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Odd entries in Attached Devices with WAP connected
Hi guys. The WNR3500 is quite an old model I know but it serves me well with the simple home network I run. (It's apparently so ancient the system won't let me list its model number above!)
As it is 2.4GHz only on wireless I have done a test set up of my now redundant BTHomehub5 as a WAP in the living area of our house for its 5GHz capability. For those who may not know this is a router/modem supplied in the UK by BT to its customers, (I am not a client of theirs any longer), and isn't too bad by "ISP supplied item" standards. The BT WAP DHCP server is set off and it has a reserved IP address set by the WNR3500 router outside of the WNR3500 DHCP server allocation range but in the same subnet mask as the rest of the network. It is recognised by the WNR3500 and listed correctly in its attached devices table. Devices connected to it can see each other and access the internet without problems. The 3 areas of the wireless side of the network, Netgear 2.4GHz, BT 2.4GHz, BT 5GHz, each have different SSIDs and Wireless Keys and all use WPA2 encryption. Everything seems to work as it should apart from two things.
First the BT Homehub 5 spontaneously reboots regularly. This is a known issue with its latest firmware and I would guess will have nothing to do with the problem I want advice on. When it is up it works perfectly but if it turns out to be affecting things then it will have to go.
Second, I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace smartphone, a bit long in the tooth, which I connect via the BTHomehub5 2.4GHz. It sees all 3 available wireless networks and can connect to each of them. Even when connected through the BT 2.4GHz wireless it does not show up in the administration network display on the Homehub administration page. On the Netgear I have set up Wireless Access Control for each wireless device and Network Address Reservation for each of my wired devices. The Samsung is included in the Wireless Card Access List correctly and initially I did not set it up as a wired device. When I don't include it in the reserved address list it shows up in the attached devices list 5 times, each with the same correct MAC address and each with a different IP address. If I include it in the reserved address list under LAN it is then correctly displayed only once with its reserved IP address.
The thing which makes me doubt the correctness of this is that the reserved address page is under LAN and it is a wireless device. Is it simply that once the Galaxy Ace's connection is into the network via the BT WAP the Netgear router then sees it as a wired source because that is how it is receiving it? If so does that mean I will have to include any wireless device which connects through the WAP both in the Wireless Access list and in the LAN Reserved Addresses?
Re: Odd entries in Attached Devices with WAP connected
> [...] The BT WAP DHCP server is set off and it has a reserved IP > address set by the WNR3500 router outside of the WNR3500 DHCP server > allocation range but in the same subnet mask as the rest of the network. > [...]
That all sounds good. And you've connected one of its LAN ports (_not_ its WAN port) to a WNR3500 LAN port?
> [...] Even when connected through the BT 2.4GHz wireless it does not > show up in the administration network display on the Homehub > administration page.
I don't know what the "administration network display" report on the BT device is supposed to show. If it's tracking something like DHCP clients, then it may not show much. Used as a WAP, a router gets pretty stupid, and its interactions with client devices would be pretty limited.
> [...] When I don't include it in the reserved address list it shows up > in the attached devices list 5 times, each with the same correct MAC > address and each with a different IP address. [...]
That seems (to me) a little strange.
> [...] If I include it in the reserved address list under LAN it is > then correctly displayed only once with its reserved IP address.
I like that result better, but I can't explain the other one.
> The thing which makes me doubt the correctness of this is that the > reserved address page is under LAN and it is a wireless device.
"Local-Area Network" and "wired" are spelled differently for a reason. "LAN" and "wireless" are not mutually exclusive. Admittedly, the "LAN" Ethernet ports on your router are labeled "LAN", but that's to distinguish them from the WAN/Internet port, not from wireless stuff. The wireless connections are not labeled "LAN", but that's primarily caused by the lack of any place to attach a "LAN" label to a wireless connection. But it is a common misconception.
> [...] Is it simply that once the Galaxy Ace's connection is into the > network via the BT WAP the Netgear router then sees it as a wired source > because that is how it is receiving it?
Re: Odd entries in Attached Devices with WAP connected
Whoops, idiocy alert! Incorrect info in the first post. The Samsung can see the BT 5GHz network but it can't connect to it of course as it is only 2.4GHz capable.
Re: Odd entries in Attached Devices with WAP connected
> [...] The BT WAP DHCP server is set off and it has a reserved IP > address set by the WNR3500 router outside of the WNR3500 DHCP server > allocation range but in the same subnet mask as the rest of the network. > [...]
That all sounds good. And you've connected one of its LAN ports (_not_ its WAN port) to a WNR3500 LAN port?
> [...] Even when connected through the BT 2.4GHz wireless it does not > show up in the administration network display on the Homehub > administration page.
I don't know what the "administration network display" report on the BT device is supposed to show. If it's tracking something like DHCP clients, then it may not show much. Used as a WAP, a router gets pretty stupid, and its interactions with client devices would be pretty limited.
> [...] When I don't include it in the reserved address list it shows up > in the attached devices list 5 times, each with the same correct MAC > address and each with a different IP address. [...]
That seems (to me) a little strange.
> [...] If I include it in the reserved address list under LAN it is > then correctly displayed only once with its reserved IP address.
I like that result better, but I can't explain the other one.
> The thing which makes me doubt the correctness of this is that the > reserved address page is under LAN and it is a wireless device.
"Local-Area Network" and "wired" are spelled differently for a reason. "LAN" and "wireless" are not mutually exclusive. Admittedly, the "LAN" Ethernet ports on your router are labeled "LAN", but that's to distinguish them from the WAN/Internet port, not from wireless stuff. The wireless connections are not labeled "LAN", but that's primarily caused by the lack of any place to attach a "LAN" label to a wireless connection. But it is a common misconception.
> [...] Is it simply that once the Galaxy Ace's connection is into the > network via the BT WAP the Netgear router then sees it as a wired source > because that is how it is receiving it?
Re: Odd entries in Attached Devices with WAP connected
Thanks for the clarification Antinode, what you say all makes sense and seems to explain what it happening.
Yes, I made sure I had the right connection via one of the LAN ports and not the WAN.
By "the administration network display " I just meant the page in the browser management tool for the BT Homehub where the list of its networks and their connected devices is displayed. Even though the samsung was connected by 2.4GHz wireless it did not show up in that arm of the map as it did when the BT device was acting as the router. Your description of showing "DHCP clients" pretty much nails it, and I take your point that when it is set up for WAP that is pretty much a redundant function.
Your explanation of the terms "LAN" and "wireless" as not being mutually exclusive is once again totally clear. I was considering the term LAN to mean any cabled device and wireless to mean - well - any device without a cable! That was a poor assumption. The idea of the term LAN being to differentiate it from WAN is a point worth learning.
As it doesn't seem to ring any alarm bells with you then I think I can say I know now how to deal with the other devices to prevent that weird listing from happening again. Many thanks for the help, it sorted out my problem a treat and it's much appreciated.
