New 3rd Party Router - To Improve WiFi

[rozel]

@mae-3@@ and@jamesn123    -  oh, I'm sorry, I missed that post.  I'm on my tablet now and it does funny things on this site , probably how this thread has been marked as answered.

Thank you - I have all I need now to proceed.

As said before you guys rock!

[rozel]

@mae-3 @jamesn123 @Skull+Treaty 

Good morning - another day another GB Pound 😀 

Right then so far this morning I've decided for now, to leave the Modem's ip address as it is, namely: - 192.168.1.1 as I did have Internet before I messed with the WAN's settings.

I've reset the WAN's settings to what they were first thing yesterday - see screenshot: -

And have internet 😁: -

AND what's even better, I'm typing in this thread now using the Asus Router's Internet - WooHoo!!!!!

OK so over to the LAN - first up I changed the Gateway: -

As youcan see so far so good.  Then on to the Lan's DHCP Tab: -

I then tried to add 192.168.0.23 for my PC. When I first clicked "Apply", I got an error message saying "You cannot leave fields blank".  I tried a few things and eventually the Router saved the settings and after re-logging in this is what I see: -

And then this: -

 

For some reason I've messed with the devices - the MAC address ending "15" is my PC (confirmed by looking at what it is in the Sky Hub) and the one ending "30" is the XT8 itself, but that now seems to have disappeared!

And I seem unable to change my PC's ip to 192.168.0.23 - every time I Save, the Router resets and comes back up showing that it is 192.168.0.95, which is what it was at the beginning.

If I know how to change it then I will have learned so much this morning as to how the Router resets etc.  Logging in is no issue, using the credentials I set originally and as you can see, I've changed the SSID's.  AND further more I can sign in to the first two bands with my phone (Samsung S10+) and the band which I connect to shows WiFi6.  So I am making significant progress now.

It's just how to reserve ip addresses.  It was asked why do I want to go down this route - this is the reason: - "It is ideal to use a static IP address for devices on your network that will need to be accessed very reliably by other systems or devices on the network. A device set with a static IP address makes sure that the device is easily found on the network, since the IP address will not change."  I'd actually forgotten about this and yes I have loads of devices that interact with others.  So please stick with me on this - for now anyhow 😁 .

Update: -  I'm just wondering if I can change the device ip's from those which the Asus Router has allocated and maybe the best I can do is "Reserve" the ones that have been allocated already?  As I have consistently said I'm inexperienced in these matters.  I have now also disconnected the Asus Node from the Router and positioned it where the Sky's Booster was.  It's connected and has again been discovered by the Router.  Wifi Speeds have been checked with Speedtest net and are looking good, again as has been said, I'm presuming they will get better over the coming week, leaving the Router permanently on.

Help!

 

[mae-3]

@rozel 

Usually, it is best to allocate a fixed IP address to its current LAN IP setting for that client device, and the reason you are having issues changing the IP to a different fixed IP address is it is already in use by another device.

The wireless mesh needs to be operational for about 10 minutes before the band A & B 5Ghz wireless comes up for DFS channels. This is because it is a requirement with 5Ghz dynamic frequency selection (DFS) channels to scan for local radar to ensure the channel is clear before switching on. So, yes once the wireless system mesh is operational for that period of time it should be full speed ahead.

[rozel]

@mae-3, thought nobody wanted to come back on here, probably because I've tired them out so much lolol

I am confused but not sure why lol!  Read on...........................................

Ok now all is up and running, so far everything has been connecting without any input from me.  Got my Harmony Remote and pressed "Watch TV".  For about a minute nothing happened but I stuck with it and lo and behold the TV, Sky Q box and sound bar came on without any button pressing from me!  Ok so the Box has connected to the same SSID as before, so keeping the 2 SSID's that I could was well worth it.  And then because all my 4 Mini boxes were previously connected to the Sky Q box, they all came on without difficulty - Result!

Alexa is working, just as my Nest Thermostat is too - again with no interaction from me.  So I'm left, so far, rather red-faced regarding fixed ip addresses.  I've quite easily re-routed the Sky-Hubs ethernet cables to my network switches and my wife's study now has internet, just as mine has.  I still need to go into the Living Room to check all my HiFi and Home Entertainment equipment and see how they work through my Tablet - for some reason, unknown to me at the moment, I do not forsee any issues.

OK earlier on when trying to reserve 192.168.0.23 for my PC, I had no other devices at all connected to the Router, other than the Asus Node, which was also connected by ethernet at that stage.  No the reason why it could not be accepted, was because the router had already allocated 192.168.192.95, I think, as it was 192.168.0.23. before.  So a few questions please: -

1.  So would I be right in thinking this has to do with the WAN being set to "Automatic ip" rather than "Static ip" ? 
2.  With Automatic ips, I presume I must change device ip addresses within the devices (my PC in this case) themselves?
3.  But I can "Reserve" 192.168.0.95 for the PC, if I wanted to and other devices similarly based on what they are now, or what I set them to (if I can and/or need to) ?

I'm not going to change anything, be assured 😁 but I would like to know what's what here for my learning going forward please.  After I know all this, I shall turn everything off, adjust the wiring/cabling etc. and leave everything off for 30 mins before turning the Modem back on first, then the Router, then the Node.

Thanks

[mae-3]

@rozel 

1. Don't change that at all on the WAN interface it has a public IP address completely outside the LAN range, eg: leave the WAN tab alone! 😀

2. You should be able to use the DHCP server reservation pool to allocate fixed IP addresses unless they are private LAN IP addresses which some devices have a feature for this is basically random MAC address usually on smartphones. And it is the MAC address that is used to fix the IP address when allocating a fixed IP address on the Asus router if it is random it doesn't work.

3. Yes, you can allocate fixed IP addresses to the PC/device either by the DHCP server reservation pool or directly on the device itself but the former is a better choice but see 2 about random MACs.

[rozel]

@mae-3  and  @jamesn123 @Skull+Treaty @cookiemonsteruk 

Thanks @mae-3 , very much appreciated again and rest assured I won't change anything 😄

Ok I want to thank you all for your very helpful support over the past week.  Yes it has been difficult for me at times but there is so much complexity with this kind of Internet stuff so I'm sincerely indebted to you all for your very helpful support and sticking with me.  Everything seems fine for now, and feel sure now that if a problem does reveal itself, I will be able to sort it.

Cheers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!