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Forum Discussion
Configuration question
I get internet from Bell Canada through a wireless router that covers my living room. I use a Powerline 500 to get signal into my bedroom - which is accessed through a narrow corridor from the living.
The issue: the current set-up has two networks: Bell and Netgear, which means that my ipad has to switch networks whenever I move from living to the bedroom. This is inconvenient... so much so that today I spent 4 hours looking for a fix. As I understand it, the Powerline 500 assigns an IP to the iPad. To solve this, in theory - I need to use the Genie to disable DHCP. I tried to do this, and failed miserably. Please tell me (confirm) if I'm on the right track with DHCP... and point me in a different direction if this is not the good one.
The trouble is that the Genie no longer sees my router. When I click on Router Settings / Router Login, I have to wait for about one minute before I learn that: "Login failed, plese check to see if your PC is connected to your Netgear router. " when I click on the link I am taken to a page that lists a bunch of product numbers. I didn't see anythin ending in 500, however I remember being able to use the Genie and access everything a few years back (this is how one sets up the WAP password, among other things).
I thougth that the Genie moved on, and decided to no longer recognize my Powerlien 500... I went to a 2012 version of the software - but I get the same answer.
I disabled IPv6, using a clever script provided by Microsoft. My PC is a Windows 7 home premium 64 bit (I tried troubleshooting using a windows 10 machine, which told me to disable ipv6....), which I did - still no result.
I don't know what to do.
Any ideas?
I have to say that I am very angry at Netgear: it is very frustrating to configure this product. I would gladly pay $500 to put this $%#&***!!! behind me - and I might just go out and purchase one fo those routers that looks like the head of Sauron - maybe a new one would work!
What I is how poorly the product warom my perspective, a device like the Powerline AV500 should - BY DEFAULT!!!! - be configured as an access point. I cannot imagine why one would like to have two (or more) networks to switch back and forth between. My goal is to have one network, and I will get it eventually - I just never imagined it would be so hard.
11 Replies
I'm not sure, but it sounds like your description is missing a detail or two. Do you have a Netgear router in addition to your Powerline 500, or do you just have the Powerline 500? Is your Bell Canada router a Netgear?
The reason I ask is that the Powerline 500 does not have a built-in DHCP server so it cannot assign IP addresses. I'm not sure where you thought you disabled DHCP. You mentioned you used Genie to disable DHCP and that Genie doesn't see your router, which is why I suspect you omitted a detail.
Thank you for the quick reply. Here are the answers:
1/ I don't have any other Netgear routers (that I know of, it might be that one of thetwo components of what I call the Netgear Powerline AV500 is a router). The Bell modem is made by Sagem. The Netgear Device I have is identified as XWN5001.
2/ very hard to give you an answer here. I might have mis-remembered. If this is the case: I apologise. However: Can you tell me what I need to do to get to my goal (which is having just one network in the house?). Today in LAN port I can see DHCP is "on".
Here are details about the XWN5001:
Hardware Version 1.00 
Firmware Version V0.3.0.9NA GUI Language Version V1.0.0.6 and then:
MAC Address 28:C6:8E:08:CF:CD DHCP On IP Address 192.168.2.26 IP Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0 Gateway IP Address 192.168.2.1 Domain Name Server 192.168.2.1 - I am trying to make myself clear: 1/ my goal is to move from the livingroom to the bedroom without having to move from the Bell network to the Netgear network. 2/ if The device I have is not a router, why is my iPad switched to a Netgear WiFi network when I move to the bedroom?
Configure your Powerline 500 with the same SSID and Wi-Fi password as your Bell Canada router. Use a different Wi-Fi channel. Use only channels 1, 6 or 11 for best results.
