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beakeskc · Nov 14, 2011, 05:05 PM

Hello,

I have been working on a project for a couple of months now and considerable time and money have gone into the setup I am pursuing so hopefully someone has some encouraging suggestions.

My parents built a home in a very rural area. There is no cable access for Internet and Dish was comparatively too expensive. They tried a Sprint broadband modem for about a year but the speed was abysmal. Every time I visited I got really good speed through my iPhone on the AT&T network so I added them to my family plan and got them an iPhone 4S. The cost of the having the phone with the 4G data plan is the same as it was just for the Sprint Broadband card and the Internet speed is better.

I have setup the following:

Internet >> iphone connected by USB >> iMac >> Airport Extreme (AE) connected by ethernet cable
Windows XP netbook connected to AE through Wi-Fi
Airport Express (for audio) connected to AE through Wi-Fi

Ideally, the Airport Extreme would create a wireless network where Internet would be accessible to all wirelessly connected devices. I successfully tested this setup at my home before setting it up at their house. It worked. I went back a week later and the extreme has a blinking amber light saying "No Internet connection" and "No IP assigned" or something to that effect. My iphone (independent of the one supplying the Internet access to the iMac) is not able to join the Wifi network. I just get a spinning connecting icon.

I have the airport extreme in bridge mode. The iMac is sharing the Internet connection from the iPhone USB connection to the ethernet port.

I'm in IT but networking is not my strongest skill. Is it possible to still have the Wi-Fi network intact (but not have Internet access) if the phone is disconnected? What should the DHCP settings be on the iMac, Airport Extreme, and any other devices connecting to this Wi-Fi network?

I really would appreciate any input. Thanks!

Waragainstsleep · Nov 14, 2011, 05:43 PM

Is the Airport running DHCP?

beakeskc · Nov 14, 2011, 09:45 PM

Yes, "Using DHCP".

Waragainstsleep · Nov 15, 2011, 05:28 AM

Then the network should still work without the network connection.
Are clients using the Airport or the iMac as the router/gateway address?

beakeskc · Nov 15, 2011, 03:46 PM

Good question. This is where it gets very fuzzy for me. How would I verify which is the case?

Waragainstsleep · Nov 15, 2011, 04:33 PM

System preferences -> network should list the router address.

beakeskc · Nov 18, 2011, 01:58 AM

Sorry for the delay Waragainstsleep,

I need to physically go to that location this weekend with a laptop in order to get that information for you. I will do that Saturday morning.

I did collect the following information remotely tonight. Let me know if this gives you any insight. I had bought a cradlepoint router that claimed you could connect an iPhone to it, but turned out to not work with iOS 5. i returned it but now the company I bought it from says that cradlepoint came out with new firmware and the iPhone iOS 5 now works with it. I'm under the gun now to either go with the current hardware and get it working and get 80% of the cost of the other router refunded or return the Extreme and have them send the cradlepoint. <Sigh>

On iMac
Ethernet using DHCP
ip address 169.254.69.16
Subnet mask 255.255.0.0

iPhone ip address 172.20.10.2

Airport express bridge mode join wireless
Internet TCP/IP 192.168.2.12
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Router address 192.168.2.1
DNS server 192.168.2.1

Airport extreme IP address 192.168.2.7
Using DHCP
INTERNET TCP/IP 192.168.2.7
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Router 192.168.2.1
Connect using Ethernet

I really appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Bryan

Athens · Nov 18, 2011, 02:28 AM

I just turn wifi sharing on with my iPhone and then have my airport station connect to it. My Airport Express then connects to the Airport Extreme to broadcast wireless while my wired computers get it off the extreme.

Waragainstsleep · Nov 18, 2011, 06:07 AM

Essentially you have three separate networks and two bridges between them.

Network one is the iPhone and the iMac. If the iMac can surf the net on the iPhone data connection, this one is working fine and don't worry too much about it.
The iMac is also the bridge to the second network, already done by ticking your 'share connection via ethernet' box.

Originally Posted by beakeskc

On iMac
Ethernet using DHCP
ip address 169.254.69.16
Subnet mask 255.255.0.0

iPhone ip address 172.20.10.2

The second network is the iMac and the Airport. As far as the Airport is concerned, the iMac is no different to a broadband router. The only real difference is that a real broadband router will have a DHCP server and take care of IP addresses for everything on the network by default.
The Airport of course then bridges to the local wifi network.

Originally Posted by beakeskc

Airport express bridge mode join wireless
Internet TCP/IP 192.168.2.12
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Router address 192.168.2.1
DNS server 192.168.2.1

Airport extreme IP address 192.168.2.7
Using DHCP
INTERNET TCP/IP 192.168.2.7
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Router 192.168.2.1
Connect using Ethernet

What is 192.168.2.1? Are you pointing to a router that isn't there?

