2Wire router

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1 Accessing Router Settings - 2Wire Routers

Accessing Router Settings - 2Wire Routers

This document contains information and examples that help with configuring and obtaining useful information from the 2Wire 2701HG-B router. Even though, the examples and the screenshots presented in this document apply to the 2Wire router model 2701HG-B, they can also be applied to different 2wire router models. But, for absolute methods on how to configure your particular router please consult your router’s manual.

How to Access your Router

To access your router configurations the first thing you need to do is to login your router:

_{1. Open your web browser (IE, Firefox, Safari etc…).}

_{2. In the address bar type in the IP address of your router; generally the default IP address for 2wire routers is 192.168.1.254. Please consult your manual for the appropriate default IP address.}

_{3. Your browser will default to the summary page of your router, see figure 1.}

Figure 1. (Click to enlarge)

How to Check the Basic Wireless Setting for your Router

_{1. Please access your router’s setting as in the previous section.}

_{2. Click on the Home Network menu option as shown in figure 2.}

There are five items we need to check in this section they are:

Wireless Mode.
Wireless Network Mode.
Wireless Network name(SSID).
Wireless channel.
SSID Broadcasting.

Checking if your Wireless Mode is Active

_{1. Follow steps one and two at the beginning of this section}

_{2. Check the Wireless option as in figure 2, if it shows DISABLE, that means your router’s wireless mode is active.}

Figure 2. (Click to enlarge)

There are four more items we need to check in this subsection they are the Wireless Network Mode, Wireless Network name(SSID), Wireless channel and SSID Broadcasting. To start we need to click on the EDIT SETTING button, see figure 3.

Figure 3. (Click to enlarge)

Wireless Network Mode (B, G or N)

The mode determines the speed (bandwidth) of your wireless network. The different wireless modes are B, G or N and their bandwidths are 11Mbps, 54 Mbps and 600 Mbps respectively. We fully support the B and the G modes, but because the N mode is not fully standardized by the industry our devices (Squeezebox, Squeezebox Boom, Squeezebox Duet or Transporter) may have some connectivity issues with router that are running in N wireless mode, see table 1 for comparison. See figure 4 on how to check your wireless mode.

*Table 1. Primary IEEE 802.11 Specification*
	802.11 B	802.11 G	802.11 N
Maximum Data Rate	11 Mbps	54 Mbps	600 Mbps
Practical	1 Mbps	1-10 Mbps	300 Mbps
RF Band	2.4 GHz	2.4 GHz	2.4 GHz Or 5 GHz

Figure 4. (Click to enlarge)

Wireless Network name(SSID)

Wireless SSID represents the name that identifies your wireless network to the device that needs to connect wirelessly to your network. The default SSID name for a 2Wire router is the combination of the word 2WIRE and the last 3 digits of the serial number printed on the bottom of the router, for example 2WIRE678. However some people change that SSID to unique name. To setup one of our devices wirelessly, you will need to know the SSID of your wireless network, so you can make the correct choice for the setup, see figure 5.

Figure 5. (Click to enlarge)

Wireless Channel

Wireless devices need to communicate with your wireless router over specific channels. For devices in the USA the common channels are set to 1, 6 and 11. Each of these channels uses a different frequency. You will need to know what channel your router is set to, see figure 6.

Figure 6. (Click to enlarge)

You can enable/disable the SSID Broadcasting

If your wireless SSID broadcasting is disabled our device will not be able to find your wireless network automatically. In such case you need to enter your SSID manually during the configuration of one of our devices. To find out if your router’s SSID being broadcasted or not, check the SSID Broadcast checkbox, if it is not checked then your router is not broadcasting it is SSID. See figure 7.

Figure 7. (Click to enlarge)

Note: if you changed any of these options, you must click on the SAVE button in order for the changes to take affect, see figure 8.

Figure 8. (Click to enlarge)

How to check your Wireless security

If you are using security encryption in your wireless network, you need to know the type of security mode and the encryption key associated with that mode. You will need to enter this information during the setting. The security modes that are compatible with any of our devices are listed below in table 2 according to their strength from low to high respectively.

*Table 2*
Mode	Type
WEP	64/128 bits encryption
WPA	Personal (TKIP)
WPA2	Personal (AES)

To select or check your wireless security encryption mode, you need to do the following:

_{1. Access your router configuration mode as in the first section of this document using the IP address 192.168.1.254, and then click on the Home Network button, see figure 9.}

_{2. Then Click on the EDIT SETTINGS option see figure 10}.

Figure 9. (Click to enlarge)

Figure 10. (Click to enlarge)

_{3. If your Wireless Network Security option is not checked, then your wireless security is not enabled and there is nothing further to worry about as far as the wireless security mode and its encryption, see figure 11.}

Figure 11. (Click to enlarge)

_{4. Figure 12 shows the security modes that are available from your router, WEB, WPA, WPA2 etc. The figure also shows that you can use the default encryption key that is printed on the bottom of you router, or you can assign a custom key you build yourself. In either case you need to know the encryption key in order to enter it during the setting of our devices.}

Figure 12. (Click to enlarge)

How to Check your Wireless MAC Filtering

Some routers have the capability to block MAC addresses. One of the indicators that may occur is a device may try to connect to the wireless router many times unsuccessfully. The router may think it is an intruding device and block the MAC address associated with that device. To check if your router is blocking one of our devices follow these steps:

_{1. Access your router configuration mode as in the first section of the document using the IP address 192.168.1.254, and then click on the Home Network button, see figure 13.}

_{2. Then Click on the EDIT SETTINGS option see figure 14.}

Figure 13. (Click to enlarge)

Figure 14. (Click to enlarge)

_{3. Click on the EDIT MAC FILTERING button, see figure 15.}

Figure 15. (Click to enlarge)

_{4. If the ENABLE checkbox for enabling or disabling your MAC filtering is not checked as in figure 16, your MAC filtering is not enabled and there is nothing further to worry about in his section.}

Figure 16. (Click to enlarge)

_{5. If the MAC filtering is enabled but the Blocked DEVICES box is empty, your router still not blocking any devices and your MAC filtering has no barrier on the setup or operation of your Squeezebox player, see figure 17.}

Figure 17. (Click to enlarge)

_{6. If the box BOLCKED DEVICES shows an entry or a list of entries; please check the MAC addresses listed in the box against the device you are having trouble with. If you find a match please remove that MAC address from the list of blocked devices and try setting or using your device again, see figure 18. Please note, 2WIRE router lists the devices under its MAC filtering section with their MAC addresses and their network names, so you may end up with two entries for the same device and you need to remove both from the blocked devices entry list.}

Figure 18. (Click to enlarge)

Checking your router’s firmware version

Sometimes connectivity issues may arise because the router may not be running the latest firmware version. To check what version of firmware your 2Wire router is running do the following;

_{1.Access your router configuration mode as in the first section of this document using the IP address 192.168.1.254, and then click on the Home Network button, see figure 19.}

_{2. Then Click on the View available upgrades and options option, see figure 19.}

Figure 19. (Click to enlarge)

_{3. When you click on the "View available upgrades and options" button, your router will automatically try to connect to the internet to search for a newer firmware that is high than its current one. If it finds a newer version it will ask you to confirm the upgrade process, please follow the instructions presented to you. If your router is up to date with its firmware, you should see something similar to figure 20.}