Setting up a Zyxel 660 'Prestige' series router
on UKonline broadband
on a Mac computer with OS 8.6
Some of this information may be applicable to related routers and other Mac operating systems.
NOTES:
All trade marks acknowledged
The author has no connection with Zyxel or with UKonline other than as a customer who was unable to configure his router with the information they supplied. Anyone acting upon the information which follows does so entirely at their own risk.
SETTING THE TCP/IP
From the Apple Menu, choose Control Panels > TCP/IP
From the File menu choose Configurations...
Duplicate an existing Configuration and re-name it "Broadband DHCP" (or anything else you would like to call it). Make it active
From the Edit menu choose User Mode...
Set the user mode to "Advanced"
In the TCP/IP (Broadband DHCP) panel, change the settings until it looks like this:
The IP address, Subnet mask and Router address may differ from those shown above - this does not matter
The Name server addresses are the current DNS settings for connecting to UKonline [August 2005]
Close the TCP/IP Control Panel and Save the new settings.
SETTING UP THE ROUTER
Switch on the router and connect it to the Mac by ethernet. When it has finished setting itself up, the power light and the light indicating the computer ethernet port should both show continuous green. If the ethernet light does not light, investigate your Mac's ethernet settings and connections.
Launch your browser [iCab is shown here, but others should prove equally effective]
The router handbook will give an address for contacting the router, in this case it was 192.168.1.1
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Type this address into the navigation toolbar of the browser and press Return |
You may have to deal with password setups or logins at this point
When you have logged into the router control system, the main router setup page should appear in the browser:
Click on "Wizard Setup" and configure the ISP page as shown below:
Click on "Next" and configure the next page as shown below:
The User Name and Password will be those notified to you by letter from UKonline shortly before your Broadband service is due to commence.
Click on "Next" and check that the settings are now correct
Click on "Save Settings" and the next screen should look like this:
Click on "Start Diagnose" and wait [about 20 seconds] for the next screen to appear:
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If it looks like this, you can return to the main menu and close the browser. On the router, the DSL/PPP light should now be lit, perhaps flickering occasionally. Try your browser on a known website and see if it connects. |
If it does not look like this, you can return to the main menu and see if the diagnostics pages offer you any help. You may need to consider whether you have a hardware fault or whether your UKonline service has not been connected yet. |
LINE FAULTS
If you get a very slow connection with intermittent stops and starts, suspect your telephone wiring.
Your diagnostics page should show signal to noise ratios significantly above 10 dB. If the attenuation is more than 60 dB, this is a problem on your exchange line, otherwise the problem is likely to be in the telephone wiring of your house. Cables which do not just loop from one socket to the next, but which branch off independently are particularly bad at producing reflections which increase the apparent 'noise' (i.e. unwanted signals on the line).
Before calling out B.T. to check your wiring (for which you will have to pay a charge), try plugging your router directly into the master telephone socket with nothing else connected. If it then works, the problem is in your house telephone wiring.
I was unwilling to re-wire my entire house telephone system to overcome this problem, so I split the data away from the telephone signals at the master socket. This is not recommended by the filter manufacturers, but it has worked without any problems for me.
USEFUL NUMBERS
UKonline Broadband helpdesk: 0845 333 3322 > [Press 1] > [Press 1]
Zyxel helpline: 08707 555779
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I was a complete beginner and had to call upon the expertise of members of the 'uk.comp.sys.mac' group and various friends to get me started on broadband. You can guess who you are, you have my grateful thanks. Any credit for the information above is entirely yours - and any mistakes are entirely mine.
