Moving Internet provider

Currently reading
Moving Internet provider

687
226
NAS
DS918+
Operating system
  1. macOS
Mobile operating system
  1. iOS
I'm shortly going to be moving BT Internet (192.168.1.xxx network internally), to Zen Internet (192.168.178.xxx Internally I think). So what would be the right processes for:
  • Moving the NAS from one network to the other.
  • Changing the NAS to work with a Static IP (as Zen provide one)
I can see this is going to be painful........ Any tips appreciated.
 
If you can, change the new router's internal LAN to 192.168.1.xxx and its DHCP server to the server the same range as your BT router. So note down the BT router's configuration before switching it off: DHCP server; firewall policies; port forwarding. Then try and replicate this with the new router and reboot it. Then other devices won't know much about what's happened.
 
Upvote 0
Yeah from what I've read though I don't think the LAN can be changed. The NAS as a static IP address as well, I guess I should change that?
-- post merged: --

Ah ha it looks like you can.


So I guess change the box over change the network details, reboot and cross fingers it all connects.
 
Upvote 0
Last edited:
Fritzbox routers are the favored devices amongst consumers in germany. Been buying their devices for close to 20 years now.

Changing the ip-range of the lan is such a basic feature - I would be surprised if any router would not support it.

Unless your ISP decided by policy to restrict functionality or withhold the admin accout from its endusers, you will have a reliable and easy to configure router. I have not encountered a german isp so far, that locked down its Fritzboxes.
-- post merged: --

I took a look at the options:

You can set the ip range and netmask without restrictions. You can define the dhcp range within your ip range, you can modify the dns server if required. You can define the dhcp lease.

And on top you can do the same for a guest network.
 
Upvote 0
So basically I should be able to clone the IP (which I guess will be used for DNS) , DHCP range and subnet mask address to match that of the BT Internet Home Hub. The static IP's I've got set up are outside of the DHCP range, so it should all just work.

On top of this I'm looking to purchase a Linksys Velop or Netgear Orbi Mesh network to work with the new Modem / Hub. I'm thinking the Velop may be better for me (cheaper) but I'm put off a little by it not having a full web UI for configuration.

With the Orbi system I'd be paying for a router which'd not be needed (I think) as the FritzBox would have to be used as the modem and that'd carry the network cable to the Orbi (or Velop) system.
However the Orbi is a Netgear system with a full web UI.......

What I'm thinking is with whichever mesh system I go with I'd be able to use the same SSID / credentials for the Mesh wifi system as I use now for regular WiFi on the BT box and then I'd not have to go through the pain of recreating the entire WiFi network. Am I right there?

Difficult working which way to go.......

Any recommendations guys?
 
Upvote 0
So basically I should be able to clone the IP (which I guess will be used for DNS) , DHCP range and subnet mask address to match that of the BT Internet Home Hub. The static IP's I've got set up are outside of the DHCP range, so it should all just work.

Yep, unless the ISP locked it down

On top of this I'm looking to purchase a Linksys Velop or Netgear Orbi Mesh network to work with the new Modem / Hub. I'm thinking the Velop may be better for me (cheaper) but I'm put off a little by it not having a full web UI for configuration.

With the Orbi system I'd be paying for a router which'd not be needed (I think) as the FritzBox would have to be used as the modem and that'd carry the network cable to the Orbi (or Velop) system.
However the Orbi is a Netgear system with a full web UI.......

The Fritbox is at the higher end of consumer devices and of course it has mesh build in. I would strongly recommend to not degrade it to just a modem, unless a corparate grade router should replace it as a router or the admin interface is locked down by the isp.

I have good experience with the vendors mesh repeater Fritz!Repeater 1750e. Its supperior siblings 2400, 3000 should be even stronger. You can join any of those repeaters by pressing physical buttons on the Fritzbox and the repeater. They do have a ui, but once they join a mesh are controlled from the Fritzbox.

What I'm thinking is with whichever mesh system I go with I'd be able to use the same SSID / credentials for the Mesh wifi system as I use now for regular WiFi on the BT box and then I'd not have to go through the pain of recreating the entire WiFi network. Am I right there?
If you reuse the SSID, encryption protocoll and password, all devices should be able to connect to the new mesh without requiring any change. Even though, handover from one mesh AP to another will be quick, not all client devices are capable to move between mesh AP's without interruption.
 
Upvote 0
I've kept the same SSID over various changes of WiFi router and not had any issues.

As for using the ISP provided device as your primary Internet firewall/router or just as a modem to provide ethernet... it's up to you. I have Virgin Media cable and use their Hub 3 in modem/bridge mode to my RT2600ac. I prefer to be the only admin that can log into my perimeter firewall.
 
Upvote 0
Thanks guys. Zen Internet do have an EverRoom option (extra £7.99 / month) where they offer the FRITZ!Repeater 3000. I'm wondering though if that will cover the entire house? We live in a medium sized semi-detached house, (2 bedrooms and a box room), the later the home office for my good lady. The home office is the likely location for the Repeater as my wife needs wired networking in there, but it is at the exact opposite end of the house from where the main FritzBox will be. I can't find any information from Fritz as to what area would be covered.

The reason for going Mesh is so that in the future we can add Wireless HomeKit cameras, the current standard WiFi will not reach properly upstairs. The cameras are likely to be on the outside wall near the home office.

Hopefully if we can change the configurations of the FritzBox and the Mesh then it should be painless.....
 
