Question : Bridging 2Wire 1000SW DSL Modem to a Netgear MR814v2

I have SBC DSL (SBC gave me a 2Wire 1000SW DSL Modem), and needing to expand my network, I added a Netgear MR814v2 Wireless 4-Port router.  I have read, and was also told by 2Wire support, that I needed to set one of the routers into a bridged mode so that only one router would control the IP assignments.

I do not see any setting on the Netgear router that allow for a bridged mode, if anyone knows of a way to do this let me know.

I would prefer to set the 1000SW into a bridged mode, and let the Netgear control the assignments and the opening of ports, etc... This is easy to do from the routers GUI, but perhaps I am not making additional changes in the configuration that are needed as well.

The problem is that when I connect the 2Wire to the Netgear (with a normal cat-5 cable) in bridged mode, the 2Wire does not seem to pass the IP information from the ISP to the Netgear router.  I guess, one question I have: Do I need a crossover cable instead of a patch cable? Does anyone have any ideas?

Thank You.  If you need more information, let me know...but if it is only a cabling problem... I will rasie the points if the solution requires it!

I appreciate your help!

Don Morrison

Answer : Bridging 2Wire 1000SW DSL Modem to a Netgear MR814v2

Don,

Two things:
1) I have a similiar arrangement on my home network, i.e. a Cisco 678 DSL router and a Dlink Wireless router.  They each can issue DHCP (IP) addressing, though each on a different network.  I.e. the Cisco issues Class A addressing, 10.x.x.x, and the Dlink issues Class C, 192.168.x.x.  Since they issue different DHCP addressing, it isn't a problem for them to communicate, i.e. the Cisco issues the Dlink an 10.x.x.x address and the DLink issues my PC's (about 4) 192.168.x.x address.  No bridging is needed between the Cisco and Dlink.  Do you know what DHCP addressing your SBC and Netgear issue?  If they are on the same network Class (A or C), I'd have to guess that the Bridging answer is correct; but I can't tell you how to proceed with it.
2) Yes, it's possible you need an Ethernet crossover between the SBC and Netgear.  If your SBC communicated with a PC using a standard Ethernet cable, then it's Ethernet port works as a 'hub' connection.  Multiport Routers (like the Netgear) may or maynot have an 'uplink' port, which really is a port that makes the router look like a workstation (to the router it's attached to.)  If you don't see an 'uplink' port on the Netgear, you'll need a crossover Ethernet cable which allows you to attach two workstation ports or two hub ports together.
Hope this helps.
Steve