Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

[timatraw]

Im looking for advice from multiple vudu owners out there. I have a vudu player wirelessly going to fios router on first floor. I just bought a second vudu for theater room downstairs. I want to install a wired network connection to vudu number two. I do have a second router. Anybody have experience connecting two routers together in a fios network? Will this work? Looking for suggestions.
Thanks.
Tim

[Nded]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

I don't recommend adding a second router to the mix - you will likely run in to problems with something called "Double NAT". Just add a small switch to the current active router and you will have plenty of ports. If you can't afford the switch right now, you could use the second router as a switch. Here's how:

1) Disable DHCP on the second router.

2) Unplug one of the devices in the current "full" router from a LAN port.

3) Connect one of the LAN ports of the second router to the first router's now open LAN port(you may need a "crossover" cable if it is an older device).

4) Connect the Vudu LAN cable to one of the other LAN ports on the second router.

5) Connect the device you removed in #2 above to one of the other LAN ports in the second router.

6) Done. Both Vudu's are now on the same LAN.

[MaxH]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

...fios router on first floor....

...theater room downstairs...

So, are these on the same floor? Same room?

I highly recommend having a switch as part of any home theater installation. You can usually find decent 4- or 8-port switches for well under $25 if you look hard enough. 8-port switches aren't that much more, and you save yourself grief later on. For example, I had at one point a Wii, a Vudu, a ReplayTV, a TiVo, and a Netgear MP-101 (media extender) on one switch...and you still need one port to connect back to your router.

If you need a wall jack, the hardest part is installing the box in the wall. The rest is relatively easy.

[aaronwt]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

I'm looking for advice from multiple VUDU owners out there. I have a VUDU player wirelessly going to FIOS router on first floor. I just bought a second VUDU for theater room downstairs. I want to install a wired network connection to VUDU number two. I do have a second router. Anybody have experience connecting two routers together in a FIOS network? Will this work? Looking for suggestions.
Thanks.
Tim

I've been doing it for close to 1.5 years with FIOS. I have the ActionTec connected to my ONT. Then I have my Dlink DGL4500 router(Previously a DGL4300)connected to the ActionTec and have it on a DMZ. This has worked perfectly for me with my 40+ network devices(I'm also using ten Gigabit Dlink Switches to connect my wired devices(a combo of 5 port and 8 port) and an Access point for 5Ghz 802.11n, a wireless bridge for the 5Ghz 802.11n(I use this for my Verizon wireless Network Extender, Laptops, and Alarm system), and I use 802.11g from my Dlink router for my Wii and Zune players.). three of them being VUDU boxes.( and now I'm currently using between one Terabyte and Two Terabytes every month between my uploads and downloads with all my devices)No need to ever reboot the Actiontec or my Dlink router.


By leaving the ActionTec connected to the ONT, if there are any ONT problems I don't have to worry about reconnecting the ActionTec. Since FIOS will not trouble shoot anything with your own router connected to the ONT. And since I'm also using the Ethernet connection from the ONT to the ActionTec, if for some reason the ActionTec dies, I can connect my own router to the Ont until a replacement arrives from Verizon.

[aaronwt]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

I don't recommend adding a second router to the mix - you will likely run in to problems with something called "Double NAT". Just add a small switch to the current active router and you will have plenty of ports. If you can't afford the switch right now, you could use the second router as a switch. Here's how:

1) Disable DHCP on the second router.

2) Unplug one of the devices in the current "full" router from a LAN port.

3) Connect one of the LAN ports of the second router to the first router's now open LAN port(you may need a "crossover" cable if it is an older device).

4) Connect the Vudu LAN cable to one of the other LAN ports on the second router.

5) Connect the device you removed in #2 above to one of the other LAN ports in the second router.

6) Done. Both Vudu's are now on the same LAN.

No problems, no need to disable DHCP on either router. It works perfectly in my setup with over 40 network devices requiring an IP address.

I have the Actiontec assign an IP address(192.168.1.2) to my Dlink router which I put on a DMZ in the Actiontec setup menu. The Actiontec will also assign an IP address to any FIOS STBs you having using MoCA(networking over coax)

Then my Dlink uses it's DHCP to assign IP addresses to everything on the network. Besides you don't want the Ationtec doing this if you can avoid it. At least not with the number of devices I have.

Just make sure the Ip address range the Actiontec uses is Different from your own router. I've been using a range starting with 221.2xx.xx.xxx for my internal network for around 12 years. It makes it much easier since I can't confuse it with the default 192.168.x.xxx address range that the network devices typically default to.

[NA9D]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

What Ed is saying is you don't want two DHCP servers on the same LAN subnet. That would not be good.

