And then there were two
Nov. 18th, 2011 12:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamsharkNetworks that is. In my house. Really and truly, two networks (dreampark1 and dreampark2), each with its own path to the Internet. And neither one of them is that Fiber to the Home connection -- yet. Eventually the little Zyxel router that is running dreampark2 will be fed by the big honking fiber running down my street. But because of construction delays on that project, USI generously granted me two months of free WiFi service. Because my fast DSL connection has been disappointingly unreliable, I took them up on it.
It took me a while to set up the modem. First I scoped out the location of the two closest wireless access points. Turns out there's one less than 100 yards away, although there's not a perfect line of sight from my office window. Then I spent a day or two puzzling over the instructions for getting the cover off the modem so I could plug in the Ethernet cable. Okay, I didn't spend 48 hours on this task - I would pick up the instruction sheet occasionally, squint at the blurry pictures, scratch my head and walk away. Last night I finally buckled down and concentrated, and managed to get the modem plugged in and stuck to the back window. My concerns about line of sight were silly - the signal drills right through the back corner of my bedroom that's in the way and comes up with a constant 4 bars of service. Then I set up the little router with a new network address (default network addresses are for weinies), connected it to the modem and BLAM! The network was up! I didn't even have to enter a logon and password - apparently that was configured into the modem when they sent it to me.
Of course, that was too easy for me. I realized that I didn't actually KNOW what my logon/password were, and had to contact Tech Support to find out. Once I realized what they were using I decided to change it, and all sorts of hilarity ensued. Ultimately the nice person in the chat window gave up on reprogramming the modem remotely and gave me the Top. Secret. Password. so I could change it myself. I'm not kidding about the password. This company has a strangely schizophrenic approach to security. The password for the modem was the most insanely difficult password I have ever had the misfortune to have to type in. It's the only password I have ever seen that includes the vertical bar (pipe) character. On the other hand, the installer that brought me the Zyxel router "set it up" for me - leaving the password at "1234". I've since changed it to something noticeably more secure.
Anyway, the network is up and working. So next time that damned Qwest router goes belly up, we can just switch to the other network and keep on with whatever we were doing.
It took me a while to set up the modem. First I scoped out the location of the two closest wireless access points. Turns out there's one less than 100 yards away, although there's not a perfect line of sight from my office window. Then I spent a day or two puzzling over the instructions for getting the cover off the modem so I could plug in the Ethernet cable. Okay, I didn't spend 48 hours on this task - I would pick up the instruction sheet occasionally, squint at the blurry pictures, scratch my head and walk away. Last night I finally buckled down and concentrated, and managed to get the modem plugged in and stuck to the back window. My concerns about line of sight were silly - the signal drills right through the back corner of my bedroom that's in the way and comes up with a constant 4 bars of service. Then I set up the little router with a new network address (default network addresses are for weinies), connected it to the modem and BLAM! The network was up! I didn't even have to enter a logon and password - apparently that was configured into the modem when they sent it to me.
Of course, that was too easy for me. I realized that I didn't actually KNOW what my logon/password were, and had to contact Tech Support to find out. Once I realized what they were using I decided to change it, and all sorts of hilarity ensued. Ultimately the nice person in the chat window gave up on reprogramming the modem remotely and gave me the Top. Secret. Password. so I could change it myself. I'm not kidding about the password. This company has a strangely schizophrenic approach to security. The password for the modem was the most insanely difficult password I have ever had the misfortune to have to type in. It's the only password I have ever seen that includes the vertical bar (pipe) character. On the other hand, the installer that brought me the Zyxel router "set it up" for me - leaving the password at "1234". I've since changed it to something noticeably more secure.
Anyway, the network is up and working. So next time that damned Qwest router goes belly up, we can just switch to the other network and keep on with whatever we were doing.
