Wifi clients keep losing internet connection on ac68u

[sheamus]

hello,

My ISP (SaskTel) router/modem (Actiontec) does not have a bridge mode. So I have connected my AC68U to the Actiontec's DMZ, and turned off the Actiontec wifi.

But my wifi clients keep losing internet connection. They dont lose wifi connection, as I can still log into the ac68u from laptop on wifi, but I cant connect to WAN on the laptop.

I keep upgrading firmware, hoping to fix it that way but no dice. I am on latest merlin firmware.

Any ideas?

~S

 

[LocalDude]

A couple of things... First, you need to put the AC68U into "AP" mode, otherwise you might be double NAT'ing and that will hurt your overall performance. Also... Something else, that is probably happening, if your not in "AP" mode, is that you have two devices trying to issue IP addresses, and that would most certainly cause you to lose, and re-connect WiFi, as the devices are competing to issue. Make sure that the AC68U is not connected via the WAN port. You should be using one of the "switch" ports. Let the Actiontec do the NAT'ing, since it's probably doing a decent job already (and you can't turn it off).

 

[sheamus]

I thought I would be fine, as the Actiontec would issue a 17.16.1.x IP to the AC68U, then the AC68U would issue a 192.168.1.x to clients. But as I type that it does seem silly.

The main reason I hadn't done this is that it is nice to manage everything from from one place. If I turn the AC68U into an AP, I won't be able to manage the firewall, or do port forwarding from it, I'll have to do it from the Actiontec's shirtty interface.

If I do put the AC68U into AP mode, should I remove it from the Actiontec's DMZ?

 

[flowrider]

Which Actiontec router do you have? Telus here uses the same modem/routers and certain models can now bridge LAN port 1. I have the T2200h for a bonded line and there's the T1200H for single line. Both can be bridged.

 

[SoCalReviews]

In theory you should try to avoid double NAT since it can cause performance issues but in practice I have found it is usually not a problem. For various reasons I use double NAT with the RT-N66U and RT-AC68P and it works fine even for gaming. I have also used double NAT with DMZ on DSL modem/router combinations where it was the only solution possible.

If you decide you want to try getting it working with double NAT and not use bridge or AP mode then you might want to simplify the setup. I would suggest that you try putting both routers DHCP in similar IP address subnet range. For example set the Actiontec starting DHCP as 192.168.2.1 and the Asus starting DHCP as 192.168.1.1 (or similar alternate IP, 192.168.3.1 , 192.168.4.1 etc.) or vice versa. Give the Asus a static address in the Actiontec settings and keep the Asus in DMZ mode of the Actiontec.

Check your Asus router settings under WAN > Internet Connection tab and toward the bottom of that screen make sure you are not using a MAC clone address. I have experienced connection issues with that enabled in the past. Also check under DHCP query whether you are using Aggressive Mode or Normal Mode. Set to the default of Aggressive Mode. It should work best and avoid conflicts with the default setting.

With the settings I described above you should be able to access the Actiontec router (192.168.2.1 if that is the starting IP you chose) from any device connected to the Asus router unless for some reason the Actiontec has lost connection with the Asus. Make sure you are using Cat5e, Cat6 or better interconnect between the two routers.