India Broadband Forum

srcollection

As a bit of background Sify offer broadband (well 256kbps) via Ethernet (no modem required). They limit the connection to a single MAC address, and connection is made by logging in to Sify’s client software. This is by no means designed to allow routers to be connected, in fact I think it is designed to prevent it!
My existing laptop was already configured with the client and Ethernet connection attached directly. Upon launching the client software this has worked without much problem.
My first step was to connect my Netgear WRG614v4 that I used to use on my NTL/Virgin Media connection in the UK. Initially I configured the WAN port to have the same MAC as my laptop’s WAN port, however this was later found to be unnecessary. So with the Sify cable connected to the WAN port, and the laptop connected to Port 1 on the router via Ethernet I was able to launch the Sify client and log in giving me internet access.
It was now possible to connect a second laptop to the router via Ethernet and gain access to the internet once the first laptop had logged in. This was easier than I thought!
I now configured the router for Wi-Fi enabling 128bit WEP security also. I was now able to connect the 2nd laptop via Wi-Fi rather than Ethernet, and this worked just fine. The only proviso was that the initial laptop logged in to Sify. So far so good.
I now connected my Netgear SPH200D Skype phone to the router via Ethernet and it logged in happily to Skype allowing phone calls to be made. This phone was one of the main reasons for setting up the router.
Now, after some experimentation with the connection, I found that so long as I did not initiate a logout from the Sify client I did not need to the original laptop on and connected to allow the internet to work. When shutting down the PC, it was necessary to End Task on the Sify client when it prompted to log out, however this was little heartache. Sify appear to log you out automatically after 24 hours whether you are using the connection or not. So it is necessary to launch the Sify client at least once a day.
My next task was to get the original laptop to connect to the router via Wi-Fi rather than direct Ethernet connection. Upon trying this, the Sify client complained that the configuration of the PC did not mach the details they had on record. Now, I could have called Sify up and registered a different MAC address with them, however I felt that was more trouble than trying to overcome the problem, and I could always do that as a last resort! All I needed to do was to change the MAC address of the Wi-Fi card to the same as the Ethernet card and hey presto it works! To do this, go in to the properties of the Wi-Fi card, go to the Advanced tab, and in my case set the Local Administration MAC Network to MAC address I wanted – note that this is without any : or – just the 12 digits. On some cards this setting will be called Network Address, or Locally Administered Address.
So now I had what I wanted the laptop was required to be used to log in to the Internet, however it didn’t need to stay on. The Skype phone would work so long as I was logged in to Sify, and any other Ethernet or Wi-Fi devices could be connected as required to the router. Also the laptop was now untethered from Ethernet cable as it now connected via Wi-Fi.
I hope this helps others trying to do similar things.

just4kix

Good information.

But please do add two CR/LFs in between paragraphs to make them better readable.