NETGEAR WGR614 manual Verifying the Readiness of Your Internet Account, Are Login Protocols Used?

Reference Manual for Cable/DSL Wireless Router WGR614

Verifying the Readiness of Your Internet Account

For broadband access to the Internet, you need to contract with an Internet service provider (ISP) for a single-user Internet access account using a cable modem or DSL modem. This modem must be a separate physical box (not a card) and must provide an Ethernet port intended for connection to a Network Interface Card (NIC) in a computer. Your firewall does not support a USB-connected broadband modem.

For a single-user Internet account, your ISP supplies TCP/IP configuration information for one computer. With a typical account, much of the configuration information is dynamically assigned when your PC is first booted up while connected to the ISP, and you will not need to know that dynamic information.

In order to share the Internet connection among several computers, your firewall takes the place of the single PC, and you need to configure it with the TCP/IP information that the single PC would normally use. When the firewall’s Internet port is connected to the broadband modem, the firewall appears to be a single PC to the ISP. The firewall then allows the PCs on the local network to masquerade as the single PC to access the Internet through the broadband modem. The method used by the firewall to accomplish this is called Network Address Translation (NAT) or IP masquerading.

Are Login Protocols Used?

Some ISPs require a special login protocol, in which you must enter a login name and password in order to access the Internet. If you normally log in to your Internet account by running a program such as WinPOET or EnterNet, then your account uses PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE).

When you configure your router, you will need to enter your login name and password in the router’s configuration menus. After your network and firewall are configured, the firewall will perform the login task when needed, and you will no longer need to run the login program from your PC. It is not necessary to uninstall the login program.

What Is Your Configuration Information?

More and more, ISPs are dynamically assigning configuration information. However, if your ISP does not dynamically assign configuration information but instead used fixed configurations, your ISP should have given you the following basic information for your account:

C-18 Preparing Your Network