AirPort Extreme, DG834, PPPoE, Brick Wall, Head

[insanity]

Hello all...

My Google-Fu is letting me down badly at the moment - either that or I'm trying to do something really silly. I have a shiny new AirPort Extreme (dual-band) which I'd like to use as the main router for my Internet connection (one reason being that you can't use the funky 'guest network' feature when it is simply acting as a WAP).

I currently have a Netgear DG834(v4), which I use in preference to the o2WirelessBoxII as I hate the interface on the o2 box - plus I don't like the idea of o2 making changes to it. Oh, and I've always found the wireless to be a bit flakey too...

Connecting the two together at the moment gives me the usual double-NAT issues, which don't cause me too many problems, but it does stop my work laptop connecting over VPN, which means I can't work from home and have to go into the office. So being the lazy type, I want to get this sorted...

Anyway, I know how to put the DG834 into 'modem' mode, and the 'DSL' light on the front comes on and stays on, and according to the stats it is all connected nicely at the usual speed (~13.5Mbps for me - was only 12Mbps with the o2 box, so that's another reason why I like the Netgear), but I can't for the life of me get the AirPort Extreme to connect when I set it to connect via PPPoE or via Ethernet.

Now, am I doing something really silly, or am I just missing one vital piece of information that will prevent more dents appearing on my forehead and the nearest brick wall...? I found this - AirPort Extreme Base Station & O2 Home Broadband at I Don’t Believe It! - it describes exactly what I'm trying to do, but with the o2 box and not a DG834.

All advice and help gratefully appreciated!

[tomwhitaker]

Suspect you've worked something out here or tried something else, but I had this problem and I've just solved it... do everything you did, then leave it for an hour with just the modem connected, then come back and hook up the Airport Extreme.

Apparently it's something to do with Be (o2) only allowing one router's MAC address every half hour or so. My Airport Express is now getting an internet connection using the settings shown on the page you linked to.