Here is how I would set up your second and third networks:

I would have the iMac connect via ethernet to the WAN port of the Airport Extreme. Set the iMac manually as

Internet TCP/IP 192.168.1.1
Subnet mask 255.255.0.0
Router address 192.168.1.1
DNS Server: Maybe use a free DNS service like Open DNS:
208.67.220.220
208.67.222.222
Or if you don't mind your habits being ruthlessly tracked, Google on 8.8.8.8.

You then want the WAN connection on your Airport Extreme to look like this:
Internet TCP/IP 192.168.1.2
Subnet mask 255.255.0.0
Router address 192.168.1.1
DNS server: 208.67.220.220

You already have the Extreme set to bridge mode which is fine. You want it to issue addresses via DHCP (Looks like it already is). You can stick to your current subnet if you like.
Set the Extreme as
Internet TCP/IP 192.168.2.1
Subnet mask 255.255.0.0
Router address 192.168.1.2
DNS server: 208.67.220.220

This way other clients should still be able to talk to the iMac if you want.

Try it like that and see how you get on.

beakeskc · 12:08 AM

You lost me on this part:

You already have the Extreme set to bridge mode which is fine. You want it to issue addresses via DHCP (Looks like it already is). You can stick to your current subnet if you like.
Set the Extreme as
Internet TCP/IP 192.168.2.1
Subnet mask 255.255.0.0
Router address 192.168.1.2
DNS server: 208.67.220.220

Just wanted to verify you really meant the Extreme and not the Express here. I followed this part:

You then want the WAN connection on your Airport Extreme to look like this:
Internet TCP/IP 192.168.1.2
Subnet mask 255.255.0.0
Router address 192.168.1.1
DNS server: 208.67.220.220

Which is set up under Manual Setup > Internet (on the top bar) > TCP/IP, correct? I would set Configure IPv4 to Manually, yes?

Sorry for not understanding right off. I plan to make a special trip (about 60 miles away) to work this out tomorrow.

Waragainstsleep · Nov 19, 2011, 10:52 AM

Yes, the internet connection on the extreme would be set manually. The iMac does not issue IP addresses so both it and the Extreme must be set up manually to talk to each other. The Extreme should then issue addresses over wifi for everything else which connects. I assumed the Express is either a standard wifi client or a wifi extender, is that correct?

beakeskc · Nov 19, 2011, 11:49 AM

I don't have the Airport Extreme set to be extendable currently, so the Express just joins the network.

I am having some problems figuring out what to set on the Extreme.

Under:

Internet > Internet Connection >Connect Using - Ethernet
Connection Sharing - Off (Bridge Mode)

Then:

Internet > TCP/IP > Configure IPv4 - Manually
IP Address: 192.168.2.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Router Address: 192.168.1.2
DNS Servers: 208.67.220.220 208.67.222.222

The options for the Extreme are to either have DHCP set or Manually. So how can I manually set the addresses and have DHCP on also?

With these settings I get no Internet access on a client connected to the wireless network.

beakeskc · Nov 19, 2011, 12:01 PM

Also,

If I set on the iMac:

Network > Ethernet > Configure IPv4: Manually
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Router: 192.168.1.1

I get no Internet access on the iMac. I tried using "Using DHCP with manual address" and can get Internet, but "Router" is now blank and Subnet Mask changed automatically to 255.255.255.0.

Waragainstsleep · Nov 19, 2011, 12:38 PM

For the iMac, go to set service order and make sure the iPhone connection is above the ethernet in the order list.

My apologies, didn't have an Extreme handy to look at when I wrote those instructions. You want the Extreme to be set up manually but you actually want to switch off bridge mode and tell it to distribute IP addresses under the wireless settings.

beakeskc · Nov 19, 2011, 02:05 PM

Ok this all makes sense and I have implemented as you have said, but unfortunately cannot get to the Internet or the imac from device connected by wifi. I told the extreme to distribute a range from 192.168.2.3 to 200.

The setting on the client is:

Using DHCP
ip 192.168.1.4
255.255.0.0
Router 192.168.1.1

Seems like the client should point to the Extreme as the router?

Waragainstsleep · Nov 19, 2011, 03:08 PM

If its a client of the Airport it should be 192.168.2.X.
Anything connecting to wifi with DHCP should certainly be using the Extreme as router.

I guess the other way to do it would be to give everything a manual IP address and put them all on the same 192.168.1.X subnet with the iMac as router and the Extreme back in bridge mode.

beakeskc · Nov 19, 2011, 06:06 PM

Thank you Waragainstsleep for all of your help with this. Unfortunately, I am defeated. I am going to order the Cradlepoint router and hope that works out. I would have preferred to stay with the Airport Extreme because it works so well for me at my home. Hopefully this conversation will be helpful to someone else attempting the same thing.

Happy Holidays!