I set up my own wireless router but can't access devices on Actiontec

[vinchanity]

I have Actiontec V1000h with 31.121L.13 firmware which is connected to a Telus Alcatel ONT optical fibre router. My Actiontec router has HPNA cable/ethernet devices (pvr and cisco tv boxes as well as DVD and XBOX360) connected to it as well as devices on the LAN ports. Because the wireless on the Actiontec has poor coverage, I bought a netgear nighthawk R7000 wireless router. I followed another user's advice and used a switch to multiply the one port enabled on the Alcatel optical router. My nighthawk is then connected to the switch and so is the Actiontec. Both Actiontec and nighthawk are gateway mode. The wireless access is great but devices on wireless network can't see the devices on the Actiontec. Anyone know how to remedy this? For example, if I am connected wireless, I can't hit the login for the Actiontec router. Similarly, if I am on ethernet on Actiontec, I can't hit the login page for the Netgear nighthawk router.

[Nighthawk]

No easy remedy for it short of moving all devices to one router. If you have a switch on the ONT both routers will have external IP addresses and will not be able to directly see each other.

I have two routers on mine. One for Optik TV only. The other for all my other devices. Maybe consider moving everything but the TVs to the Netgear router and see how that works.

[vinchanity]

Thanks for the comments nighthawk. I was afraid that this was too good to be true. The reason i went in this direction is that the Alacatel ONT is in my lowest floor while my Actiontec was installed by Telus on my third floor. The Actiontec on the 3rd floor connects to the Alcatel (thats how Telus installed it due to convenience i think of the precabling of ethernet/telephone jack down to the Alcatel in basement.

You are right that I have a situation where both both routers on the switches are on separate lans but i was hoping that there was a way to make them visible to each other. I thought I could configure gateway on each router but couldn't find any options on either router. I thought that this was a similar problem that most companies have when trying to allow 2 separate networks to talk to each other but maybe not with residential routers. Any corporate it people here? otherwise I would need to move the nighthawk off the Alcatel and bring it upstairs next to the Actiontec and make the nighthawk a wireless access point. It just seems there has to be a way....

[nasty]

So you've got a ethernet cable from the ONT up to the 3rd floor?  Put your switch on the third floor....unless it's you need the Nighthawk downstairs.

[NFtoBC]

My setup is as follows:

Zyxel router connected to DSL (no fibre yet) this unit provides all DCHP functions

a switch to create additional ethernet ports at my desk - connected to one of the LAN ports on the Zyxel

a router to create a series of connections & a wireless access point at my livingroom TV - connected LAN to LAN on the Zyxel This router has DHCP turned off, and simply acts as a switch to prevent double NAT 

All my devices can see one another.

[xray · Accepted solution]

This is how I have mine setup:

- R7000 WAN port -> Actiontec V1000h LAN port
- R7000 DHCP server assigning 192.168.0.* IP addresses.
- Actiontec DHCP server assigning 192.168.1.* IP addresses.
- Actiontec wireless disabled.
- Only Optik boxes and R7000 WAN port on Actiontec subnet
- Assign static IP for R7000 on the Actiontec.
- All other devices on the R7000 LAN or wireless.
- A couple of ports on Actiontec forwarded to R7000 and the same ports forwarded from R7000 to security camera DVR

I have no problems seeing the Actiontec or the Optik boxes from the R7000 LAN. I have no need to see inside my R7000 LAN from any device on the Actiontec LAN. I don't think it's possible to set up routing on Actiontec to get to the R7000 LAN.

[vinchanity]

Hi X-ray, thanks for that, I've now set up similar to yours. This mostly works for me except for the following. Because a lot of my devices are on the actiontec cable/Ethernet HPNA connection, they are on a 192.168.1.x subnet while my nighthawk is on the other subnet 192.168.0.x. Although I can still "see" most devices from either subnet, I get odd behaviour from some devices/software--example: my squeezebox touch can't be found via wireless from my iPad squeezebox but I can access it via DLNA. Weird? I also lose speed that I had by hanging it directly from Alcatel. I may experiment some more later but current this gives me most functionality I need with the exception of my squeezebox so far....I haven't tested all other devices but most of them are DLNA so should be fine.

[vinchanity]

Quick update that I was unhappy with having 2 separate networks (192.168.0.x Netgear) and (192.168.1.x Actiontec) with the Actiontec LAN port connected to the WAN of the Netgear. Although the separation can be desirable for some people/situations, I wanted a seemless home network where all my device could see each other. The problem with LAN-WAN situation was with my squeezebox could only occasionally be recognized. I learned that the Netgear WAN port connection meant that there is a double NAT. The netgear NAT would easily redirect to devices on the Actiontec but would block requests from the Actiontec down to any devices on the Netgear.

Anyways I decided to hook up the Netgear LAN to the Actiontec LAN, make the IP of Netgear to be within the Actiontec range and then hardcodeReserve it on the Actiontec so that it never changes. I gave up on the idea of faster speeds hooking up to the Alcatel ONT router. I had to give up on this idea because I had to move the Netgear next to the Actiontec. Compromise but better than the headhaches trying to resolve issues of devices on separate networks.

[xray]

Glad to hear you got it working. My setup works for me because my Actiontec is in the basement and I have no need to connect any devices to it other than the Optik boxes. I also have my house prewired with Ethernet cable when I built it so it allows me a lot of flexibility.

[Jeff_E]

If you're running a double NAT like this, it might be a good idea to set your Netgear IP address as static, and make it a DMZ host on your Actiontec. This will  ensure that the Actiontec isn't blocking any ports to the Netgear so the Netgear router can manage its own ports.