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Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switches

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:57 am
by gamerforever
Hi guys, just a quick query for your networking experts.

I just got Plusnet Fibre and basically the router they sent is connected to a netgear 100Mbps powerline adaptor, which is then connected to another router in another room, which is another wireless netgear router (that I have converted into a wireless switch).

My issue is the main plusnet router has a decent speed of 33 Mbps, but the other one (connected via the powerline adaptor in the other room) is slower, around 13 Mbps.

Since the installation of the fibre modem and new router I cannot access the other router (connected via powerline) either for some odd reason. Even if I ipconfig/all on the command prompt I can only see the ip address of the new plusnet router now, which is odd. Previously, I could log on to both routers.

Any clues on how I can alter my setup?

Basically I have an additional wireless router and powerline adaptors as wireless does not transmit so well everywhere.

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:49 am
by systematic
What's the IP address of the Plusnet router and what range of IP addresses does it assign to devices that connect with it?

The IP address of your access point should be manually set so it doesn't fall in the range of IP addresses assigned by the Plusnet router.

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 8:06 am
by gamerforever
systematic wrote:What's the IP address of the Plusnet router and what range of IP addresses does it assign to devices that connect with it?

The IP address of your access point should be manually set so it doesn't fall in the range of IP addresses assigned by the Plusnet router.


The plusnet routers ip is 192.168.1.254 and i believe the router in my room was 192.168.0.235. I can't access my router when i put that ip in, only the plusnet router.

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 8:27 am
by Errkal
You need to make sure the wireless ap is on the same ip range as the router.

if the router 10.179.1.1 and th a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 you need to make sure the first 3 sets of numbers are the same and the last one is different.

also you would probably want to disable dhcp on the wireless ap as the dhcp requests should all be serves by the plus net router to ensure all devices are on the same network.

the issue you have is that because the address are different the devices are on 2 different subnets so effectively 2 networks which wont be able to talk.

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:34 am
by gamerforever
Errkal wrote:You need to make sure the wireless ap is on the same ip range as the router.

if the router 10.179.1.1 and th a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 you need to make sure the first 3 sets of numbers are the same and the last one is different.

also you would probably want to disable dhcp on the wireless ap as the dhcp requests should all be serves by the plus net router to ensure all devices are on the same network.

the issue you have is that because the address are different the devices are on 2 different subnets so effectively 2 networks which wont be able to talk.


Ah, so i should put the plusnet one on 192.168.0.235? Or similar? Thanks for your help btw!

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:41 am
by Errkal
Exactly. And then you will need to change the dhcp range it is using to match the new ip too. You may also want to set an exception in there too for the wireless app so that the dhcp server doesn't try giving out that address, or make the range so that the two routers arnt included.

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 10:39 am
by gamerforever
Errkal wrote:Exactly. And then you will need to change the dhcp range it is using to match the new ip too. You may also want to set an exception in there too for the wireless app so that the dhcp server doesn't try giving out that address, or make the range so that the two routers arnt included.


Ok, so what would you suggest? Thanks again btw.

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 10:42 am
by Errkal
I would set an exception.

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:05 am
by gamerforever
Changing the IP of my Plusnet router is a right pain. Perhaps if I reset my Netgear and change that? I have a feeling even if I reset the Netgear I won't be able to discover it because of the way the Plusnet one has been configured!

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:12 am
by gamerforever
Ok, thanks for the help, I reset the router in my room, logged in, changed the IP to 192.168.1.99, so its on the same subnet as the main router and turned DHCP off.

I am not getting the speeds in my room too!

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:17 pm
by Chickenwings147
can't help with your initial query, but are you aware that powerline adaptors may not be able to give you the same MB/s as you'd get with an ethernet wired connection?

I've got a 47mb connection from my home hub, but when I used powerline adaptors to the room where my PC is I only got about 10MB speeds. I ran an ethernet cable up the stairs and am now getting full speeds

Re: Fibre Broadband, Powerline Adaptors and Wireless Switche

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:35 pm
by gamerforever
Chickenwings147 wrote:can't help with your initial query, but are you aware that powerline adaptors may not be able to give you the same MB/s as you'd get with an ethernet wired connection?

I've got a 47mb connection from my home hub, but when I used powerline adaptors to the room where my PC is I only got about 10MB speeds. I ran an ethernet cable up the stairs and am now getting full speeds


Yes, that's partly it. Seem to be getting better speeds by using a newer adsl 2+ router as a wireless switch in my room. Cabling everything will just be a hassle and costly, so i'll leave that option out right now!

On the whole happy now that my monthly limit is not capped, which means i can stream hd content over the internet without any worries. Bbciplayer on ps3 works a treat, but we need sky go on it too now. Why hasn't it happened?