Billion UK Forum

Hi,

Having very satisfactorily used my 7800DXL for a number of months via quite a slow ADSL2 connection, I have just upgraded to BT Infinity, and received the Home Hub 5, which I intend to use as the router. The 7800DXL (previous wired and wireless router) was previously connected via a phone line extension, which with the replacement, filtered master BT socket, is now not an option.
Unfortunately, with my "wired" equipment (desktop PC, printer) located remotely from the new HH5, this presents me with a problem. This problem being that the wife seems decidedly against my installing CAT5's across the house to link up the gear.

What I would like to do, and I was wondering if it would be achievable, is construct a small wired network segment using the 7800DXL as a wireless enabled switch. Then wirelessly connect the 7800DXL to the HH5 (wireless bridge connection? sorry if I'm confusing the terminology). This would then enable me to wirelessly link to the wired segment, via the HH5, from the laptop, whilst maintaining maximum connection bandwidth for web access.

Hopefully a sketch of the intended network may clarify what I would like to do.

Master Socket
|
| Wired, modem cable
|
HH5- - - Wireless - - - Laptops, IPads, Phones etc.
|

| Wireless

|
7800DXL---Wired---Desktop, printer etc.

So, laptops and desktops can share data, along with all being able to print to (wired only, IP enabled) printer.
Also, all web enabled devices can access web.

Does this sound possible, or am I trying to pioneer the impossible?

Having followed a few threads on the forum, I have managed to set up a temporary wired connection between the 7800DXL EWAN port and one of the HH5 LAN ports. This seems to work fine to give me web access via my desktop. This also confirms that the temporary connection is good. However, I cannot seem to connect between the laptops (connecting wirelessly to the HH5) and either the desktop or the printer. This is either using explorer or even pinging the appropriate IP addresses. I am slightly surprised at this, as to my inexperienced eye, it seems that all I have done is create a network with the HH5 acting as DHCP/DNS server, and the 7800DXL working as a switch, connected via the equivalent of a conventional uplink port(?). I am thinking at the moment that if I can't connect satisfactorily via cables, then I may well be really struggling to do so wirelessly!

As the desktop and printer are not wireless devices, this rules out simply adding a wireless extender over the mains.

Any help with pointers to the correct 7800 setup would be most appreciated.

Thank you,


John

Try this

Turn off the DHCP server on the 7800DXL, plug your homehub to the any of the LAN ports, (Delete the Ethernet (EWAN) connection), so the 7800DXL will run like a wireless hub switch, then restart all devices that are connected to the 7800DXL

With this setup the HH5 should do all the routing IP address assigning etc, and they should be on one network, so you should be able to ping the other devices (as the HH5 is doing all the routing)

Regarding a wireless connection between the HH5 and DXL, the only option is WDS if the HH5 supports it, and hopefully they aren't any WDS chipset issues with compatibility

The other option is to get a set of homeplugs and replace the Ethernet connection between the two with a pair of homeplugs, (one connects to the HH5 and the other to any of the 7800DXL LAN ports with the DHCP turned off)

I hope this helps

(ps with your current setup if you are running the 7800DXL in EWAN mode this might be a issue, as the 7800DXL is issuing IP addresses to the Desktop, printer, and the HH5 is issuing IP addresses to the Laptops, IPads, Phones )

Thanks billion_fan,

I'll give this a try. Not sure about the WDS - think I've read a bit about iffy security if the chipsets aren't compatible(??).

Presently trying a powerline wired solution (didn't look carefully at the specifications properly before, so didn't think it would work - now it looks like it will. D'oh!), so hopefully the 7800DXL switch configuration will save me buying another switch.

Fingers crossed.

Thanks again,

John