NTL broadband thru set top box....

AMD3000+ · 11 Feb 2006 at 15:26

hey there i have an NTL broadband internet connection going thru my set top box, i have just brought a netgear wgr614 54mbps wireless router
i have tried to set this up to make my connection wireless, but i dont seem to be having much luck and i have followed all the set up guide lines on the set up....

is this the wrong type of router for the connection i have?
if so is there a router that you would advise for me to purchase instead of the netgear?

thank you from adam

tolien · 11 Feb 2006 at 16:25

What exactly doesn't work?

There's no obvious reason why that router wouldn't work, though you might have to go through the whole process of switching it off, connecting router, switching it on etc.

AMD3000+ · 11 Feb 2006 at 17:48

i did everything that it said in the set up guide.... but then it still didnt work....

OllyM · 11 Feb 2006 at 17:51

tolien said:
What exactly doesn't work?

As Tolien said earlier, what doesn't work? What happens? What do you click/do to cause the problem?

I'm not a mind reader!

MAllen · 11 Feb 2006 at 18:39

Setup the Router using a cable. Makes life easier.

Once you have connected it to the STB, you will need to register your new MAC address with NTL. So connect to http://autoreg.autoregister.net and you will be asked for your NTL PID and Password (these were on your very first letter from NTL).

If you need a serial number - "ntl-ct8-cb487" is correct for your STB.

If you cannot remember the PID and Password, then you can contact NTL support for it.

OR... you could clone your old MAC address from the STB and put this into the Netgear router. MAC address for STB should be on a lable on the old box. Then there will be a field you can edit in the Netgear control panel which will then let your Netgear box pretend to be your NTL STB.

(BTW - I do this all the time with my Brighton NTL customers... so come back with more questions as needed...)

Once you have regeistered, turn off the STB and Router. Wait 30 seconds. Turn on the STB and wait for lights to stop flashing. Then turn on your router.

AMD3000+ · 11 Feb 2006 at 20:09

hey there guys,
right then....
this is how it goes at the moment:

INTERNET (NTL set top box), ethernet cable to a USB thingy that allows it to connect using USB.

The set up of the wireless router says "You will need a wired connection for the begining part of the setup" (something along those lines)

so i keep it all setup, then when it says place the ethernet into the internet port i do exactally that.... then i have it going from the LAN1 on the wireless router to the Ethernet on my PC unit.
but the light doesnt go orange or anything, it just stays green... does that mean anything at all?

MAllen · 11 Feb 2006 at 20:25

Remove the USB thingy. (this is just a USB network card for PCs that don't have them)

Plug the Ethernet cable into the WAN side of your router. So you now have your Router conencted to your STB.

Connect a PC to the LAN side of the router.

Green is good.

Can you get the configuration page up of your netgear router? login and check the settings. (192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 username "admin" password "password" or "admin") You will probally see an IP Address from NTL on the WAN side. If not, unplug the NTL STB, wait 30 seconds, plug it back in.

The connect to the URL I mentioned above. This is in a special "parking" area of NTL which is used when configuring new hardware. You need to list your new device on NTLs system.

OR - you can try the Cloned MAC Address option.

I am about to go out for the evening, so feel free to post more questions here and I'll reply tommorow afternoon.

AMD3000+ · 11 Feb 2006 at 20:29

i have tried to connect it to the computer...

i put the STB ethernet cable into the internet port on the router,
then from the LAN1 port on the router into the ethernet port on to the PC... but its just not connecting to the internet...
i go though the setup using the CD that came with the router, and it says couldn find internet connection...

its really annoying

lol

tolien · 11 Feb 2006 at 20:32

MAllen said:
Once you have connected it to the STB, you will need to register your new MAC address with NTL.

No MAC address registration required any more (or at least, not with a SACM, suspect it's the same with a STB).

