline adapters

You should be able to identify which type you have. Then you simply buy one or more of the same type, and pair them up with your existing ones.

Plenty of people do that.

A wireless repeater would introduce too much delay for an Xbox.

[wrcsimon]

Ah that's great, thanks for that Keith. Looks like that will be the best strategy for me and should mean I can adapt the setup to the house the next time I move. Thanks for all your help!

[Keith_Beddoe]

Yes, powerline adapters are easy to move from room to room, and also to another house. They are much better than using wireless.

Pleased to be of assistance