US Telco Support > AT&T > AT&T Southeast > Anyone play with the Westell Wirespeed modems yet?

reply to dslspeeder

Re: Anyone play with the Westell Wirespeed modems yet?

Has anyone did this? Im having trouble getting it to work right. I bridge it but then it resets the modem and my router settings are correct I think on PPPoE but I lose all internet access and have to reboot before I can get into either the modem settings or router settings.

Ping-ability?

said by mitchell:

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I cannot get pings to work with the westell modem on the tweak test. I dont have a firewall and I've turned off the virus software. Anyone have a suggestion?

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reply to TheBailiff

Re: Anyone play with the Westell Wirespeed modems yet?

The problem with the Westell 2100 bellsouth fimreware converted is that everytime the modem is shut off the defaults are reset and thats why you have a problem with your router. The modem defaults back to the PPP 8/35 settings. There is no way that I know of to change this or stop it from happening. If anyone knows please post here.

Mine doesn't revert back to PPPoE,
it stays configured for Bridge.

I can leave it powered off for minutes, hours, days, it will retain the settings

reply to Lowery311 Audio A
How do you access the configuration screen of the 2100? I tried »192.168.1.1, but it wouldn 't let me in without a username and password, and I wasn 't sure what the default is.

Should be

»192.168.1.254

or if the PC acquired an IP from the modem.

»launchmodem

should work.

reply to FROSTY
Reply to : Mine doesn't revert back to PPPoE,
it stays configured for Bridge.

Frosty, BS had a batch of modems go out that did not have the static BS firmeware and when they found this out, they corrected it. I do not know of any other issues like this and have not setup any modems for customers lately that had this feature.

reply to FROSTY
Oh ok. Good. Since the PPPOE client is built in, that means it can be configured for always on right?

reply to Lowery311 Audio A
jdd48,

If you still can not get in to the configuration screen in the modem through the tips Frosty gave....Try releasing and renewing the ip through ipconfig for winNT, 2k or XP. Or winipcfg for Win95, 98/98se and win ME.

I'll try it when I get back. At work right now.

reply to jdd481
Lowery311,
Ah, I did not know that. Thanks! When I get home tonight, I'll make notes of the revision and model numbers and then post them here.

jdd48,
Yes

Here's part of the FAQ I'm working on for this modem. It's a rough draft, but I believe it will answer some questions.

Expert mode can be accessed by clicking the Expert button from the main page. Some of the expert pages include configuring the connection profiles, the WAN VC settings, the LAN settings, the DHCP server settings, and the NAT Services.

For each connection profile, the connection options are manual, on-demand, or always up. The manual and on-demand options have the ability to enable a timeout timer that will disconnect after X minutes which can be defined by the user. This only applies when the modem is configured for PPPoE.

The WAN VC settings allow the user to change the VPI/VCI settings and configure the modem for PPPoE or Bridge mode. In PPPoE mode, the modem performs the login and provides basic Internet connectivity. In Bridge mode, an external router, such as a Linksys, can be used. (preferred). In Bridge mode, the modem’s DHCP server should be disabled and all connection profiles should be disabled.

The default LAN IP of the modem is 192.168.1.254. It’s DHCP and DNS servers are enabled as well. The DHCP server defaults to a range of 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.64 and will assign the modem's LAN IP as the DHCP server, DNS server, and gateway to DHCP clients.

The Services configuration page includes abilities such as adding rules from a built-in list of services, forward a single port, forward a range of ports, port triggering, and Static NAT (aka pinhole, or 1 to 1 NAT, or DMZ in the Linksys). See PPPoE mode issues below

DNS setup page is hidden, address is »192.168.1.254/dns.htm or »launchmodem/dns.htm. Default DNS settings are launchmodem.com as domain suffix and a DNS entry launchmodem bound to the modem's IP.

PPPoE mode issues:
Port forwarding works, but is unreliable. Port triggering does not work, nor do any of the built-in services. Ping and traceroute to the WAN IP of the modem fails. Traceroute outbound from LAN does not work. The BSFA WS2100 modem has been limited. It was designed to provide basic Internet connectivity without the use of PPPoE software. It is not a router. This is why these functions do not work.

Bridge mode issues:
NONE, works great with most routers such as Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, SMC, and etc.
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"When you set yourself on fire and aim for the sky, you hope to leave behind some sparks of heat and light ... Like a vapor trail." - Neil Peart 2002
[text was edited by author 2002-08-16 14:27:00]

Currently I'm using the builtin XP client to connect. I have the DSL shortcut under the Startup folder so it connects on startup, but an always on connection would be nice. Will the PPPOE client in the modem limit anything that can normally done with the Windows XP client?

There is nothing it wont let it do...actually the WinXP PPPoE client limits certain games to run through it. If you go in to the setup of the modem you can specify what game your about to play and it will allow it to play correctly. The modem actually has a list of games built into it.

True, but I could never get the MSN Gaming Zone DirectX 7 (or 8) services to work. Set modem to bridge, hookup Linksys router (ports are forwarded and triggered for the gaming zone), and gaming zone works fine.

Even when the modem is set to PPPoE, and using the port forwarding in the WS2100, I still could not always connect and play on the gaming zone.

From my experience, if something doesn't work in the WS2100 while using it's built-in PPPoE client, use the Static NAT option from the Expert -> Services page, but this is not totaly secure.
--
"When you set yourself on fire and aim for the sky, you hope to leave behind some sparks of heat and light ... Like a vapor trail." - Neil Peart 2002

reply to FROSTY
Let me summarize my understanding about Westell modem/router supplied from BSFA:

It is modified version of WireSpeed 2100 from which router function removed leaving only PPPoE client.

WireSpeed does not seem to be UPnP comliant so not to mention this modified version for BSFA.

PPPoE client from this BSFA version 2100 can be disabled so that it can be used with any popular router like Linksys.

Now my question: Your post said "to disable PPPoE client the user must change the WAN VC settings under the expert setup pages." How can I get to this "expert setup pages"?

Correct.

You can still use multiple PCs to access the Internet when the modem's PPPoE client is used, but functionality will be highly limited as compared to using an external router such as a Linksys.

From the main setup page of the modem »192.168.1.254 or »launchmodem there should be an 'Expert' button on the lower left hand side of the screen.

Check out the new FAQ for this modem:
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/4876

I have made several screen shots of the setup pages in this modem over the weekend. I plan on adding them to the new FAQ soon.
--
"When you set yourself on fire and aim for the sky, you hope to leave behind some sparks of heat and light ... Like a vapor trail." - Neil Peart 2002

I think the firewall is disabled by default.