"USB thingy"? :confused:

AMD3000+ · 11 Feb 2006 at 20:37

yeh, i have a samsung STB (i have the 10mb connection)
the usb thingy, is like i plug the ethernet cable from the back of my STB, into this blue USB thingy, and then the USB thingy into a USB slot on the PC.
it was something NTL supplied me with because my ethernet on my old PC wouldnt work, and this was a solution that they came up with, slowed the connection down but apprently it didnt slow it down that much....

but i am trying to stop using this USB thingy, so that i can get the router going working, so i am plugging the ethernet from the back of the STB into the router, then from the router im having another ethernet coming off and going into the PC, i get flashing lights on the router, but no connection working on the pc.

tolien · 11 Feb 2006 at 20:47

The PC should be able to see, at the very least, the router.
Is it set to automatically get an IP? What does start, run, cmd, ipconfig /all say?

AMD3000+ · 11 Feb 2006 at 21:25

right what i just did:

i plugged the STB ethernet into the Router....

then the ethernet from PC into the router...

this makes the symbol on the router flash for the "internet connection" beign present, but it doesnt seem to want to give the pc Internet connection....

the thing i keep calling a USB thingy is called :
"SMC EZ Connect USB/Ethernet Series Converter"

That is how i connect to the net, STB to the "SMC EZ Connect USB/Ethernet Series Converter" then to USB on the PC...

i am wanting to go STB to router, router to PC....

but its not having any of it

i dont use cable modem, is that the problem?

RatsPom · 12 Feb 2006 at 10:15

It sounds like you are removing the stb ethernet from the STB and pugging it into your router. You should not do this. I too have the samsung STB and my connections are as follows:

Before making any connections ensure all equipment switched off

1 NTL Ethernet cable connected to STB
2 Using a CAT 45 ethernet cable connect STB to router
3 Using another CAT 45 cable connect router to PC
4 switch on STB
5 Switch on router
6 Switch on PC and follow the auto registration guide that pops up when you first use Internet Explorer or Firefox which ever you use at this point you will need you PID and passwor7 Once you have added your computer to your account switch everything off inthe reverse order that you switch on wait 30 secs and then switch everything on following steps 4 -6 .

With any luck you should then be able to surf the WWW

AMD3000+ · 12 Feb 2006 at 12:24

hey there guys, tis all sorted now... for some reason it just decided to work lol

thanks for all the help tho tis much appriciated

MAllen · 12 Feb 2006 at 12:43

It probally kicked into life after being turned off a few times.

Glad it all works now.

And that "Blue USB Thingy" is just a USB based network card. NTL engineers are lazy and they won't normally configure the onboard Network Card for your PC, they just intall this little blue USB one instead.

P90 · 12 Feb 2006 at 15:10

feel sorry for all u NTL user out there if u can get NTL too work! cus when u live in an Diamond cable area NTL is not very good in that area AND its not NTL fault but they have to tell there custs that ntl may not work in that area. had the same problems as above i had someone come out every 2 weeks cus of some sort of problem.so now iam with BT never had 1 problem. YET!

MAllen · 12 Feb 2006 at 15:19

P90 said:
feel sorry for all u NTL user out there if u can get NTL too work! cus when u live in an Diamond cable area NTL is not very good in that area AND its not NTL fault but they have to tell there custs that ntl may not work in that area. had the same problems as above i had someone come out every 2 weeks cus of some sort of problem.so now iam with BT never had 1 problem. YET!

I think you may of misunderstood the above "problem". I doubt it is the same as you were seeing. All that has happened is this guy has decided to change from his perfectly working STB to a Router. This means he will be able to connect more than one PC and use WiFi.

NTL, like most ISPs, do not support the hardware that you attach. There are too many different routers to deal with.

I do dozens of setups of attaching a router to NTL Cable. And have never been called back out. All of them work perfectly well. Usually takes about five mins to setup, then all is done.

The only "weird" bit is having to remember to reboot your STB.

As to BT - well, I assume you havn't had to deal with their Tech Support line. Amazingly it is worse that NTLs. Wasted 90mins with a customer the other night on the support line. BT had changed the logon username without telling the customer. I wasted 90mins on the phone to the support, trying to get them to confirm that the username had changed!! Awful!! They even hung up on me at one point!!

(Whoops - almost forgot. Silly me. Don't feed the Trolls. The old "My ISP is better than Your ISP" is an old argument which can go on for ever. We can start a new thread on that if you want.....

)