Connecting an iMac to a Modem and to an Airport Extreme

You simply cannot do what you want if the modem is in bridge. That is the wrong way.

The Airport should plug WAN port to the modem lan port.. then setup the AE to handle PPPoE authentication.

If you cannot get that to work.. and the airport is particularly bad at PPPoE.. then you should setup the modem as router.. and plug the AE into it in bridge.

In both cases you only can do one link by ethernet from the computer.

Why don't you explain the problem .. rather than the solution you are trying.. We might be able to suggest something better.

Please provide the Netgear modem-router Model number.

Are you running into any specific issues with the router part of the Netgear that has caused you to consider replacing it with the 802.11ac device?

LaPastenague's solution is the best method. It can also provide separate WiFi networks from the Netgear and the Airport, both. If 802.11ac is located in a different part of your home, it will provide better overall coverage.

If your ADSL2+ connection allows a RJ45 connector, you can try setting up PPPoE as LaPastenague has suggested, by replacing the Netgear. If you need a modem only function, port 1 on Netgear does allow access to the WAN. You need to find out how to disable the Router and DHCP functions via the Netgear UI.

The Netgear is a 2.4G b/g/n wifi access point. The Airport has better Wifi (including 802.11ac).

Look up how to bridge the 2200.. not all versions of the modem router can be bridged especially if it was provided by ISP.

Also your ISP must support PPPoE.. that is the only option that will work.. and be warned that the Apple router is poor in this mode .. it simply may not work.

Here is one lot of instructions I found. You will find this very hard from Mac environment.

If anyone is still looking for a solution to this, I succeeded in getting my DGN2200 into bridged mode. The device seems perfectly capable of it, but they didn't put an option in the web interface, which I find unacceptable. I'm bridging my ADSL connection to a linksys access point which has much more stable wireless-N and has the ability to run dd-wrt.

The procedure I used is as follows. Yours may differ if you have another way to access telnet.

1. First, enable telnet by whatever means works for you. I used modfs to enable the telnet service, but any technique should work.

1. Disable the wireless transmitter.

2. Disable both DHCP server and DHCP client (I did the latter by simply assigning a bogus static IP address to the WAN port).

3. telnet into the DGN2200 and clear the IP address from the atm0 interface:

$ ip address flush atm0

4. Add the atm0 interface to the default bridge device (the one that would normally bridge wireless and wired ports):

$ brctl addif br0 atm0

5. Make sure whatever other router you are using is connected via its WAN port to a port on the DGN2200

6. On your other router, make sure the MAC address matches what your ISP expects (unless you're using PPPoE, which I don't know anything about, so you're on your own there).

7. This caught me the first time: make sure you aren't also still using this same MAC address on the DGN2200. You can just reset it to default or whatever.

8. Release/renew the DHCP lease on your router until you get a public IP.

I'm posting with this setup right now, and it's working fine so far. HOWEVER, the one major downside is that you have to perform the "brctl addif br0 atm0" command every time your DGN2200 boots up. You could build a custom firmware or modify modfs if you're feeling really adventurous. I just use a script on my linux box that connects to the DGN2200 and runs the command automatically.

So, there you have it - it IS possible, it's just not nearly as easy as it should be.

IMHO go and buy a new modem.. the 2200 is a nothing much modem router.. and netgear use boy scouts now to write their firmware.

A simple TP-Link 8960N is around $40.. cheap and easy to bridge.. it is one step selection.

Still be warned it is not all beer and skittles.

If you cannot get it working that way you will need to run the airport in bridge .. that is not usually a problem.

LaPastenague wrote:

...and netgear use boy scouts now to write their firmware.

😁.

This is a DGN2200v4 which has the ability to turn off Netgear WiFi. One option is to turn off the Netgear WiFi and connect the 802.11ac to the LAN port 1 (also the WAN port) and let the Netgear continue the modem/router functions. If the only device connected on the LAN side is the Airport which also provides ethernet connectivity, only internet -bound traffic needs to go through the Netgear. Either the Airport or the Netgear can provide ethernet connections to devices that need them.

LaPastenague's solution of bridging is much simpler.