Comcast VoiP and wifi

[question fear]

I just had comcast set up at my new apartment, with a comcast voip phone and cable internet.

One of the features of this modem is that it has a backup battery so I get continued phone service for about a half hour after a power outage for emergency services, etc.

I want to hook up a dlink wifi router to it, but I am unsure how to do so, especially since I don't want to screw up my phone service.

Has anyone successfully set this up? If so, do I need to re-set the modem, as per the dlink directions? How do I do so if so? I just don't want to mess this setup up, and I think if I call comcast they'll insist I do it their way.

 

[jsw]

Do you mean that you want to add the wifi upstream and use it just for wifi, or you want to replace the VOIP router with the wifi router?

 

[question fear]

Do you mean that you want to add the wifi upstream and use it just for wifi, or you want to replace the VOIP router with the wifi router?

Um, I mean I want to attach my wifi router to the cable modem. I'm not sure technically what you'd call that. i guess the wifi upstream. And the modem has the telephone jack built in. Which is what's throwing me about just attaching my wifi router, i didnt want to cut off my phone service.

 

[jsw]

I'm not sure of the exact way to do it with a dlink router, but if you shut off DHCP on it, you should be able to just plug it in and it'll serve as a wifi access point. Basically, if it's plugged into one of the ports on the Comcast router, it should be fine.

 

[question fear]

I'm not sure of the exact way to do it with a dlink router, but if you shut off DHCP on it, you should be able to just plug it in and it'll serve as a wifi access point. Basically, if it's plugged into one of the ports on the Comcast router, it should be fine.

Ok....but what if it's not a comcast router but just a modem? does that make a difference?

(Normally I can just fuddle my way through this stuff, but this is just a touch more complicated and I don't want to mess it up.)

 

[jsw]

Ok....but what if it's not a comcast router but just a modem? does that make a difference?

(Normally I can just fuddle my way through this stuff, but this is just a touch more complicated and I don't want to mess it up.)

Well, does the Comcast equipment have multiple ethernet ports (I assume it must)? If so, just plug the dlink into it. If the dlink also has ports and isn't just a wifi router, you can have it be the DCHP server... you just don't want both of them set up to do DCHP.

 

[question fear]

Well, does the Comcast equipment have multiple ethernet ports (I assume it must)? If so, just plug the dlink into it. If the dlink also has ports and isn't just a wifi router, you can have it be the DCHP server... you just don't want both of them set up to do DCHP.

the comcast equipment has one ethernet port, currently occupied by the cord connected to my computer. It has a phone jack that is connected to my phone. It has the creepy capability to be unplugged, moved across a room, and maintain perfect internet the entire time. (granted, that last bit of info is useless to you as far as networking, but still. Scared the crap out of me when I unplugged it and it kept blinking away happily like nothing was wrong.)

 

[jsw]

the comcast equipment has one ethernet port, currently occupied by the cord connected to my computer. It has a phone jack that is connected to my phone. It has the creepy capability to be unplugged, moved across a room, and maintain perfect internet the entire time. (granted, that last bit of info is useless to you as far as networking, but still. Scared the crap out of me when I unplugged it and it kept blinking away happily like nothing was wrong.)

Well, first, it wasn't connected... bad light? Dunno. Weird.

Anyway, sounds like you need the dlink to serve as wifi and router - does it have multiple ports? If so, plug it in to the Comcast thingy, the plug your computer into it. If you computer is (or computers are) wireless, just use that if you'd like. It sounds like the dlink should be set up as a DHCP server as, with but one LAN port, the Comcast dohicky probably won't do that.

 

[question fear]

Well, first, it wasn't connected... bad light? Dunno. Weird.

Anyway, sounds like you need the dlink to serve as wifi and router - does it have multiple ports? If so, plug it in to the Comcast thingy, the plug your computer into it. If you computer is (or computers are) wireless, just use that if you'd like. It sounds like the dlink should be set up as a DHCP server as, with but one LAN port, the Comcast dohicky probably won't do that.

Ok. All that makes sense to me. I guess I am just confused because I am not sure if I need to reset the modem, how to reset the modem, and whether it will play nicely given it's special features set. I will play around more in the AM...thanks for your help tonight!

 

[jsw]

Ok. All that makes sense to me. I guess I am just confused because I am not sure if I need to reset the modem, how to reset the modem, and whether it will play nicely given it's special features set. I will play around more in the AM...thanks for your help tonight!

No problem. But, if all is done "correctly", the dlink wifi router should just take the place of the computer already plugged in, from the point of view of the Comcast equipment. At worst, you might need to have the dlink clone the MAC address of the computer that's plugged in now, but Comcast isn't usually that picky.