WA1003A Modem not accessible/ placed in front of Vonage RT31

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 08, 2009 Posts: 1

Hi,

I have a HUAWEI WA1003A ADSL Modem for BSNL connection in India.

Vonage router RT31P2 is placed behind the modem.
I was not part of current configuration but everything is working fine from Vonage side.

The problem is that I am not able to access WA1003A modem's configuration at all. I am not able to ping it or access it via its regular url of 192.168.1.1.

Reason for resolving this issue is that this modem has Wireless capabilities which I am not able to use/ which is a biggie for me as there are 2 other laptops that are not in wireable distance from the router.

I am scared that until I understand the solution and steps completely , I dont want to play around with existing config.

Some probing done :

when I do ipconfig
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 4:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 PL Network Connect
ion
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-XX-XX-7C-XX-3A
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 218.xxx.xxx.xxx
218.xxx.2xx.1xx
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, March 08, 2009 3:35:29 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, March 09, 2009 3:35:29 AM

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection 7:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Networ
k Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-XX-XX-xxx
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.155.121
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

The wireless connection is not able to get any ip from the WA1003A modem.

Configuration diagram

ISP/BSNL phone Line => WA 1003A modem => RT31P2.

RT31P2 has been configured to PPP0E.
Cannot understand the functionality of WA Modem ? I believe it can act as a router too / hence should be able to spit out 'ip' to various computers via wireless connectivity.

Thanks

Posts: 628 · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:39 am Post subject:

Quote:

RT31P2 has been configured to PPP0E.
Cannot understand the functionality of WA Modem ? I believe it can act as a router too / hence should be able to spit out 'ip' to various computers via wireless connectivity.

You actually answered your own question and did not know it. If a client(in this case the RT31P2) is configured for PPPoE behind a modem that is also a router, this means the modem has been placed into Bridged mode. When a modem has been placed into Bridged mode, all router functions are disabled. This includes DHCP server, routing, and wireless capabilities.

To correct, you would have to be able to reconfigure the modem by directly connecting a PC to it and statically assigning the PC with a 192.168.1.2 address or perform a factory reset on the modem which normally puts it back to the default router mode. Then you would need to configure the PPPoE on the modem and change the RT31P2 back to DHCP.

Quote:

I was not part of current configuration but everything is working fine from Vonage side.

Someone probably placed the modem into Bridged mode because Vonage was not working or was having issues with the router/firewall in the modem. So I don't recommend making these changes unless you feel confident you can get it all back online and working as desired. If you just want wireless functions, get a wireless router or just an access point and connect it to one of the Ethernet ports on the RT31P2.