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IS YOUR ROUTER MAC ID BOUND TO YOUR INTERNET PROVIDER?
I bought my R8000 on October 23, 2014. I've owned MANY NETGEAR ROUTERS and had a cable modem here in Anchorage, Alaska for as long as I can remember. For quite some time now I've had the strangest problems with Internet Connection Problems, Odd Wireless Problems and recently with a new TP-LINK MODEL NUMBER: TL-WDN4800 N900 Wireless Dual Band PCI Express Adapter. I had a friend of mine who own a computer store here in Anchorage install the card for me. My COOLER MASTER COSMOS CASE is too heavy for me to lift anymore and too low to the ground for a guy with joint problems to bend over and work on. When he put the card in he booted my machine up and it configured itself and worked PERFECTLY. When I brought the case home and plugged it in it gave me nothing but problems. I was to the point of going back to him and asking for my old TP-LINK card. After two days of working every known solution to the Windows 10 Pro problem I stumbled on an INCORRECT SETTING IN MY ROUTER SOFTWARE. THE MAC ID HAD BEEN CHANGED. It was changed BUT the FIRST THREE PAIRS IN THE MAC ID WERE CORRECT. I called my internet provider GCI SERVICES here in Anchorage to talk with TECH SUPPORT and voiced my concern. They were less than helpful as usual and said looking at the situation from THEIR SIDE there were no problems. I've been doing all kinds of computer work since 1985. SOMETHING was not right. I worked the problem for 24 more hours and nothing seemed to work. I CALLED GCI TECH SUPPORT and told the technician that they had the INCORRECT SETTINGS ON MY STATIC IP. MY IP ADDRESS WAS FINE BUT ONLY THE FIRST 3 PAIRS OF MY MAC ID MATCHED. I told this technician that we were going to change the MAC ADDRESS IN THE SOFTWARE TO WHAT I KNEW THEY WERE SUPPOSE TO BE (I read them off the bottom of the router. . .) HE SAID WELL, . . .OK. We did that and ALL MY INTERNET CONNECTION PROBLEMS VANISHED. My NEW TP-LINK CARD WORKED PERFECTLY and the wireless network in the house has 2 channels running at 450 Mbps DOWN AND 50 Mbps UP. What I'd like to know is HOW LONG HAS THIS EXISTED? Who could have arranged such a situation? Is it possible to bind 2 different routers to the same internet account IF ONE MATCHES THE FIRST 3 MAC PAIRS AND THE OTHER MATCHES THE LAST 3 PAIRS???? All I know is I've spent HUNDREDS OF HOURS trying to fix odd connection problems where there seemed like there was no SOLUTION. Today I'm wondering if there was any SECURITY BREACH INVOLVING MY SIDE OF THE R8000. It sounds like GCI could have problems with the CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCY IN THE COMING WEEKS AND MONTHS!! Sorry for the long description but I needed to tell the WHOLE STORY.
I figured out the problem early this morning after hundreds of hours work, THE R8000 IS DEFECTIVE. How do I know this: The WPS Quit Working Long Ago, Wireless Connectivity Was Spotty At Best And Seemed To Change With Every Boot Up, MAC ID Problems NOBODY Seems Willing To Explain To Me, I HOOKED UP MY OLD NETGEAR 900 AND IT WORKED PERFECTLY!! TO BAD MY WARRANTY EXPIRED ON OCTOBER 23RD, 2015
10 Replies
All you need to do is copy the MAC ADDRESS and when changing a router enter it and check you this MAC ADDRESS.
When your account was setup up the service tech used your PC without a router and that PC's LAN card's MAC ADDRESS was entered in your ISP's system. If your mac changes the ISP will hand out a different IP
I guess I don't understand. Here in Anchorage GCI SERVICES wants you to call when you aer installing a new router so they can bind it to your SPECIFIC ACCOUNT ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE A STATIC IP. The MAC ADDRESS THAT WAS IN THE R8000 BEFORE I HAD THEM CHANGE IT WAS TO SOMETHING I'VE NEVER HAD ON MY SYSTEM. As soon as we put the ACTUAL MAC ADDRESS IN THE ROUTER SOFTWARE MY PROBLEMS DISSAPPEARED. That's all I know. There is an ANSWER here somewhere. Thank You For Your Reply.
I figured out the problem early this morning after hundreds of hours work, THE R8000 IS DEFECTIVE. How do I know this: The WPS Quit Working Long Ago, Wireless Connectivity Was Spotty At Best And Seemed To Change With Every Boot Up, MAC ID Problems NOBODY Seems Willing To Explain To Me, I HOOKED UP MY OLD NETGEAR 900 AND IT WORKED PERFECTLY!! TO BAD MY WARRANTY EXPIRED ON OCTOBER 23RD, 2015
Did you try reflashing the firmware? Perhaps something got corrupted. It can't hurt.
Just make sure to reset to factory defaults both before and after flashing then load all the setup parameters manually.
