Hello:
I am now living in Zurich, Switzerland. I am using Swisscom internet with ADB ST 6840 router. Recently I wan to learn how to setup a MikroTik router.
So I want to know the following issues:
Can you find a corresponding MikroTik router to replace the current ADB ST 6840 router, but have to keep the Internet working?
If so, what kind of cheap MikroTik router I can buy? (Swisscom has a few MikroTik products to choose from, but I have no idea which one to pick up.)
I have now an old MikroTik router model Hex Lite/BR750R2. I want to play around this small router. I hooked it up with one of the 4 Ethernet ports of the Swisscom ADB ST 6840 router, and in one of my 3 PCs, I downloaded and installed Winbox version 3.18; but when I clicked “Neighbors” and “Refresh”, I can’t see any MikroTik router.
I think either I have to replace my current ADB ST 6840 router with a corresponding MikroTik router, or if I can change the default LAN IP address to reach the MikroTik router. My current LAN IP address is in range: 192.168.1.0/24.
Please advise on the above points, what I should do? I need the MikroTik router with the latest RouerOS version, if possible.
Thanks,
John
You can’t get rid of Swisscom’s router if you’re using xDSL as upstream technology … none of Mikrotik routers has xDSL support (out of the box at least, there are some xDSL SFP modules available, but success stories are mixed, it works for some and doesn’t work for other). The best bet would be to put Swisscom’s router into bridge mode (if that’s possible) so it only acts as media converter (between ethernet and xDSL) and then you’d use Mikrotik to do the rest.
By default Mikrotik SOHO routers are configured so that you use ether1 as WAN interface and the rest are LAN. So you have to plug your hEX lite to Swisscom’s router with ether1 port. By default connections from WAN interface (ether1) are firewalled so you can’t connect to the router if using ether1 as LAN port.
By default, there’s DHCP server running and gives out addresses in the range 192.168.88.x … if, connecting your computer to one of wired ports (excluding ether1), it doesn’t get IP address fro mthe indicated subnet, there’s still possibility of connecting winbox … but you have to use MAC address … does it show up on the list of detected routers?
Hello:
Thanks for your reply, as I am a beginner for Mikrotik routers. I have to know something before going further. First, is there any Mikrotik routers with support xDL upstream? Or with some settings, it can do the job. Second, I will check with Swisscom to see if I can change the ST 6840 router to use it as a bridge.
Finally, I want to do the similar job in Zagreb, Croatia. I can see the router used in Zagreb is UBEE MODEM DVW32CB, in order to replace such UBEE modem, what kind of Mikrotik router I can use?
Or if in Croatia, there are different routers to choose from, which router/modem I can easily setup bridge mode or in order to use Mikrotik router, which router/modem is best to pick up? And what some pre-requirements are necessary?
Thanks,
John
As I already wrote: none of Mikrotik devices support xDSL upstream … If the third-party xDSL SFP modules (there are a few that in principle work with MT) don’t work with particular ISP (and chances that they won’t work are higher than 50%), then one will always have to use some (slightly more sophisticated) xDSL to ethernet converter and easiest solution is to use whatever ISP provides … reconfigured into bridge mode if that is possible. In my case, my ISP uses PPPoE over xDSL and provides a xDSL modem which works as bridge without any special configuration at all times, one just disables WAN which is synonym for PPPoE interface in this case; even if WAN is configured on modem, it is still possible to run additional PPPoE session from the LAN side of modem (this actually depends on ISP’s settings not how modem works).
After xDSL is out of equation, choice of particular Routerboard device type depends on generic factors, such as upstream speed, amount of firewalling, amount of LAN inter-subnet routing (if any), need for integrated WiFi (and what kind of), required port speed and type (ethernet versus SFP/optical, …).
With DOCSIS upstream things are usually slightly different as usually PPPoE is not used there. So the “bridge” mode of a cable modem should be really transparent to the level where DHCP client on Routerboard would successfully acquire IP address from ISP. I’m pretty sure most of cable modems allow that, it’s just the matter of finding the correct setting.
May I add that simply knowing how your ISP has set your own Internet can be a difficult task as some do not communicate details even when settings are changed.
This is amplified if you are trying to reconfigure your single connection to Internet where most information lies.
If your main goal is to learn Mikrotik configuration, creating a dedicated lab without touching “production devices” should help.
Hello:
Thanks for your reply. I don’t think I will touch the ADB ST 6840 router here in Zurich. But I will rent a new apartment next month in Zagreb, Croatia. The ISP in Croatia can have different routers/modems to choose from, so I want to know when I subscribe an Internet service in Croatia, what kind of routers/modems and/or what kind of upstream technology I can request, in order to either use a MikroTik router to replace the existing router/modem or setup a bridge in the existing router/modem, so I can add a MikroTik router later on. I can see the B.Net company in Croatia using UBEE MODEM DVW32CB, can reach 68MBit/s download speed, much better than Swisscom using ADB ST 6840 router reaching 24MBit/s speed.
So, in stead to screw up a production devices in Swisscom. I would like to know before hand, I will either buy a new MikroTik router to be used in Croatia for the upcoming new router/modem, or if I can use the old MikroTik router Hex Lite/BR750R2 to do the job, if the old MikroTik router can do the job, then what kinds of requirements I have to ask the ISP in Croatia?
Thanks,
John