Router settings

13 Nov 2011 13:12:18

Derek Wright

In anticipation of a 21CN ADSL connection I have bought a new router - a Billion 7200N.

The User Manual explains where all the settings are located on the Menu structure but gives no advice as to what values you should use.

So what settings should one use - this is for a 3 machine + printer home network

Thanks for any information or a pointer to a readable reference work on this topic

Derek

Re: Router settings

13 Nov 2011 18:38:16

Trevor Hewson

Derek, my first port of call would be your ISP's website which will usually contain guidance on setting up routers to work with their service. In practice, if you put in your ISP username and password, the default settings for everything else will probably work okay.

Re: Router settings

13 Nov 2011 18:44:29

Derek Wright

I have gone beyond getting it connected to the ISP - my concern is about Firewall settings .

Re: Router settings

14 Nov 2011 10:16:21

Mick Burrell

I can't tell you what to set but you may or may not be aware of a site Shields Up which you could use to test what you have set:

Shields Up Firewall Test

If you go here you can click the buttons to have it try to get past your firewall and give you the results. It will of course be able to see your internet IP address and probably the user name you use with your ISP but that should be all.

My Netgear router with standard firewall settings passes all tests without giving anything away.

Re: Router settings

14 Nov 2011 10:55:32

Euan Williams

Mick, thanks for your direction to Shields Up. For me it offers a page about "Browser reload suppressed" and absolutely no other information, nor clickable options. I assume this is because I set my OSX firewall to "invisible"?

Derek: I poked about online (SamKnows, Wikipedia, PlusNet etc. etc.), in pursuit of enlightenment and can't see any reason why 21CN ADSL should make any difference to your previous (Firewall) settings -- which you should presumably set up as on your previous router. 21CN ADSL appears to be a matter between the ISPs and BT wholesale, which concerns users only due to the higher speed potential.

When 21CN came to our exchange all I had to was opt-in on my ISPs website (thanks, Mark!)

Sadly, as most of me comes from Barcelona, I don't know anything much about networks and adopt the KISS principle. Can you offer more detail about your Firewall setting options so that the experts can comment?

Re: Router settings

14 Nov 2011 18:54:53

Derek Wright

Thanks for your comments, as usual I have been coombing many forums for info.

I also received a pointer to the Shields Up site and ran the test and some one suggested that I "Block WAN Ping" as well so now I get a clean run through from Shields up and also from Audit My PC website test.

Again thanks

Re: Router settings

14 Nov 2011 19:37:08

Lionel Ogden

I had the same result as Euan on the Shields Up test site

Re: Router settings

15 Nov 2011 14:17:30

Mick Burrell

OK, it's odd if you haven't been there before as it just wants to stop you reloading. Anyway, try this link:

Alternative Link to Shields Up

On that page you will (probably) see in bold, the name your ISP knows you by (which may or may not give a clue to your identity) and also the IP address they assign you. Click on either of the Proceed buttons and it should take you to the page you need. You may get a warning that it's not a secure form - don't panic!

Once on the correct page, the buttons (they don't look like buttons!) start with File Sharing and Common Ports - hopefully you can see them now. Those two and All Service Ports would be the ones I use. Browser Headers just tell people I'm using Safari on a Mac - I don't have a problem with that.

As an aside, I am not running the OSX firewall at all, just the one in my Netgear router.

Re: Router settings

15 Nov 2011 15:06:15

Euan Williams

Thanks, Mick. Followed your instructions to get a complete clean sheet after tests. I use OSX Firewall in "stealth mode**", and don't know what the Huawei router does about security, leaving this to my ISP's setup.

** System Preferences> Security & Privacy> Firewall> Advanced> Enable stealth mode. (I permit only a very few apps to access the web automatically.)

Re: Router settings

17 Nov 2011 11:15:41

Mick Burrell

Now come on Euan, that's not like you! Be brave and experiment for the sake of the rest of the WAMUG community - turn off the OS X firewall and see what your router can do for you. (You can always turn it back on afterwards). You may find that your router is providing the security and that the software firewall doesn't get any work ;-)

Re: Router settings

18 Nov 2011 13:07:08

Euan Williams

Hi Mick -- and everyone else who could find the way to our site and is irrational enough to have read thus far -- as an adherent to the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle, as well as LIM (less is more) you place me in an awkward position.

Should an electronic philosopher open him- or herself to all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, even as a radical experiment -- or should one add to the complexities of life with a double line of defence, one of which may be wholly redundant or might be undermined by quantum tunnelling.

In this matter I propose, following the example of our greatest mathematical minds, to sidestep the question into an unfathomable whirl of displacement activity such as contemplating the piles of books that need a little gentle encouragement onto appropriate shelves, shelving being of slightly different entropy to piling -- in the housework rather than constructional sense.

'Essentially' (as the scientists among us prefer to start their sentences) "Spontaneous changes are always associated with entropy increase" (informative entropy link).
-- this, on the face of it, requires deep thought and supremely un-spontaneous activity.

Two of the issues that now arise are: "should entropy be taken into account in any discussion about global warming?" (i.e. would leaving the piles as they are counteract CO2 increase) and "is it worth re-shelving books from their piles to reach any possible dust underneath -- in a thermodynamic sense?"

Ok. … now where was I?
Ah yes: Less is more … rational elliptic curves and modular forms … would that be Postscript … ;-)