First of all, I want to Thank ALL the people at NETGEAR for helping me NOT go out and spend $300 on a new R8000. When “rpoffen” wrote in his reply: “Did you try re-flashing the firmware? Perhaps something got corrupted. It can't hurt. Just make sure to reset to factory defaults both before and after flashing then load all the setup parameters manually”. It kicked my weakened brain (because of age) into another gear. I thought sure, I used to do that all the time. I just needed to read up on the procedure. After I downloaded the procedure from The Community I performed all the required steps on my R8000 and for the most part it came back to life. My R8000 there seems to be a problem with the WPS. I don’t think I need WPS since I know every password on my network (actually I have labels partially covering my desk. . .) All 3 Wireless Networks are up and running NETGEAR17 Is Running @ 600 Mbps, NETGEAR17-5G-1 Is Running @ 1300 Mbps and NETGEAR17-5G-2 Is Running @ 1300 Mbps. Maybe if anybody reads this I’d like to know for sure: Do I Really Need WPS After All?? It might be an incompatibly between my TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Wireless Network Adapter and my R8000. I’m unable to track down the source of the WPS problem but if I don’t need it, C'est la vie.
Last Time I Checked My Internet Connection It Was Running At:
Download Speed: 279270 kbps (34908.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 45578 kbps (5697.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 8 milliseconds
Jitter: 0 milliseconds
11/19/2015, 12:50:45 AMIt’s run as high as 565 Mbps Down and 55 Mbps Up. Our cable company just rolled out their newest cable modems and doubled everyone’s internet for nothing. They say they’ll be at 1GB by December 31, 2015 and still no increase in price. I remember when I had a Hayes 300 Baud Modem. . .
Hopefully I’m through diagnosing problems. My R8000 is not 100% but it’s working. If NETGEAR hangs me out to dry just because the thing went belly up 25 DAYS AFTER THE WARRANTY EXPIRED I most likely won’t be back. Regards, MrRankDog.
OK, let me say FIRST THING: When I wrote an earlier entry in this Community I blamed NETGEAR for going south on me 25 days after my warranty expired. That statement could NOT be further from the truth and I apologize for it!! I also said in the previous link that that was the “WHOLE STORY” and that couldn’t be further from the truth either. I am at the end of my search for solutions and here’s why: There was never anything wrong with my R8000. When I put my case in my Buddy’s Computer Shop to have the COOLER MASTER V8 GTS CPU COOLER and the TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Dual Band Wireless N900 PCI Express Adapter Card I introduced a Non-Compatible Card into my system. Brian told me it couldn’t have worked any more PERFECT there in his shop the day he installed my stuff. When I brought the COOLER MASTER COSMOS CASE Home that’s when my problems started. I got so frustrated I was ready to go back to Brian and give him my New Card if I could get the old one back. The old one was 100 % Compatible with My R8000. The Next up the TP-Link Line was definitely NOT. After reading “Dexter” From The Community Team and “rpoffen’s” reply’s: Dexter first “Please perform a factory reset and power cycle on the router after a successful firmware update. I also suggest making sure that the driver for the adapter of the computer is up to date. You may also use the Wi-Fi Analytics feature of the NETGEAR Genie app if you have it installed or any similar program to check for interferences and select the best channel.” Next rpoffen “Did you try re-flashing the firmware? Perhaps something got corrupted. It can't hurt. Just make sure to reset to factory defaults both before and after flashing then load all the setup parameters manually”. I followed their instructions to the letter thinking I of all people BREATHED NEW LIFE INTO MY R8000. It was at the moment I got my newly FLASHED R8000 up and running it all hit me like a brick. I’m going to make a statement here that is “ONLY TRUE IN MY WORLD” I’m kind of a data base guy so I’ve lived most of my life in the “If Then What” kind of thinking. Apparently NETGEAR doesn’t make a PCI-E High End Wireless Network Card Compatible with their R8000. (I Searched At Amazon Before I Wrote This) TP-LINK on-the-other-hand makes a High End Router Compatible with their PCI-E High End Wireless Network Card. (At Least I Hope It’s Compatible) For me it’s easier to buy the new router than it is to keep trying to fix what I have now. Bottom line: NETGEAR didn’t do anything to me, I was the one who put the card in the upset the original applecart. It’s just took me this long to figure it all out. I want to get back to what I like to call “Hassle Free Living” anyway. . . I hope whoever reads this understands. Thank You AGAIN To Everyone for helping me find an answer to My Own “What” question. Regards, MrRankDog
Sorry, having difficulty following you posts. So, is the problem the router? The client network card? incompatibility between the two? You had problems that were fixed by the router reflash, suggesting it's none of the above? Is WPS the only thing that's not working? Do you know why/why not? Networking standards (802.11) should prevent these problems if the hardware is compliant?
- You don't need WPS.
So many problems are resolved with a simple reset to factory default. Very seldom, do I not, reset a router to factory default after a firmware upgrade.
If I didn't, and issues crop up, (WAN drops, poor performance, wonky wireless, router reboots etc) that's my start point, in the remedy. That way you are starting with a clean slate, and, also ensuring the new firmware is getting loaded correctly.
