Network Mayhem Solved

For a guy who is supposed to know something about computers and computer networks, I sure let my home network get into something of a mess.

The network is a combination of LAN (wired) and Wi-Fi. The main router is the box from XFinity that access the cable and provides Ethernet connections, one of which can be at 2.2 gHZ. That same box also offers Wi-Fi.

However, I prefer to use a separate Wi-Fi box, a Netgear Nighthawk jobber that covers the entire house easily.

But I let it get out of hand. For one thing, I had two Wi-Fi networks in this one house – one coming off the XFinity, and the other from the Nighthawk. That could cause confusion with some house devices since they couldn't find what they were looking for if they were on the wrong Wi-Fi network.

Then there was another wrinkle, which was that I hadn't set the Netgear Nighthawk to be an access point; by default it's a router, and that's how I left it. Which meant that I had not one but two routers, both dispensing IP numbers.

The XFinity dispensed IP numbers from the 10.0.0.1 subnet; the Nighthawk from 192.168.1.0.

This was ridiculous and finally I got around to fixing it. But first I had to get myself into the XFinity router, which had become difficult since I had managed to change, then lose, the password. But I needed to turn off its Wi-Fi broadcast. So I reset the XFinity router back to default, which meant I could get into it from 10.0.0.1. After a bit more bother than it should have been, I was able to turn off the Wi-Fi on the XFinity, thus reducing my house to only one Wi-Fi network.

Then I got into the Netgear Nighthawk – that one's a lot easier – and changed its function from 'router' to 'access point.' What that means is that the Nighthawk will consult the XFinity router for IP numbers.

The upshot: the entire network is on the 10.0.0.1 subnet. And there's only one Wi-Fi access point.

It's really ridiculous that I let this go on for so long. But now it's fixed and everything is bubbling along smoothly and happily. Minor project, but it's already paying off.