Linksys WRTSL54GS conflicting in "Gateway" Mode

Hello All,

I would like to know if someone can guide me that remaining within my existing setup, how can I stop my Linksys WRTSL54GS ver 1.1 Wireless Router from acting as a Gateway on the network. I have configured it to act merely as an access point (by reading various guidance articles present over the forums) since when it acts as a gateway it creates conflicts from my cable internet network’s primary gateway and thus a number of users in my neighborhood are unable to reach the internet because on a DHCP configuration they are connected to my router instead of the network’s primary DHCP and Gateway server.

The supporting information is as follows with the Network Diagram attached which would help understanding the scenario ;

-- Linksys WRTSL54GS Wireless Router Ver 1.1

-- There already is a switch (and probably other routers) at Cable Internet Provider’s end , so I have to connect WRTSL54GS Wireless Router with it to use this Internet connection using wireless across my home. That’s why the CAT5 wire from the cable provider is plugged in “Regular Switch LAN Ports (1-4)” of the Wireless router, not in the “WAN” port. This lets me access the LAN shared resources of my neighborhood PCs as well (instead of using double NAT when router assigns DHCP which gives an internal IP 192.168.x.x address to my laptop and isolates internal network from the whole neigbourhood LAN).


My Laptop’s configuration is as follows ;

-- HP Pavillion Dv1000 Laptop, running Windows XP SP2 (with almost all released updates from Microsoft online update) .

-- Intel PRO/Wireless BG 2200 Wireless LAN Adapter with Intel latest drivers 9.0.4.33. In the wireless driver configuration “Power Management” and “Transmit Power” sliders are set to maximum, while “Throughout Enhancement (packet bursting)” is enabled.

-- “Wireless Zero Configuration” as of Windows default is used to manage the Wi-Fi .The “Infrastructure Mode” for wireless LAN is used.

--The wireless connection in the Windows is set on DHCP mode to obtain the IP address automatically. However since it assigns my Wireless router as the default gateway which I have to override, I have manually given the address of the default primary IP as the fixed gateway in the network settings.


My Wireless Network Configuration (in Linksys Original Firmware Configuration page)

-- Have made a unique SSID and set to broadcast. The router and wireless card on the laptop both set in “G Only” mode since I do not have any 802.11b devices, so no need for mixed mode.

-- Using default “Channel 11”. WEP security method with an ”Open Passkey” authenticated when connecting to my wireless network. The MTU is default ‘1500’. Beacon Interval is ‘50’. RTS and Fragmentation threshold set to ‘2307’. Enabled ‘Burst Mode’. Made all these settings as advised by some of the gurus whom I came across searching for ways to optimize the Wireless connection.

-- In the router’s advanced configuration mode, the default settings are left intact , which is that router acts as a ‘Gateway’.


My Problem

-- The internet browsing and all other applications seem to work fine. I can browse the local neighborhood shared folders as well as internet.

-- My cable net provider however reports a problem that since my router is also acting as a gateway, and he already has a default gateway configured on the network which all the customers are using, it is creating conflicts over the network and a lot of customer cannot reach the internet or have varied ping response from the proxy server.

-- Since I still want to use my Wireless router and the attached USB network storage, I tried to fix it by assigning router in the “Router” mode in the advanced wireless settings, which also needs assigning static routes which I am not really good at. Wireless internet browsing doesn’t works if this setting is enabled and no static routes are defined.

-- Cant I have my wireless router on the same “Subnet” as of my Cable Net Provider . It is 255.255.240.0 , but in my router configuration page when i go to assign the router’s internal IP address for configuration I cannot see this value in the available selection options. The value I have to select is 255.255.255.0. This is asked just for information.

Please guide and share your information, I would appreciate if someone can take me in detail how to go about the exact configuration steps in the web based interface of the Linksys router. Any conceptual idea would be welcome too.



Best Regards,
S.F.Hasan.,

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