Convert to WAN port

Question

I have a ADSL2+ Modem/Router. Is it possible to set one out of four of the LAN ports as a WAN port? If yes, how?

The brand/model is: Prolink H9200P. I already contacted Prolink about this and the site said to wait for one business day. But I'm still asking here just in case someone could answer faster than Prolink. Thank you.

Update: The router has 6 ports. A port to be connected to the telephone line (which I assume is also the WAN port), a port where you could connect a telephone headset, and 4 LAN ports.

What I really want to do is use this modem/router as a "standard" router. I haven't really owned other "kinds" of routers before, aside from the modem/routers one. But looking at some picture in the internet, they seem to have a separate ethernet port for the WAN/Internet.

I have seen an article for Billion modem/routers but none for Prolink. Also, I could not find any similar telnet commands for Prolink for the commands used in the article.

Prolink has already replied to my inquiry: It's not possible. :)) Unless we could hack it of course?

Answer 1

Short of hacking together your own custom build of DD-WRT, no. And you probably don't want to bother with that.

Why do you want to change the WAN port?

Edit: The only way this is possible is by loading new firmware onto the router. This may be possible using telnet and/or tftp. More likely you'd have to come up with a method to get the router to execute arbitrary code. Which is not a trivial task. There's also the remote possibility that the functionality is already there, and you'd just have to solder on a new 8P8C SMD. But that's a remote possibility.

Answer 2

I'm guessing that you want to add a cable modem or second ADSL2+ modem to your main ADSL2+ line for either redundancy and/or load balancing.

There are routers which will do this, but it doesn't look like the Prolink is one.

For a while, I've been considering the Draytek 2820n which allows a second WAN connection to be routed from an ethernet port, or even a USB port (using a USB modem to providing a backup mobile broadband for when the main ADSL link goes down) but from what little information I can find on the Prolink, it looks like it only supports it's own internal ADSL2+ wan port.

It does, however, support PPPoE, so you could use it as a modem for another router which does support redundant links or load balancing - a cheap Linksys WRT54G and DD-WRT should work a treat, if you can be bothered with the hassle of setting it up.

Edit:

Given your update, I'm guessing my assumption was wrong.

I still don't understand what you actually want to achieve though. Do you want to replace the internal WAN port? For instance, do you have an un-routed modem (ADSL or cable) that you want to use to give your Prolink a connection to the internet? Do you want an additional WAN port? So that you can have a redundant or load balanced internet connection using two lines? Do you want to create a wierd ass backwards DMZ?

What are you actually trying to achieve?

Answer 3

You have to reconfigure 1 of the 4 LAN* ports as a WAN port.

Firmware version 6.1 or higher:

:ppp relay flush
:ppp flush
:eth flush
:atm flush
:atm phonebook flush
:eth bridge ifdelete intf=ethport4
:eth ifadd intf=eth_wan
:eth ifconfig intf=eth_wan dest=ethif4
:eth ifattach intf=eth_wan
:ip ifadd intf=ip_wan_eth dest=eth_wan
:ip ifconfig intf=ip_wan_eth status=up
:ip ifconfig intf=ip_wan_eth hwaddr=00:11:42:0c:65:1d <-- This line is only needed if     
:ip ifattach intf=ip_wan_eth
:nat ifconfig intf=ip_wan_eth translation=enabled
:dhcp client ifadd intf=ip_wan_eth
:dhcp client ifconfig intf=ip_wan_eth metric=5 dnsmetric=5
:dhcp client rqoptions add intf=ip_wan_eth option=dhcp-lease-time
:dhcp client rqoptions add intf=ip_wan_eth option=dhcp-renewal-time
:dhcp client rqoptions add intf=ip_wan_eth option=dhcp-rebinding-time
:dhcp client rqoptions add intf=ip_wan_eth option=subnet-mask
:dhcp client rqoptions add intf=ip_wan_eth option=classless-static-routes
:dhcp client rqoptions add intf=ip_wan_eth option=default-routers
:dhcp client rqoptions add intf=ip_wan_eth option=classfull-static-routes
:dhcp client rqoptions add intf=ip_wan_eth option=domain-name-servers
:dhcp client ifattach intf=ip_wan_eth
:saveall

Note that this is only possible on LAN ports 2, 3 and 4. I used LAN port 4 in this example.