Ah networking!

I have a Netgear WGR614 (version 1) router that I had upgraded to beta firmware to allow WPA encryption. I could never get my TiBook with its Linksys 802.11g card to connect however.

I also wanted to look into using my G5 as a router. So I bought an Asante PCI 10/100 card and went to town.

A day later, I gave up. Here is why:

I had two issues. I wanted WPA from the wireless and my Vonage voice over IP phone would skip and be unusable when uploading files. The solution to the first was to get Netgear to fix their router, but they never did. It might be the chipset, who knows. The solution to the latter was packet shaping, ie some software or hardware that would give the phone priority when it was in use.

The only packet shaping software I could find on the mac was throttled, but I never got it to help much, and sure not dynamically, ie only when the phone was in use.

Apple’s built in Internet Sharing never worked between the built in ethernet and Asante card, no idea why. I could use brickhouse to enable that, which worked, but I still had not DHCP server.

I thought about using an Airport Extreme card in my g5 to be a access point, but apple does not support wpa, does not let you hide the SSID nor do they do cool stuff like block access everyone except specified MAC addresses.

So, what a pain.

Solution to the WPA issue

Netgear is selling their WGR614s for $89.99 with $40 in mail in rebates. I picked up a v4 (the latest chipset). You can tell which one you get by looking at the blue side panel where it says “Package Contents” The model number will have V2-V4 next to it. No V number means it is a V1.

Anyone wanna buy a WGR614 V1?

Solution to the Vonage packet shaping issue

I have not done this yet, but all reports are good. You can call Vonage and request a swap of your cisco ATA-186 with a Motorola V-1005. This box is not only a telephony adaptor, but it also has DCHP and NAT and packet shaping. So you’d create your network like:

Cable Modem -> Motorola V-1000 -> Netgear WGR-614->Computers

You would disable DHCP on the Netgear and let the Motorola handle it, while the Netgear would be the firewall to your local area network.

To do this swap, Vonage charges you $100 for ground delivery (about $120 for 2-3 day) and they disable your phone. When you get the Motorola, you plug it in and your phone works again. You mail back the Cisco and get a $40 credit.

A little pricey, but if it works, the price to pay for being on the bleeding edge.

Whew.