# FIOS actiontec wireless fix



## jmcinerny (Dec 3, 2008)

Incredible, I had cable internet with RCN for a few years with zero problems, but I could not leave well enough alone and decided to switch to FIOS. My RCN set up was a cable modem router with a MS wireless router in one of the LAN ports. Signal was fair to great all over my 2,200 s.f. house. I am not technically savy but can follow directions. FIOS came with their Actiontech router and I could only hold a signal within about twenty feet of the router even when it said I had a strong signal. Very frustrating. 

I have been dealing with this issue for over a week. I downloaded new drivers, bought and returned a new wireless card, changed channels on the router, turned the firewall off, turned the firewall on, surfed tech forums endlessly. I was going to hire someone to come to the house. I spoke with Verizon tech support five times. Verizon tried to blame it on my cordless phone. It is their Actiontech wireless router. I finally took my four year old MS router with a tiny antenna, turned off the wireless on the Actiontech router and easily got OK to great reception throughout the house. It was basically plug and play. All I had to do was enter the WEP key. Funny, I almost threw away the MS router after FIOS was installed. Good thing I held on to it.


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## jms.sutcliffe (Dec 2, 2008)

can you get a bit more specific? I am not very savvy; plug and play sounds like it may play havoc with the mind I am using...

How to turn off the wireless on the Action Tec?

then just cable from it to my new (old) router?

enter my new (old) router's WEP key?

Why not just deep six the Action Tec?


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## jmcinerny (Dec 3, 2008)

How to turn off the wireless on the Action Tec?

first you should have an ethernet cable plugged into the Action Tec so you are wired, then

go to your browser and enter

http://192.168.1.1/cache/525912691/index.cgi, 
this will get you to your router so you can change the settings on it, the user name should be admin and the password should be password

then go to wireless security settings and turn off wireless

if the old router's software is still on your computer plug in your old router to the Action Tec, router, use your old router's software or Windows to enter the WEP key and it should work, or at least it worked for me. I am not explaining it perfectly because I am no computer pro, but I have been self employed for a long time and I have solved many of my own computer problems (and created many of them too)

Why not junk the Action Tec? That is another solution but I did not want to spend the money unless I had to.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

First off, what services do you have with Verizon? If you have the TV service, you need that router if you expect to see the guide and use On-Demand. If you have TV, I suggest you take a look at

Replacing the Verizon FiOS Actiontec MI-424WR Router, there are a number of configurations that might do the trick for you.

If you don't want a secondary router, maybe increasing the range of the Actiontec will be the answer.

Hawking Tech has a number of products that will help you increase your wireless range. The root page is Hawking Hi-Gain™ WiFi Range Extending Products.

Some of the more interesting products are this Hawking [HSB2] Hi-Gain WiFi Signal Booster, which can be used on either end of a wireless connection to boost the signal power.

Another way to increase your signal strength is by the use of hi-gain antennas. You can choose from omni-directional or directional models, here are a some examples.

Hawking [HAI7SIP] Hi-Gain 7dBi Omni-Directional Antenna

Hawking [HAI15SC] Hi-Gain 15dBi Corner Antenna

[HAO14SD] Outdoor Hi-Gain 14dBi Directional Antenna Kit

This is just a sample of available products, many people have hi-gain antennas with similar specifications, but I haven't seen any other suppliers of signal boosters.


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## jms.sutcliffe (Dec 2, 2008)

thanks for the helpful suggestions!

I have FIOS Triple Play with verizon - TV and Internet via fiber optic cable and also landline phone via conventional cable. 

Up until two weeks ago we had DSL and phone from Verizon.

Our wifi was working fine;

Here is our network layout:

I have two PCs, "Eliza" and "James" running Windows WP Home edition
Eliza is wired directly to a Verizon ONT fiber optic box through an actiontec router and a D-link wireless router
I was having problems with the actiontec and turned off its wireless mode and put the d-link in line with it.

I got the dlink in September for Nick, the pc two floors up and across the house from the router on Eliza. The dlink did not work with my internal wifi in the laptop so I had to get an external adapter for it.

The dlink was receiving signal four out of five bars on the farthest pc, "Nick" - the FIOS installation removed the Dlink and put an ActionTec in its place. signal was two bars at best.
a week later Nick lost internet, getting local access only on our network. My laptop has had intermittent internet.

another twist is our next door neighbors have an unsecured network. I am in fact using their connection now with my laptop. They don't mind but I wonder if it is a good idea. 


Nick and a laptop run Vista. They are or may be at some distance from the router. 

Ideally all would have network capability to share files and printers as well as all connect to the internet wirelessly.

Ideally I would have a router that picks up:
the internal wifi of the laptop runing vista home basic
the external adapters from 
pc NIck running vista home basic
pc James running XP home (could be cat5 cabled-close enough

as long as I am at it I would like to have the ability to print at various pc's and back up data for all at two of the four machines. But that could wait until later.

What I feel most lacking in is the big picture- an overview of the components and their configurations.

So far I do what various tech support phone bank people tell me:
at verizon, at dlink, waiting for microsoft to weigh in w/ advice
I have configured and reconfigured both routers- Dlink and Actiontec
right now the only computer online in my own network is cabled into the dlink- Eliza
I am using the neighbor's wifi on my laptop. They are willing to encrypt theirs if it would help us separate.

I can send model #s on all units if need be
I am open to upping the range on the actiontec just so verizon will still give their support.
the adapters are dlink and linksys.

