[Ma-linux] Re: [Dclug] Last Steps in DSL - Verizon installation

[Zachariah Mully]

On Fri, 2008-01-04 at 11:17 -0500, Alan McConnell wrote:
> Assembled Wisdom!

> So now I must access the modem from my machine.  I have plugged
> the yellow cable(Ethernet) into my NIC card on the computer and
> the other end into the modem.  The lights on the modem blink
> satisfactorily<G>.

Since I don't deal with Verizon, I know that they've been shipping
Westell combination access points/modems, so it's possible that you've
already got a firewall/router/modem/access point. Does your Verizon box
have multiple ethernet jacks on the back and an antenna?

If not, I would go out and get yourself a good router/access point, such
as a linksys wrt54g or buffalo WHR54GS. Both support being flashed new
firmware such as DD-WRT, which I recommend. Then you'll have the ability
to VPN into your home network from the road, give your neighbors
wireless access, set up QoS on your connection, etc.

> Two questions:
> 
> 1. How do I use my Firefox to access the modem?  I am told, by
> David Lesher, that one "logs into the modem" with the name admin,
> and the password is   password .   But he forgot to tell me/us
> what the modem's address is.   (The Phillipine lady said it was
> 192.168.1.1, which is obviously one of our "local" IP addresses)
> This may work on Windoze, but it doesn't on Linux.
> (And what do I have to do once I'm "connected" to the modem??)

Do you already have a network set up at home? .1.1 address is the
default for the modem, but if you've already set your machines up to get
their address from another DHCP server, or if you've hard coded them to
another IP address block, you'll need to change that. It's possible that
your computer is set to .1.1 already, so you need to change it. Once
that is done, you can access the modem through any browser.

> 2.  My kitchen phone, which came with the house, 30 years ago,
> seems welded to the shelf it is mounted on.  I haven't been
> able to put a filter on that phone.  How bad is that?  If I
> don't talk on that phone when using the DSL line, will there
> be a problem?  (I have filters on all the other lines in the
> house, as instructed.)

I've seen that sometimes this affects the dsl, sometimes it doesn't. I
would wait until you've got your computer on the net, then give your
phone number a call. If you could always just put a single central
filter in your NID, but then you'd have to run a separate, dedicated
line to your modem from the NID ahead of the filter.

Z