And you don't want two routers either. If you must have two Routers (ie: the Actiontec and then whatever you want), the second router must go directly into the Actiontec and be put on the DMZ. No other LAN equipment should then go into the Actiontec. Everything must go onto your second router. Otherwise, you'll have two different LAN subnets and it will make things hinky.

[aaronwt]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

What Ed is saying is you don't want two DHCP servers on the same LAN subnet. That would not be good.

And you don't want two routers either. If you must have two Routers (ie: the ActionTec and then whatever you want), the second router must go directly into the ActionTec and be put on the DMZ. No other LAN equipment should then go into the ActionTec. Everything must go onto your second router. Otherwise, you'll have two different LAN subnets and it will make things hinky.

You can have several subnets and routers if you want and it will work fine. As long as you can keep track of everything. You just make sure they are all on a DMZ.

I've run my network like that in the past for short time without any problems. But in the end I physically separated my network instead. I have three gigabit switches connected to three ports on my Dlink router. And from there those go to my rooms. So for instance I keep all my TiVos and TiVo server connected to one of those switches so they don't have to go through the router when transferring shows between them. They only have to go through the router when accessing the INTERNET. And then my VUDU boxes and my devices that are constantly accessing the internet connect through another of those switches,and then my PCs and game systems connect through the last one. So I then have to have two or three switches in each of my three main rooms depending on what equipment is in there.

[redwein]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

The simplest solution, as already mentioned by some is just to use network switches as necessary, and as desired to get enough ports in the locations you need them. There is no need for a second router and you can ignore anything about DMZ, subnets, etc., if you stick to 1 router and any number of switches you want. I have done this and have 65 devices on my network working harmoniously together.

I don't have FIOS so I have a load balancing router with three ISP connections (2 cable and 1 DSL) to provide me with all the bandwidth I need.

[aaronwt]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

The simplest solution, as already mentioned by some is just to use network switches as necessary, and as desired to get enough ports in the locations you need them. There is no need for a second router and you can ignore anything about DMZ, subnets, etc., if you stick to 1 router and any number of switches you want. I have done this and have 65 devices on my network working harmoniously together.

I don't have FIOS so I have a load balancing router with three ISP connections (2 cable and 1 DSL) to provide me with all the bandwidth I need.

But you don't have it on an Actiontec router. You don't want that many devices on the Actiontec. It will have NAT issues among other problems.

[redwein]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

But you don't have it on an Actiontec router. You don't want that many devices on the Actiontec. It will have NAT issues among other problems.

Probably true. I don't know much about the Actiontec. I would only get the modem from my ISP and get my own router. I like to select the router myself. There are plenty of them out there that are powerful enough yet simple enough for even novices to use.

[NA9D]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

You can have several subnets and routers if you want and it will work fine. As long as you can keep track of everything. You just make sure they are all on a DMZ.

Yes, this works but the problem is that certain services that work using broadcast packets will NOT function this way. Say you multiple Tivos at home and each one is on a different LAN sub net. They will not see each other and you will be unable to do multi-room viewing.

Or if you have a DAAP server like Firefly or SqueezeCenter to serve music files on one subnet and an audio player like a Soundbridge or Squeezebox on another subnet - the audio player won't see the server.

We don't know if it will ever happen but if Vudu some day allows playback of your own media files or the ability to view another Vudu's contents, I'm 100% certain everything will need to be on the same LAN subnet.

For the average user who doesn't understand routing protocols and for the way CE devices work to discover each other, you do NOT want multiple LAN subnets. All it does is cause trouble.

[timatraw]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

Thanks everybody for your replies. I have the two vudus on separate floors. With this new knowledge I'm now thinking that I will connect the two vudus via the wireless method as they are not near the router. I didn't realize that all I need to do is connect a four or eight port "network switch" to the Actiontec router and then add the wireless modules.
Right?
Thanks.
Tim

[NA9D]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

Thanks everybody for your replies. I have the two vudus on separate floors. With this new knowledge I'm now thinking that I will connect the two vudus via the wireless method as they are not near the router. I didn't realize that all I need to do is connect a four or eight port "network switch" to the Actiontec router and then add the wireless modules.
Right?
Thanks.
Tim

Yeah, that would work. Using two wireless adapters will probably work just fine.

[aaronwt]

Re: Networking FIOS and 2 vudus

Yes, this works but the problem is that certain services that work using broadcast packets will NOT function this way. Say you multiple Tivos at home and each one is on a different LAN sub net. They will not see each other and you will be unable to do multi-room viewing....

Yes, You would need them all on the same sub-net which is how I had them for the short time period when I used multiple subnets.