How to use Actiontec MI424WR router with Xfinity

[tom77jer]

Hi - I own an actionTec MI424WR gateway from my previous Verizon contract. Now I have Comcast Xfinity and don't want to pay the monthly fees for the modem/router. I have a brand new ARRIS SB6183 modem paired with a very old DLink DIR-601 router. It works but i am not happy with the performance. I feel the old router is the bottleneck and want to use the actiontec's router functionality.

First i factory reset the router then ran an ethernet cable from Modem to the router's WAN, and reboot modem but it does not work.
Modem's IP address is 192.168.0.1 and Router's IP is 192.168.1.1

Somewhere i read that i need to change router's IP to 192.168.0.254 so that it is on same subnet as modem (please note the 0 in the third place). I hoooked up the actintec to my laptop using ethernet and tried to change the IP, But it does not allow me to that. i get error something like the "IP address on this subnet is invalid.."

This article suggests COAx WAN/LAN should be disabled for the router. is that necessary? if so, How to do that? i know how to login in to login to the router as an Admin and navigate around. Please help.

Thanks in advance!
Tom

 

[bill001g]

The arris box should have a management ip of 192.168.100.1. It does not really have any subnet since it is a modem. The 192.168.100.1 ip works because the modem somehow intercepts it.

The WAN ip should be a public IP and it should get it from your ISP.

You are going to have to read the manual to see how you set it up when you have coax and ethernet wan. I suspect if all else fails you can factory reset it and the follow the instructions as though it was a new install.

Be aware you most times must reboot the cable modem whenever you change what is plugged into it. They tend to grab the first mac address they see and will not change until you power cycle the modem.

 

[tom77jer]

Thanks bill001g!
I did factory reset the actiontec before connecting it to Modem and reboot the modem a few times.
I'll try to change the IP for the Arris to 192.168.100.1.
Any opinion on disabling COAX WAN/LAN ?as the post in the link above says?

 

[bill001g]

You can not change the IP on the arris....it always uses that one. Maybe the ISP can change it but I have not see a option to set it on any arris cable modem.

I have never owned that router so you would have to read the manual. Some device that support 2 forms of wan are smart and will detect which you are using other you must set.

 

[tom77jer]

The modem/router combination worked as is. I did not have to disable any COAX WAN/LAN or change any settings. All I did was:
- while the modem was on : connected ethernet to router's WAN and reboot the router
- then while router was connected : rebooted the modem

Hope this helps anyone looking to do the same.