I have TUES and wed to hopefully resolve this and get on with my life.

many happy returns for the day,
james


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## jms.sutcliffe (Dec 2, 2008)

Thanks for the help. I did try that but it was not so simple for me. I did learn a bit about configuring my routers, though.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Here's the easy way to put that D-Link in line with the Actiontec and have all the machines on the same subnet so they can all communicate with each other.

Connecting two (or more) SOHO broadband routers together.

*Note:* _The "primary" router can be an actual router, a software gateway like Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing, or a server connection that has the capability to supply more than one IP address using DHCP server capability. No changes are made to the primary "router" configuration._

Configure the IP address of the secondary router(s) to be in the same subnet as the primary router, but out of the range of the DHCP server in the primary router. For instance DHCP server addresses 192.168.0.2 through 192.168.0.100, I'd assign the secondary router 192.168.0.254 as it's IP address, 192.168.0.253 for another router, etc.

_*Note: Do this first, as you will have to reboot the computer to connect to the router again for the remaining changes.*_

Disable the DHCP server in the secondary router.

Setup the wireless section just the way you would if it was the primary router, channels, encryption, etc.

Connect from the primary router's LAN port to one of the LAN ports on the secondary router. If there is no uplink port and neither of the routers have auto-sensing ports, use a cross-over cable. Leave the WAN port unconnected!

This procedure bypasses the routing function (NAT layer) and configures the router as a switch (or wireless access point for wireless routers).

For reference, here's a link to a Typical example config using a Netgear router


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## jms.sutcliffe (Dec 2, 2008)

Hi John, 

Thanks for the help! I printed your previous reply in case I end up going that way. 

My preference is for simplicity and access to Verizon tech support.
for now I have disconnected the D-Link and gone back to the Action Tec only. It is working with the XP systems. Status:

We are back to the original problem:
Wifi works with the computers running XP; the computers running Vista have connectivity issues.

The laptop tries to connect via the neighbor's network and returns the message-
Local access only

When I disconnect from theirs and attempt to connect to ours, the error message reads- 

The settings saved on this computer for the network do not match the requirements of the network.

Now I am (spontaneously) connected via the neighbor's and getting internet.

the issue must be between Vista and the new Action Tec router, that is when the trouble began.

Going up to check on the pc Nick ...

Thank for listening.
James


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

First off, remove all the stored wireless profiles from the machine and then do a search for new wireless networks. Also, to prepare for this, please do the following fixes to the Vista machines.

Changes that may help to increase the compatibility of Vista with older networking devices:

*Disable the IP Helper service:*

1. Hold the Windows key and type R, enter "services.msc" (without the quotes) and press Enter
2. Scroll down to the IP Helper service, right click on it and select Properties
3. In the dropdown box that says "Automatic" or "Manual", set it to Disabled and then click on "Apply"
4. Then click on "Stop" to stop the service from running in the current session
5. Click OK to exit the dialog

*Disable IPv6:*

1. Hold the Windows key and type R, enter "*ncpa.cpl*" (without the quotes) and press Enter
2. Right click on each network connection and select "Properties"
3. Remove the checkmark from the box next to "Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)
4. Click OK to exit the dialog

_NOTE: You should do this for each network connection._

*Disable the DHCP Broadcast Flag:*

Link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/928233

 Hold the Windows key and type R, enter *regedit* and press Enter.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{GUID}
In this registry path, click the (GUID) subkey to be updated.
If the key DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag does not exist, use the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value. In the New Value #1 box, type DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag, and then press ENTER. _If the key exists, skip this step_.
Right-click DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
Close Registry Editor.
_NOTE: You should do this for each and every GUID subkey._
NOTE2: (GUID) is a mnemonic for the individual subkeys, the actual text "GUID" does not appaer.

The only program I'm aware of that currently relies on IPv6 is the new Windows Meeting Space. The first 2 changes will cause that program not to work - but will leave all of your normal (IPv4) connections unaffected. If it causes problems that you can't overcome, simply revert back to the original settings.


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## jms.sutcliffe (Dec 2, 2008)

Hi John, 

I followed steps 1 and 2, 
on 3 I was able to do all but one guid registry.

I had already deleted all other networks.
they kept popping back up but a tech support guy from verizon helped me solve that issue. 

I keep losing the interent connection then getting it back. 

He said it sounds like interference from somewhere.

I have neighbors close by on either side. 

He suggested trying all eleven channels to see if one had good staying connectivity...

also to coordinate with the neighbors to get on more separated frequencies...

What do you think?

Also he offered the suggestion that I request an N router by Westell from Verizon to replace the Action Tec G, I like that idea; even though it may be coincidence and not connected the trouble began after we got the new Action Tec not exactly when but within a week...

any thoughts?
Thanks for your help !

James


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Clearly, changing channels to avoid wireless interference is a primary step. You can install NetStumbler and do a channel scan to see what wireless networks are in your area that might be stepping on your signal.

I love the idea of getting a new router from Verizon, I may try that myself.


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## jms.sutcliffe (Dec 2, 2008)

When i spoke with their tech dept. they said a new router was coming out soon and to check in today on it's available date.

as to the wifi
I have resolved my issue- I went through the computer HP mfg tech assist backed up data nd returned to factory settings, cabled in to get connection set up and now running wireless fine.

thanks fro all yr support! it has been quite a struggle.
james


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