Difficulty with setting up home network with Actiontec MI424-WR router

[abraxas414]

I have switched to Verizon FIOS for video and internet but I cannot seem to find the right instructions in order to see each computer through the router. I have spoken to both Verizon and Actiontec but have not gotten to the 'right' person yet.

Does anyone know how to allow file & print sharing through the Actiontec MI424-WR router?

Thanks.

abraxas414

[Justin]

Since I do not have the Actiontec router I cannot help with that directly. But I do have some suggestions and questions that might help.

1) Did you have it working with your old router? If so, I suggest you hook the computers back up to the old router (no need to connect to the internet for this) and see if it still works. If not, then it is probably not the Actiontec, if so, then it probably is.

2) If it works with the old router, as a temporary (or maybe even permanent) solution, hook the WAN port on the old router to one of the LAN ports on the Actiontec. Despite having FiOS for well over a year I still have my wired and wireless computers hooked to my old Belkin wireless router, and that hooked to the D-Link that Verizon gave me, and I get the full 5/2 speed I am paying for, and I didn't have to change a thing to get it working.

3) Do you have a software firewall installed on either or both of the computers? If so, that may be the problem area. I use the free ZoneAlarm, and when I implemented sharing I just could not get it to work. I eventually turned off ZoneAlarm, and bingo, it worked. I finally discovered that with software firewalls (at least some of them) you need to define the IP address of the other machine to the firewall. Once I did that it worked great. And then suddenly it didn't! Turned out that one of the PCs got a different IP address from the router, and the firewall was blocking it again. So I wound up defining the maximum range of IP addresses that any PC could get, and now I am good to go.

I hope the above helps, or at least maybe points you in some direction to fix the problem. If you can provide more details (I don't know what, but you never know...) maybe someone here can figure it out.

[abraxas414]

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately it is my understanding that the video (tv) portion will not without the Actiontec router since it also routes the video network.

I will try these suggestions out next weekend.

abraxas414

[Justin]

Two things:

1) Note that I did not suggest removing the Actiontec. You can leave it attached to the FiOS connection, and then daisy-chain your existing router from that.

2) The Actiontec is needed only for the VOD and Program Guide; if you can/want to live without those, then pretty much any router can be used. You absolutely can watch TV without the Actiontec.

[Mposadastx]

I have switched to Verizon FIOS for video and internet but I cannot seem to find the right instructions in order to see each computer through the router. I have spoken to both Verizon and Actiontec but have not gotten to the 'right' person yet.

Does anyone know how to allow file & print sharing through the Actiontec MI424-WR router?

Thanks.

abraxas414

you issue is very SIMPLE
lucky you it has nothing to do with the actiontec router
most people don't know this but you have to enable the transport protocols in your computer to be able to share your files.
i'll try to explain it as best i can here

go into your protocol stack and enable IPv6 and IPX protocols
that's done through the LAN properties.

once you see them as part of the protocol stack you then have to go to any folder you'd like to share on your network.
the only problem you'd run into would be password protection on your computer.
that i wouldn't be able to help you with.

printer sharing runs into other issues
depends on what kind of set up you have
will you have a print server or a network printer?
you might have an easier time with a print server
i've seen compability issues with printers that connect through cat5 onto the actiontec
i wouldn't be able to confirm any particular brands or models.
but i've seen it....

[FiOS Tech Support]

I have got calls on this before and it has nothing to do w/ the actiontec router. As a matter of fact I have tried it on several customers computers with remote desktop to check and verify. It does indeed work out of the box and usually 99.9999% of the time its the customer who hasnt done something correctly. But the actiontec router does NOT block filesharing/printer sharing. Usually the computers are not set up correctly and hence they always think its the ISPs fault.

Thanks
Josh
Fiber Customer Support Analyst
Verizon FiOS