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JRobinson · Sep 11, 2009, 07:49 PM

I have an Airport Extreme base station (one of the newer versions) and I have had problems with it an AT&T U-verse. I am considering switching over to Comcast Triple Play. Has anyone had any problems with Airport and Comcast?

turtle777 · Sep 11, 2009, 07:54 PM

No problems here with Comcast and AE.

What kind of problems do you have anyways ?
Bad modem, maybe ?

-t

JRobinson · Sep 11, 2009, 08:22 PM

There seem to be conflicts between Airport and the U-verse 2Wire gateway. First, there was an issue with their "Router Behind Router" feature. Then the TV stopped working. I have turned off the Airport base station completely to see if that solves the problem. I'm really tired of U-verse. Lots of problems.

Cold Warrior · Sep 11, 2009, 08:25 PM

yes, router-within-router (more specifically, double NAT) is problematic. You should either disable the router feature on your 2wire (making it only a modem) or enable bridging on the airport (but not routing).

turtle777 · Sep 11, 2009, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by JRobinson

There seem to be conflicts between Airport and the U-verse 2Wire gateway. First, there was an issue with their "Router Behind Router" feature. Then the TV stopped working. I have turned off the Airport base station completely to see if that solves the problem. I'm really tired of U-verse. Lots of problems.

You can not just use that 2Wire gateway as a dumb "modem" that simply passes on the ethernet connection ?

Also, sometimes, if you split the signal (for TV and internet), the signal is too weak. You'd either need a splitter with amplification, or AT&T needs to boost the signal strength.

At any rate, I don't have any issues with Comcast, AE and ATV.

-t

ghporter · Sep 11, 2009, 09:20 PM

The 2-wire gateway provided with U-Verse is not generally user-configurable. So you can't really tell it to work in bridge mode (which IS possible with most 2-wire modems). On the other hand, you CAN configure the AirPort Extreme to work in bridge mode-you simply disable the checkbox that says "share a single IP address" in the AirPort Utility. I'd make sure the AE had a unique network name/SSID too, and manually configure it for some channel other than either 6 or 7 (factory default on about 99% of all consumer wireless devices) and whatever the 2-wire gateway is connected to.

U-Verse is new enough that there are still rough edges on some features. One of those "features" is the sales department, which sometimes tells customers they'll get great service when it isn't even available in their area yet. On the whole though it's been solid for a lot of people. Have you called their tech support to try to work out your issues?

dowNNshift · Sep 11, 2009, 09:32 PM

As a Uverse user with an AirPort Extreme I'll chime in too...

The 2Wire gateway ATT provides is extremely proprietary by nature because its handling IPTV, VOIP, and internet. The best way to have your AirPort Extreme, Time Capsule, or Express on a 2-Wire controlled network is to put the Apple device in Bridge mode so that you're not double NAT-ing. If the 2Wire detects a double NAT it freaks out and puts that MAC address and IP in a DMZ. The only way to undo the DMZ is to manually log into the web-interface of the 2Wire and turn back on the firewall for that MAC / IP combo.

So the bottom line, the easiest thing to do is to not fight the 2Wire DHCP router and put the Apple in bridge mode while turning the 2Wire's wireless off. Apple is waaaay better at Wireless connectivity with WPA2 and 802.11n.

olePigeon · Sep 11, 2009, 10:17 PM

I hate Comcast with a passion.