Adding standalone router to working Obi 202 configuration

[Lafong]

Hello everyone---

I'm pretty much a newbie who bought an Obi 202 in late 2013 and made a series of posts about it then, but nothing since. It's worked well with Callcentric so I've left it alone and haven't expanded my knowledge—if it ain't broke........

But I have some hardware changes upcoming for which I need assistance.

I know very little about routers and home networks and have never owned a standalone router. As a learning experience, I did a hard reset on the Obi yesterday and was able to reconfigure it and my Callcentric service manually without Obitalk. It's working OK again.

And I fiddled with the Obi IVR via phone pushbuttons and was able to enable and disable the Obi's router/bridge setting. So I'm fairly comfortable with that.

My current configuration (the cabling chain):

Cable Internet coax to Motorola Surfboard modem. Ethernet cable from Surfboard to Obi 202 Internet port. Ethernet from Obi 202 LAN port to PC NIC port. Obi phone port 1 connected to 1980s style Panasonic desktop phone.

Obi 202 in standard router mode. No other router involved at all. No portable devices. No cell phones. No wireless.

The new hardware will arrive later this week. I'm getting rid of my cable TV service entirely.

The new equipment:

Roku 3 media streaming device

TP-Link TL-WDR3600 wireless router with 4 wired Ethernet LAN ports

I have no present intention of using the wireless capability of this router. I'd much prefer Ethernet all the way.

So, I will need to integrate this new router and the Roku into the chain.

I spent most of yesterday searching this forum and elsewhere for the best practices on this. I found quite a few comments, but there didn't seem to be a clearcut solution....lots of suggestions with nothing definitive. Some threads dead-ended with no solution.

I don't expect the Roku to be a big problem. I intend to connect it by HDMI to my TV and by Ethernet to the TP-Link router.

But high speed Internet and Callcentric VOIP phone, using 2 routers?

I could  try:

Cable Internet coax to Motorola Surfboard modem. Ethernet cable from Surfboard to Obi 202 Internet port with the Obi in bridged mode. Ethernet from Obi 202 LAN port to new router WAN port. PC and Roku connected by Ethernet to LAN ports on the new router.

Or turn off the routing capability of the new router (if possible and how?) and leave the Obi in router mode, using the new router as a glorified switch. Connect the new router to the LAN port of the Obi 202. Connect the PC and the Roku to the Ethernet ports of the new router.

Or?

The lack of a well-documented solution suggests that there is more trial and error involved than I'd prefer.

My Internet is via Cox and I'm nearly certain they won't give me more than 1 IP address—which appears to be "dynamic", changing every few months.

Your best ideas would be appreciated. Stability and reliability are my foremost concerns. I'd prefer to configure manually and avoid Obitalk as much as possible.

Thanks in advance.

[drgeoff]

1. If you intend to configure the OBi locally either set it to Bridge mode or Enable System Management/Device Admin/AccessFromWAN.

2. Power off everything.

3. Connect modem to WAN port of new router.

4. Connect WAN port of OBi202 to one of LAN ports on new router.

5. Connect PC, Roku etc to other LAN ports of new router.

6. Power up the modem.

7. Wait 2 minutes or whatever time the modem needs to fully boot. Power up the router.

8. Wait 2 minutes.  Power up the OBi and everything else.

9. Check everything is working.

10. Optional: Pat yourself on the back and have a beer.

The first method you describe will not work properly.  The second method will work but the OBi's built-in router has poor performance compared to a modern router.  (You would not need to turn off the new router's router functionality. Just don't plug anything into its WAN port; the other 4 ports would work as an ethernet switch.)

That Cox may give you a dynamic IP address is of no consequence for the OBi, the Roku or your computer.

[Taoman]

+1 I would do exactly what drgeoff suggests.

[Lafong]

Aye aye.

Thanks guys, that's what I'll try when this stuff gets here on Friday, if Amazon can be believed.

Drgeoff:

Regarding your step 1: which of the 2 methods you list is preferred and why?

I suppose enabling access from WAN is less error-prone. I found that setting.

Any other router pointers appreciated. I've deliberately avoided them for 20 years due to anxiety about configuration and maintenance hell. I'm not a habitual firmware-updater or fiddler. I'd like to set stuff up once and forget it.

[drgeoff]

I would put the OBi in bridge mode. Having the OBi202 in router mode has no benefit unless there is something downstream on the LAN side.

Having the 202 in bridge mode means the two ethernet jacks become equal. (The 202 becomes a 3 port switch.  Two external ports and one internal for the OBi's VoIP machinations.)  Your VoIP does not stop working if you inadvertently connect the one labelled LAN to the new router. And you get an additional LAN port on the same sub-net as everything else on your network. That might be handy should you ever want to site a networked item closer to the OBi than your router or if you need more than the four on the new router.

However there is little in it. Just be sure to do one of them or you won't be able to access the 202's internal web server except by plugging a computer into the 202's LAN jack.