Upvote 0
I'm wondering though if that will cover the entire house?
Impossible to predict :) Every house is build differently with different materials having different levels of absorption. Fritz!Box and Fritz!Repeater will use the 5GHz and 2,4GHz connection in parallel to speed things up. Though, 5GHz connects are know to be short range, while the slower 2,5GHz are known to be mid to long range.

Usualy the AP's in repeater mode allow to hook up one or more client devices by wire.

Isn't £7.99 per month expensive? If you consider the Repeater 3000 is sold for £130, the breakeven would be in less then 1,5 years. If you go with the smaller units, the breakeven will be even sooner :)
 
Upvote 0
this is a prime example as to why you shouldn't use ISP supplied kit to run your network.
for DSL/FTTC Openeach based ISPs you should just use your own modem (to make the physical connection) and you own router/switches etc.

this means that changing ISP has zero impact your LAN.

I've used fritzbox devices in the past and wasn't overly impressed with them.
 
Upvote 0
Isn't £7.99 per month expensive? If you consider the Repeater 3000 is sold for £130, the breakeven would be in less then 1,5 years. If you go with the smaller units, the breakeven will be even sooner :)
Not the cheapest I guess, but if one will not do the job then you'll get another, and another until it is covered. I have a feeling that we will need two to do the job that makes it pretty more economical.

this is a prime example as to why you shouldn't use ISP supplied kit to run your network.
for DSL/FTTC Openeach based ISPs you should just use your own modem (to make the physical connection) and you own router/switches etc.

this means that changing ISP has zero impact your LAN.

I've used fritzbox devices in the past and wasn't overly impressed with them.
I'll not disagree there, but the CFO (i.e. wife) would not sanction paying out for a decent modem / router with our current situation (i.e. me being forced to retire early) to replace one that is supplied. In an ideal world yeah that would be great if money was not something we have to watch.

Yeah but once we've made the change that should be it for a fair few years. Zen Internet has a decent reputation (we were with them years ago).

The Fiitz!Box has to be better than the BT Home Hub 6 - that is truly dreadful to work with.

@one-eyed-king have you had any issues with the Fritz!Boxes?
 
Upvote 0
@one-eyed-king have you had any issues with the Fritz!Boxes?
I owned severall Fritz!Boxes over the last 20 years. Allways went with the flagship product of the time and never was disappointed. They may not be the cheapest, but they are worth their money: they are reliable as heck and receive firmware updates for ages.

Appart from the price, there is realy nothing to complain about. There is one very advanced use case, I rely on, that is not properly supported: failover-ip using vrrp. Whenever the failover-ip moves to a different host, the build in dns server in the fritzbox gets confused and sometimes the names for that host flap between the hostname and the name for the failover-ip, which confuse the portforwarding. I do point my forwarded ports to failover-ips, to mittigate outage on my Swarm/Kubernetes clusters. But I did find a workaround for the problem, so I am fine. I doubt that any consumer grade device will be able to handle this properly.
 
Upvote 0
In germany people who receive a Fritz!Box from their ISP consider themselves lucky.
Usualy they give away a shitty self branded box and want an extra monthly fee to upgrade it to a Fritz!Box.

I was even luckier, my ISP sold me a FB7590 for 120€ when it entered the market, which was half the street price back then.

If the FB was a car, it would perfectly mingle between Mercedes, BMW and Audi ^^
 
Upvote 0
If you can, change the new router's internal LAN to 192.168.1.xxx and its DHCP server to the server the same range as your BT router. So note down the BT router's configuration before switching it off: DHCP server; firewall policies; port forwarding. Then try and replicate this with the new router and reboot it. Then other devices won't know much about what's happened.
Thinking further on this one, at the moment the NAS is configured to use the DNS of the BT internet hub and it is set not to use DHCP, but to use a static IP (which is outside my DHCP range). Before the migration should I therefore switch it to use DHCP, or leave it as it is?
 
Upvote 0
If the Zen router is reconfigured to be the same as the BT router then LAN clients that use the router's LAN IP for DNS will still work.

These routers will get their WAN IP and DNS assigned automatically by the ISP (or you can manually set the DNS servers, e.g. to OpenDNS, Cloudflare, Google). If clients query the router IP for DNS then the router will forward the query to its WAN DNS servers.

The NAS needs DNS resolution when it needs to access the Internet but for a short period when updating the LAN this should not overly affect NAS operation. And you will still be able to access the NAS.
 
Upvote 0
Okay so basically if I can reconfigure the new router to have the same networking (apart from maybe the DNS) settings then I should be okay, and maybe just change the DNS later.
I've asked Zen what can be configured on the router and I am awaiting their response.
 
Upvote 0

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Similar threads

I have completed the process, it does work! i don't know how syno does it but also the folders get the...
Replies
13
Views
416
Welcome to the forum! No, this is not supported. DSM might detect the drives but it will not mount the...
Replies
1
Views
603
Yes, it’s weird. I would’ve expected some indication of activity. You may have closed the initial dialogue...
Replies
4
Views
1,018
All of my data is on the Syno, there not even one pc or mac that contains data files. So yes, my photo...
Replies
5
Views
1,474
This means this tool can really speed up the operation by (5-10x ) ?
Replies
12
Views
4,987
If the external drive is exFAT then it won't work unless you've purchase exFAT package from Synology...
Replies
11
Views
2,326

Welcome to SynoForum.com!

SynoForum.com is an unofficial Synology forum for NAS owners and enthusiasts.

Registration is free, easy and fast!

Back
Top