viggen61
Aug 11, 2008, 04:18 PM
Ok, so ever since I moved into my apartment about 2 years ago, I've had a Westell 6100 DSL Modem (what Verizon supplied), and an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11G, not N).
After having tons of issues, I finally got Verison out last week to look at my setup. They fixed some inside and outside issues (squirrels eating the entry cable, entry box damaged, in-house cables installed by Aleander Graham Bell himself, replaced one inside jack), and it's worked a lot better. But, the tech also mentioned to me about bridge mode on the modem.
I had no idea I could, and could not recall that I'd ever set bridge mode. So for a day or two, I ran w/o the AirPort, the modem straight into my LAN. Then I started looking at things, because I wanted my iPhone to be able to connect (and the odd visiting laptop...). I tried a few things on the AirPort Extreme Base Station, and realized that for two years the modem and the AEBS were fighting each other for the PPOE connection (definitely part of my issues...). So, I put the AEBS in bridge mode, and re-connectd it, and all is (mostly) well.
My question is related to security and best practice. The modem has a generic password in it now. I prefer to use stronger passwords, but that is problematic if you have to deal with technicians, either on-site, or remote. The AEBS uses strong(er) passwording, and since it's mine, and I can cut it out of the loop, it shouldn't enter into troubleshooting.
Right now, the modem is doing DHCP for my LAN, as I said, the AEBS is just on "bridge". Would it be better if I set the modem into Bridge mode, and let the AEBS handle the heavy lifting? Is there any downside to this? What is best practice?
I think I'd prefer to use the AEBS as the router, rather than the modem, if for nothing else than the better configuration interface!
:apple::apple:
After having tons of issues, I finally got Verison out last week to look at my setup. They fixed some inside and outside issues (squirrels eating the entry cable, entry box damaged, in-house cables installed by Aleander Graham Bell himself, replaced one inside jack), and it's worked a lot better. But, the tech also mentioned to me about bridge mode on the modem.
I had no idea I could, and could not recall that I'd ever set bridge mode. So for a day or two, I ran w/o the AirPort, the modem straight into my LAN. Then I started looking at things, because I wanted my iPhone to be able to connect (and the odd visiting laptop...). I tried a few things on the AirPort Extreme Base Station, and realized that for two years the modem and the AEBS were fighting each other for the PPOE connection (definitely part of my issues...). So, I put the AEBS in bridge mode, and re-connectd it, and all is (mostly) well.
My question is related to security and best practice. The modem has a generic password in it now. I prefer to use stronger passwords, but that is problematic if you have to deal with technicians, either on-site, or remote. The AEBS uses strong(er) passwording, and since it's mine, and I can cut it out of the loop, it shouldn't enter into troubleshooting.
Right now, the modem is doing DHCP for my LAN, as I said, the AEBS is just on "bridge". Would it be better if I set the modem into Bridge mode, and let the AEBS handle the heavy lifting? Is there any downside to this? What is best practice?
I think I'd prefer to use the AEBS as the router, rather than the modem, if for nothing else than the better configuration interface!
:apple::apple:
