Networking woes - 10mBit ethernet only?

Eric Mitchell · 06-24-2003, 10:36 PM

Hi,
I have DSL from my apartment building. Thats great, but at the same time I'm pretty sure they don't have anyone telling them what to do or taking care of the system. Their main requirement is that your NIC runs *only* at 10 mBit. I recently bought a router, which is the problem.

The router is your basic 10/100 auto-sense DSL/Cable modem home networking solution. However, it can never get an IP from the apartments DHCP server. I'm pretty sure that the problem is that the router isn't set at 10 mBit only as both of my computers get IP's fine set at only 10 mBit. Of course I can't figure out how to set the router up that way, I'm almost certain I can't. I guess I really have two questions.

1) Does anyone have any solutions for me? Either to fix the router, bypass the router (10 mBit only hub first?), etc.

2) Does anyone know of a 10 mBit only router I can get? I haven't been able to find any.

Thanks!

-Eric

DonRoeber · 06-25-2003, 12:02 AM

Sounds really weird. But anyway, I recently purchased a Netgear WRT614. You can set it's WAN port (the one that connects to the cable or DSL modem) to be 100mbit or 10mbit. So that would work out for you. It's also got built in wireless, which is nice

CompUSA had it on sale at the time for $99, but I think it's normally around $130 or so.

Steve_Ch · 06-25-2003, 12:05 AM

>>2) Does anyone know of a 10 mBit only router I can get? I haven't been able to find any.<<

I am pretty sure you can find them in eBay, I just sold/shipped a Sonicwall/10 at eBay, which is a firewall and 4 port 10M ethernet router.

JamesHl · 06-25-2003, 12:48 AM

You should be able to connect just fine at 10bmits though, since yours can accomplish both. I've never heard of anything like this before.

Usually what I would recommend would be to change the mac of your router to one from one of your computers, and if that didn't work manually assign it the ip that your computer gets via dhcp. In this case, however, I don't know.

Christian Behrens · 06-25-2003, 01:51 AM

That sounds all really stupid. The people in charge should just have someone set their interface to 10 Mbit only. Since the router is auto-sensing, it should recognize that and connect at that speed.

-Christian

**HTF Ads**

John_Berger · 06-25-2003, 10:48 AM

Just goes to show who works in the IT world and who doesn't.

This kind of situation is not uncommon. It is actually very common, more often than companies would like to admit. Different hardware vendors auto-sense network speed differently, and they're not always compatible.

Eric, if you can get your hands on one, get a cheap 10 Mb hub. Don't get a switch; don't get a 10/100 hub. Just get a straight 10 Mb hub - a really small one, maybe 4 ports if you can. Put that in between the DSL modem and the router. Most hardware will auto-sense correctly with hubs. (It's the auto-sensing switches that seem to give the most problems.) Because it's a hub, it should broadcast WAN requests without a problem and the router should be able to successfully downgrade to 10 Mb. (It's Mb, by the way, not mB.

)

If this works, it will be a much, much cheaper alternative to buying a new router. Just make sure that you don't plug anything else into the hub, hence why I said to get a cheap one with few ports. If it doesn't work (although it should), you can return the hub and put the refund price against the router that was suggested above.

Eric Mitchell · 06-25-2003, 05:09 PM

Thanks everyone. John, that was my first order of business today. I was able to borrow an old 10Mbit only hub. I'll plug it in between the router and DSL and let you all know how it goes.

If that doesn't work I will probably try a good router. I wasn't really expecting all that much from a router that cost $27. Not to say it's bad, I actually consider it a great deal.

BTW, if anyone is looking for a cheap router, Newegg.com has one by TrendWare for $32 +$5 shipping with a $10 mail in rebate. It seems to have everything, but isn't that configurable, as you've seen.

In the end I really can't complain, the DSL access is a free pilot program. I just have to deal with their system. More to come...

Eric Mitchell · 06-25-2003, 06:50 PM

It worked perfectly!

JamesHl · 06-25-2003, 07:14 PM

Fascinating John! I'll have to remember that.