I’m still having trouble connecting my client’s SquareConnect Remote+Blaster, where the Blaster is connected to his cable modem wifi. I get a strong wifi signal in SQR on my old backup iPhone when I’m in his home office, where his Netgear WGR614v10 cable modem lives. But when I go out to his family room, where his home theater equipment lives I get no signal at all. I have to stand in the hallway to get any wifi signal at all in SQR on the iPhone, and even when I do that the commands are spotty at best. And it’s extremely difficult to look to see if the Blaster is sending and if the HT EQ is receiving when I have to stand in the hallway away from the EQ.
It’s around 33-36 +/- feet from where his cable modem is to where VERA2 and the Blaster are, with the cable modem in a room in the front of the house and the HT EQ on the opposite end on the back side of the house. The wifi signal has to travel through two walls. I’ve had to use my old backup 2 year old iPhone (w/o a sim card & in Airplane mode, as an “faux iPod”) as he is always using his iPhone 4. I don’t know if the old iPhone is contributing to the weak wifi signal.
But my client’s VERA2 is hard-wired to the cable modem via ethernet cable. And my client’s VERA2 sits right next to his Blaster. So using VERA2 as wifi for his SQR+Blaster seems ideal. John at SQR told me I could use VERA2 but it had to have a different IP number. I’m not sure exactly what that means or how to set this up. I’ve read through all the network docs from the VERA website re: DHCP, Static IPs, Firewall etc… But those docs speak of 4 LAN ports. So it sounds like they’re talking about the original VERA. I have a VERA2 that only has Eth 1 and Eth 2 on the back. And those directions talk about configuring manual IPs from CLI in either Windows or Unix. I’m on a Mac. So’s my client. That’s my other issue. I absolutely have to be able to configure this on a Mac.
My system is working fine and I hate to have to do this but I have to figure this out on my system before I go over and try to do this on my client’s system. Please tell me exactly what I have to do to configure VERA2 so I can run SQR+Blaster from VERA2 wifi without disrupting network or internet service throughout the entire house. Please be clear and specific. I have some network skills but I still need everything spelled out in plain English.
My system:
Actiontec GT724-WG DSL modem with 4 LAN ports using WPA2 security with VERA2 UI4 connected directly to the Actiontec - but I need to MOVE VERA to my HT and connect it there via 75’ ethernet cable to simulate my client’s setup.
My client’s system:
Netgear WGR614v10 cable modem with 4 LAN ports using WPA2 security with VERA2 UI4 connected directly to his cable modem via 50’ ethernet cable
Eventually I’ll be connecting VERA2 in my HT room through a Netgear ProSave 8-port Gigabit Switch, so any info re: the difference between connecting VERA2 directly to the DSL modem via 75’ ethernet cable and through the Netgear Gigabit Switch and what additional configuring - if any - I’ll have to do to use VERA2 wifi through the GB switch would be greatly appreciated.
I would also appreciate directions on how I go back to my original setup using SQR through my DSL modem and put VERA2 back the way it was in case this VERA2 wifi doesn’t work out for me.
I like the idea of using a static IP for VERA2 so it’s IP always remains the same when power goes out or I have to reboot my DSL modem. So any pros or cons or info on how I do that while going back to using wifi from my DSL modem would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks.