After a lot of persuading I convinced my friend to buy an iMac (G5 10.4.11) for his son. He has ATT Yahoo DSL service and a PC. I gave him my old Airport Extreme Base Station (UFO) so his son could use the iMac wirelessly. When the PC is connected to the modem he gets internet. When the Airport is put in the loop and the setup assistant is run he gets no internet. The iMac gets a strong wireless signal but no internet. The AEBS does not seem to get an ip address but the iMac gets a distributed 10.x.x.x address from the AEBS. I searched the problem when I got home and came up with a lot of conflicting and confusing advice. Do you use bridge mode or not with this setup? How should PPPoE be set up? Does the modem handle the PPPoE or does the AEBS? This is a lot more complicated than hooking up wireless to my cable modem. Any advice or step by step instructions welcome. Thanks in advance.

My set-up is as follows; DSL modem to UFO-AEBS to D-Link ethernet switch. PPOE is set up on the AEBS. I've found "adding" the AEBS to an existing network problematic. Making the AEBS the originating "hub" seems to work best. No bridging necessary and it seems to work flawlessly.

At my end of the world (New Zealand) we use ADSL with PPPoA, but for what it's worth, this is how I generally set things up.

Let the DSL modem/router look after the DHCP and NAT (if required) and PPPoA (or PPPoE). Set up the AEBS in Bridge mode using either DHCP for its address, which it will get from the DSL/router, or with a safe address in the same subnet as the router but outside the range that any other devices on the LAN will be allocated by DHCP.

In my case, my DSL router is 192.168.1.254, and I have set it to distribute (by DHCP) the addresses 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.200. That way I can set servers and anything else that needs a fixed address in the range 192.168.1.201 - 192.168.1.253.

I like network devices like AEBS's to have fixed addresses, so my three Airport Base Stations (I am in a four story apartment with concrete floors) are 192.168.1.250, 192.168.1.251 and 192.168.1.252. I know that the AEBS's could be allocated addresses from the main router by DHCP, but I happen to prefer it my way.

Hope this helps.

Thanks to both of you for the input. I'll try a few more things tonight. My friend nor I is Windows savvy which can be dangerous. What I haven't tried yet is to connect the iMac directly to the modem and AEBS to set it up. The iMac worked flawlessly at my house connected to my AEBS wirelessly.

I've a Westell modem with ATT DSL so mileage may vary

1. Connect the computer to the modem.
2. On modem configuration page, switch modem to Bridge mode.
3. Power down then power on modem.
4. Connect router to modem then computer.
5. Set up router with the PPOE information.
6. Power all three down, restart.

Tried many times to set router as bridge, did not work.

Thanks. I'll add your suggestion to the list of possibilities.

routers, especially dsl and cable modems, don't like their LAN port changing devices. When unplugging your computer from a modem and replacing it with a router, it's almost always necessary to unplug the modem and plug it back in again.

SOME uptight ISPs on cable modems actually require you to CALL them up and reset your modem/account.

Thanks V1. Modem, Airport, computer all restarted and reset many times the other night. Spent most of my time the other night waiting for reboots. I swear his brand new Dell took at least 5-7 mins to restart and then another 5 mins to fully connect. All I heard for two hours was "I don't have two blue computers in my status bar. Whats wrong?" And he knows nothing about his PC beyond turning it on and getting online. No help at all. Couldn't even remember his account passwords. I'm pretty sure I know what I was doing wrong. I was trying to set up the AEBS using PPPoE. I found the online Airport manual at Apple. It says if the modem is handling the PPoE then the Airport needs to connect using DHCP. So that's what I plan on trying later tonight.

yes PPPoE is usually handled by the modem.

Well tonight I tried all suggestions except yours jepinto because my friend still can't find his att account username and password. It wouldn't by any chance be the same as his email address and password? He knows that. ATT says that the account name and password is one you make in the customer agreement before setting up email. I also found an att support page saying to set the modem to bridge mode and another page on how to set up wireless. I'll be back hopefully with good news.

most times account name and password is the same as email BUT if your friend is like most people and didn't change the initial sign up the password is likely his phone number-just the last 7 digits no hyphens.

att tech support can reset his log in password. Just don't ask them about bridge mode as they will tell you to set the router as bridge doesn't work or try to sell you the netopia or 2 wire wireless router combo. Both of which are *less than satisfactory*

What modem does your friend have?

This is what I dealing with. I asked him what modem he has and his answer was "the one att sent me" I looked at pictures of the Motorola 2100 and Westell 6100 because those are the two discussed on att support pages and it is neither. It's the original modem he got 3-4 years ago when signing up for DSL. I'll have to check myself the next time I'm there. At least I'm not alone. Read This guys story of DSL hell.

He might have an Alcatel DSL box.

I looked at This Page of dsl modems and it is none of them.

Aha after further investigation it turns out that he has a speedstream 5100. Don't know if its a 5100a or 5100b. Anyone know the IP address to access this modems config page? Tried 192.168.254. No go. Waiting to hear if 192.168.1 or 192.168.1.1 works

The IP address of the modem will be whatever IP address is shown in the "Router" section of the person's TCP/IP settings, listed in the System Preferences. So for example if the System Preferences shows that the 'Router" address is 192.168.1.1, that's th address of the DSL modem (assuming the computer is connected directly to the modem).

Thanks Tacit. I know how on a Mac. How do you find it on a PC? I got into his network settings and saw iirc four ip addresses. Would it be IPv4 server? I know nothing about PC's and am nervous about screwing something up. The more I get into this the happier I am to be a Mac user. This process took me 5 minutes to do at home on my cable internet. I've been trying for 3 hours at his place to do the same thing.

If you are using XP, go to Run... from the Start menu/button/thingy, and type cmd and hit return/enter to bring up the command line window.
Then type ipconfig and hit return/enter.

The router will be shown as the Default Gateway

Thanks for the reply. He has vista home basic. Don't laugh. He finally got through to att support and they were able to tell him his user name and password. The next time I'm over at his house I can now use the iMac to connect to the modem and get the IP from network preferences.

192.168.0.1

I have personal experience with this device as it is the one used on my home network.

Your friend's user name and password for logging onto the ATT adsl network would normally be the same as his login to e-mail user name and password.

Let us know how it turns out.

Thanks MacManiac. I have not seen him do it in person but he claims 192.168.0.1 takes him to a linksys page not his modem config page. I have to agree with you though. I found after a lot of digging at the att support site that indeed 192.168.0.1 is correct. His password as you state is his email address and password. While waiting for me to get over there again his son has connected to the free Google wireless here in town. Slow but it works for now. Will let all know how it goes in a few days.

That sounds as if he's got a Linksys router as well between the modem and his computer. In that configuration he should get the Linksys' admin page. The modem can be accessed at 192.168.0.1 when it's directly connected to the computer, with the router disconnected.

There is no router connected just the speedstream 5100 modem. I wasn't there to verify the page he went to. From what he described it was a linksys information page. I can't replicate his actions here.

Sometimes it's just HARD to try to perform IT miracles from remotely........

How true! I'm not one to easily give up but I'm about ready to have him buy an att supported wireless modem/router and have them install it and set the thing up.