uplink and WAN?

I just bought a Linksys router, on the
back it has uplink and WAN and 4 connections..
This online gaming software I am trying to use tells me
to switch the cable to Uplink...

What is the difference in uplink and WAN?

What does each one do?

[Keefe]

The WAN port is the Wide Area Network interface. This is where your router is going to look for its connection to another network, such as your cable providers network, or more simply, the internet.

The uplink port on your router is there to connect other hubs and/or switches to your router. You cannot plug one hub into another hub with a straigh through cable. For this you must need a cross-over cable. To elinimate this most manufacturers have added the Uplink port switch does the function of a cross-over cable internally.

As for your game, I am not sure why they would want to you switch it. Does it work fine right now?

[Keefe]

Okay, right after I made that post I had an epiphany.

If you hook your cable modem into the uplink port of your modem you will no longer be going through the router for internet. This means that your computer will get an external IP address from the cable modem instead of an internal IP address from your router. Most cable internet providors only allow 1-4 external IP's per customer, you would have to check with your providor about that. Just remember that if you have more computers than IPs allowed some will not be able to get online if you hook the cable modem to the uplink port.

That gaming software must not work so well through the firewall built into those routers. I would check into the documentation for that software and see if they have and How-to's for setting it up with a firewall. You will most likely need to setup port forwarding to get it to work through the firewall. Port forwarding is a much better solution that exposing yourself direcltly to the open internet.

Yeah, the gaming software does say it has problems with firewalls
in routers.


"That gaming software must not work so well through the firewall built into those routers. I would check into the documentation for that software and see if they have and How-to's for setting it up with a firewall. You will most likely need to setup port forwarding to get it to work through the firewall. Port forwarding is a much better solution that exposing yourself direcltly to the open internet."

Yeah, but if I turn my routers firewall off, and leave my computer firewall on, will I still be protected? What I am asking is, can I deal without the routers firewall?

[Keefe]

You can just turn the firewall off, it is totally integrated. If you hook up direclty to the uplink port and disable DHCP in your router it should work. As far as being safe, if you have a good software firewall it should protect you fairly well. It will also be easier to allow the ports to be open for those gaming applications.

How many computers are on that network?

Hmm..Ok I will try that. Thanks.



"How many computers are on that network?"

At the moment just two, but soon four.

[Keefe]

When you get 4 computers on your network you might run into problems, most cable companies limit you to 3 ips.

Well, I tried that, the software still says proxy settings found..firewall..etc..

I went to the routers ip address, clicked DHCP
and disabled it...

Are there any steps I missed?
(example: restarting computer, resetting router..anything?)

Is there anything else I can do?

[Keefe]

1. Disable DHCP on router

2. Hook cable modem to uplink port

3. Restart Router

4. Restart computer

5. Play game online

6. Get fragged.

Ok, that worked...Thanks alot!

I have one more question though, it really doesn't
have anything to do with networking, but I've got to ask.


My computer used to restart on it's own randomly...
Now it restarts when I get to certain places...

Any idea what the problem could be?


Thanks again for the help with my last problem.