OBiTALK Community

General Support => Installation and Set-Up (Devices) => Topic started by: PeterB on April 21, 2012, 04:27:52 PM

Title: Setting up an OBi202 in "Bridge mode"
Post by: PeterB on April 21, 2012, 04:27:52 PM
Just got my OBi202 and have been trying to set it up.  Going through the normal setups guides works fine; however I would really like to set it up in what I understand to be "bridge mode". (Attaching the OBi202 between the router and the cable/dsl modem.)

To do this I attached a cable between my cable modem and the "Internet" port and attached a cable between the "LAN" port and my computer.  I used the phone interface dialing "***0 31# 1 1# 1" which should set it in bridge mode.  This seemed to partially work. I still have internet on my computer and ipconfig says i'm connected directly to Comcast, however now the OBi202 doesn't work.  The power LED just flashes (That means it had no IP address?)

Are there additional steps to setup the OBi202 as a bridge?  Has anyone else gotten this to work?
Title: Re: Setting up an OBi202 in "Bridge mode"
Post by: RonR on April 21, 2012, 05:28:15 PM
I don't believe you'll be able to sandwich the OBi202 in Bridge between your cable modem and your existing computer or router.

In Bridge mode, the OBi202 is effectively a 3-port Ethernet switch, with one of those ports connected to the internal workings of the OBi.  Both the OBi202 and your existing computer or router need to obtain an IP address, but your ISP likely only allows a single IP address to be allocated through your cable modem.

Consequently, you'll need to connect the OBi202 in Bridge mode and your computer to the LAN ports on an existing router that's connected to your cable modem in order for all of your devices to share the single IP address that's available from your ISP.

To accomplsih what you set out to do, you'd need to purchase a second IP address from your ISP, assuming they offer that capability.

Note: Once a cable modem issues an IP address to a particular device, it typically remembers that device's MAC address and won't issue an IP address to any other device without the cable modem being power-cycled.  This means that if you disconnect your computer in order to see if the OBi202 will work by iself, you must power-cycle the cable modem before the OBi202 will be able to obtain the one available IP address.
Title: Re: Setting up an OBi202 in "Bridge mode"
Post by: Jeff205 on July 18, 2012, 06:00:18 PM
I am just now setting up the Obi202, but can't you place it between the modem and wireless router if you set up the Obi202 as the router (let it handle DHCP) and turn off DHCP on the wireless?  Is this possible?  If so, please direct me to the setup instructions.  Are there any security concerns with this setup?

I realize PeterB is looking to do "Bridge mode" so sorry if this is off topic.
Title: Re: Setting up an OBi202 in "Bridge mode"
Post by: Felix on July 18, 2012, 11:35:56 PM
It is possible; but you need to set up your router in a bridge mode (turning off DHCP is just part of it). Depending on the firmware in your router, it may be easy, difficult, or impossible. Consumer routers also may use the term "Access point", rather than "bridge mode". If you have DD-WRT (and even if you don't), you can look here (http://dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linking_Routers) for a primer.