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My ISP forces me to use Linksys 900e, Help!

Tags:
  • Routers
  • Internet Service Providers
  • Netgear
  • Linksys
Last response: in Networking
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July 22, 2014 6:09:41 PM

Hi all, Igot a question which is driving my crazy...
My new ISP is the only ISP to offer 100MB plans, so its either have them or settle for 7MB....
Anyway they force you to use a Linksys 900e (they say its to simplify maintenance), you can set an AP in the background with your own router but you loose security and an extra hop that is not needed and i generally think the Linksys900 is extremely limited...

My old trusty router that i would like to use is a Netgear WNDR 4500, if i connect it directly I do get an IP (maxing out at 20MB) but not the Fixed IP the Linksys 900e gets that can use the full 100MB.
So I have tried to no avail to clone the Mac address of my main router (they set a FIXED IP via DHCP that is allowed to use the 100Mb plan) and the DHCP will not assign the correct IP to my router, in fact if i set that IP manually with the Mac address being cloned It simply won't be able to network my my ISP and gets totally blocked.

I need some insight on to what type of blocking they are doing or what type verification they are using. I have been able to obtain the admin password to the Linksys900e but besides a hash that verifies the the firmware i see nothing special in the configuration.

Thanks in advance for any advise!

More about : isp forces linksys 900e

July 22, 2014 7:02:27 PM

Read the fine print on your TS (Terms of Service). Having secondary router behind the master one does not compromise security - set that second router' IP address in DMZ, and here you go.
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July 31, 2014 9:18:19 AM

Thanks for the reply but i tend to desagree with you on not compromising security...
If you cannot control the switching system that switches all of your devices in your home then who ever can does in fact have an access to those devices... Specially if the device that is behind the main rauoter its an AP, at least that is how my Netgear is settup behind the main router, leaving all NAT to the main raouter.
The solution you propose to put the other router as a DMZ device would be posible but the LinkSys e900 only has 10/100 ports so that whould in fact slow my network down? I would tend to think so, please correct me if im wrong.

Anyway part of my question is how can they know if your trying to clone the mac address, and if it is a problem with my netgear? Say i buy a Rukus, would this work?

Thanks again for any advice.
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July 31, 2014 10:30:41 AM

Hard to say how they are locking this down. They can't do much other than lock the IP and lock the mac address and you should be able to clone those. I suppose you could try directly connecting your PC and set the IP and set the mac in the driver just to be sure there is no strange bug in the mac cloning on your router.

If it does not work a wireshark capture may give you a clue what they are up to.

You could also try loading dd-wrt or one of the other open source firmwares on your netgear. It should give you more options to look at and log things and if there is a bug in the cloning it make work better. The linksys will load dd-wrt also but I am not so sure I would mess with that router a lot if the ISP wants control.
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July 31, 2014 11:10:26 AM

I think you should either put the Linksys900 in bridge mode (if possible) or use its DMZ as Alabalcho said. If you take it out of the picture completely then if there is a problem (even if its a problem on the line unrelated to the router) your ISP is likely to not help fix it since you took out the router they told you to have.
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