Equipment Support > Hardware By Brand > ZyXEL > Connecting ZyXelusg20W to another router on same network

Connecting ZyXelusg20W to another router on same network

It is most likely not going to work that way. You are looking to get USG 20W to be a bridge between wan and lan interfaces instead of being a router. I am not sure if USG 20W can be configured for this. Older ZyNOS based zywall 5/35/70 had this transparent mode which sort of worked but I am not sure if it work for USG 20W.

A few questions:

1) How is your Cable Modem connected to Moca Router?
2) What brand model is your MoCA router? Actiontec?

If #1 is through Ethernet you can replace your router behind CM with your USG 20W. Then convert your MoCA router to a simple bridge between Ethernet LAN and MoCA coax. To do this you will connect USG LAN to MoCA router LAN, turn off DHCP server on MoCA router and even disable its WAN interface if possible. You will not use the WAN port so it will be a LAN to MoCA bridge. Your second MoCA router connected to PC2 should be similarly configured and WAN interface should be left unconnected and dhcp server on LAN side should be turned off. LAN will connect to PC2 directly.

Also note that make sure MoCA router's LAN interface IP does not conflict with ZyWALL USG 20W LAN interface IP. If ZyWALL has 192.168.1.1 on LAN, MoCA routers should have 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.3.

Alternative to using your Moca routers like MoCA Coax to Ethernet bridge, you can buy Moca Coax-Ethernet bridge such as Netgear MCAB1001 (looks like $80+Free shipping at Amazon.com right now)

Thank for the quick reply.

There is no Cable Modem in my setup. Sorry, my bad. I meant to say ISP and I have corrected my original post.

The Moca Router that I have is Westell (It could be both the Cable modem & the router) the input is coaxial. I cannot get rid of the Moca router for 2 reasons: 1) The TV setup boxes need to talk to the Moca router to get the TV signals. 2). My home network is Moca using this Moca router.

I had talked to the TV technician that insalled the Fios in my house about not wanting to use the Westell router and using my own. He said I that I don't have a choice.

My PC1 (in the setup described in my original post) is actually connected to Moca Coax-Ethernet bridge in another room and get the IP from the Moca router.

I bought ZyXel to make avail of the subscriptions services and want to connect PC2 & others to it instead of directly to the Moca router.

Is your FIOS router also connected on the WAN via MoCA instead of Ethernet? It may have only one coax but uses different frequencies for WAN and LAN so it can provide both functions.

In the Verizon FIOS forum, other people have been able to get rid of ISP installed MoCA router by having Ethernet from ONT to their router. There is a FAQ there. See if it helps. Obviously, you would need to install Ethernet from ONT to where you will have the router.

If you cannot replace your FIOS router with ZyWALL, you will most likely be doing double NAT for PC2 and others like that behind ZyWALL. There may be a way to put USG in transparent mode but I have not used it that way. Ask ZyXEL. Zywall 5/35/70 used to have that mode.

>>Is your FIOS router also connected on the WAN via MoCA instead of Ethernet?
Yes, it is connected via MoCA to the ONT. Currently, connecting to ONT via Ethernet is not a viable option for me.

I can live with double NAT as long as PCs connected to these 2 different routers can access each other.

ZyXel USG 20W does have DHCP relay feature. I did setup LAN1 interface in ZyXel with this option and connected PC2 to the ZyXel. PC2 is getting the IP from the MoCA router and I am able to access the ZyXel through the browser using 192.168.1.254 (and also ping ZyXel) on PC2. But PC2 is not able to access the internet.

WAN to LAN DHCP Relay will not work when router is doing routing. For routing to work, WAN and LAN should be on different networks otherwise router cannot route. Your PC2 is obtaining IP address, the gateway is that of the MoCA router. On the LAN segment, MoCA router is not available. PC2 does not know how to reach it. PC2 would need ZyWALL as a gateway in routed or NAT mode.

DHCP relay is not suitable for your purpose.

Thanks DrTCP for the information. This is all new stuff for me. I will not use the DHCP relay.

If the ZyXel 20W is configured to be in the same subnet as the Moca router (192.168.1.x) and if I make sure that the IP range in the ZyXel 20W does NOT clash with those on the Moca router side, is it possibel for the PC1 to access a shared folder on PC2 (connected to the ZyXel gateway)? If this is not possible, would you say that the ZyXel USG 20W router is useless to me? As I mentioned before, I bought ZyXel mainly to make avail of the subscription services offered.

Thanks.

Thanks again. The Actiontec router did suffer from the small NAT table and I understand that it is the reason it has been replaced by the Westell router. I have not heard Westell having the same issue. But even if it does end up having the same issue, I will have to replace Westell with another Moca router as my home networking is Moca. I am setting up things to stream music & video (1080p) through the home network and from what I have read about other people's experience, wireless & powerline won't cut it, for the lack of bandwidth. So, other than laying new Ethernet cable through out the house, Moca is the only viable option for me. Especially, when MoCA 2 comes out, the bandwidth will be even better.

So, I guess I will have to try the port forwarding with the firewall rules option.

Your last sentences seems like it has been cut off when posted.
>>You need to put ZyWALL in the right location to get full benefit. Otherwise, your current configuration is likely cause inconveniences for you. Perhaps you could put your...

People on digital forums Ive been reading have good success with the COAX convertors (coax to ethernet) to attach cable inputs/outputs to ethernet devices etc........

Just a heads up but in the same local forums FFTH fibre op runs from an ONT (modem) to an action tech. I bridge the action tech to my zyxel USG100 with no issues. I am not however doing any TV functions.

There is an asus router RT N56U that a chap has configured that will run as an actiontech replacement handling both internet and TV with no hit on peformance on the internet side and it actually improved TV streaming and channel changing considerably. He has an option if you want the asus to just handle the IPTV and bridges to your router on port 3 so your router can handle all internet traffic without double NAT etc....

I still need my router, in the mix, due to the fact that I have a cable wan as well and the USG gives me more flexibility overall plus VPns etc.

»digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=148062
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