Two days ago, I woke up in the morning and realised that my WiFi was not connected to the Internet. I checked my living room and found my old ADSL2+ modem (D-Link DSL-526B) has stopped working. All its indicator lights are blinking randomly. I switched it off, waited for about 15 minutes and plugged it back on again, still same reaction. After 3 years of hard work, my modem had finally decided to retire.
I was still smiling because I always believed that I had a backup modem for this kind of situation. Few years ago I got a free Netgear DM111P modem from my ISP, still in brand new condition as I never used it.
Perhaps a background story is needed. Previously I use DSL-526B only for ADSL2+ modem as I use Apple Airport Extreme as my router. Some devices at home require me to book IP addresses for them so that DHCP would always assign them the same IP address. Technically, DSL-526B has this feature, but I can only booked up to 10 IP addresses. I need more (today I have 27 reserved IP address in my Airport Extreme’s DHCP), so I decided use Airport Extreme as router.
So I opened my new Netgear modem and started the process of installation. Of course, I simply assumed that I can set it as ADSL2+ modem, turning off its router feature, then use my Airport Extreme as router again, just like the original configuration.
Soon I figured out that the firmware inside DM111P does not allow me to turn off its router capability. I could easily use DM111P to connect to my ISP and has Internet connection for one computer, but when I connect it to my Airport Extreme (still set as router), my home network is not happy with 2 DHCP servers in the same network (or 2 routers, not really sure). To be fair, I can set my Airport Extreme as a bridge, just for WiFi. However, I could not find any setting to reserve IP addresses in DM111P, so using DM111P as DHCP server is out of question.
After long hours of googling, I found that Netgear DM111P has different sub-models. Some sub-models are not compatible with certain firmware updates. My specific model is DM111PSP-2DDAUS. Some North American models have advanced menus in its web-based control panel. I could not find any advanced menu in my control panel, and I could not change its firmware. So I’m stuck with having an ADSL2+ modem that insists to be used as router, but without any menu to reserve IP addresses in its DHCP.
There was something important I needed to do that day, so I wanted to solve the home WiFi problem as soon as I possibly can. I browsed for ADSL2+ modems available in Australian stores and found out that basically there are only 2 common models here: my old D-Link DSL-526B and this troublesome Netgear DM111P. There are some products from TP-Link, but after a bad experience with TP-Link brand in the past, I decided not to take the risk.
So I went to Officeworks store to get the same ADSL2+ modem as my old one. The first store I visited didn’t have one in stock. So I went to another branch. Lucky, they still have some units left, and they’re in the sale basket. I got it with promo price. Well, to be honest even the discounted price is still expensive. I got my old DSL-526B a lot cheaper 3 years ago. But I’m not really in the position to be picky that day. Hopefully this would be my last ADSL2+ modem because as soon as NBN is available for my home address, I plan to upgrade from ADSL2+ to NBN connection.
As a side note, in the sale basket I happened to find another interesting product: Logitech Bluetooth speakers Z600. Normal price is $80ish in Officeworks and $145 in Dick Smith. The one unit in that sale basket was $45. My wife decided to get that speaker for her desktop computer. And more about Z600 will be posted later in separate article.
Went back home with new D-Link DSL-526B, got it connected to the ISP, turned off the router mode. All good. My home WiFi was restored back to normal, with Airport Extreme as router and DHCP. This little adventure took almost the entire day to solve, so please forgive this random rant post.
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