PPPoE on Actiontec gt704-wg
April 9th, 2007
The Actiontec is a device that has been available at several retail electronics stores, including Radio Shack. It provides three means of connection, via Ethernet, 802.11b/g, and USB, which makes it rather appealing when you aren’t quite sure what kind of computer configurations will be making use of it. Other models are also available, including a bridge and a “triple-play” oriented gt724 model that are beyond the scope of this article.
To disable PPPoE on an otherwise-functional Actiontec gt704-wg, use the following steps:
- Configure the client computer to be physically connected to the Actiontec. Make sure it’s using a local IP address like 192.168.0.5 for itself, with a gateway of 192.168.0.1 and subnet mask of 255.255.255.0
- In the web browser of your preference, surf to http://192.168.0.1/ to get the Actiontec’s web interface. Unless it has been previously assigned a new password, you should not be challenged to provide one.
- A menu will appear. Select the first option, “Setup / Configuration.”
- You will be prompted to select a basic setup, a wireless setup, or an advanced setup. Here is also where you can assign an administrative username and password. Select “Basic Setup” to continue.
- Presuming that the modem is already connected to the DSL line, click “next” on the following page.
- You will be prompted to select the means of authentication. Select “My ISP does not require a username and password.” Click “next.”
- You will be prompted to save your changes and restart the Actiontec.Click the “Save and Restart” button, and wait for it to reboot.
October 12th, 2007 at 8:49 am
I’ve done the above, but I need to disable the internal router (I have a Linksys WRTG54 externally). How do I put the Actiontec into bridge mode? It was provided by my ISP and is all they support.
October 12th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Mike,
That’s a little outside the scope of this document, but if you select “Advanced Setup,” you’ll get an opportunity to bypass the Actiontec’s NAT capabilities. Select “WAN IP Address” in the left-hand navigation menu, and select “Transparent Bridging” from the list. Below this, select RFC 1483 Bridging. This should cause the Actiontec to simply eat ATM and spit out Ethernet for you.
They’ve got a lot of in-depth info available in the user manual at http://www.actiontec.com/support/broadband/gt704-wg.pdf if you know what to look for (or are willing to wade through technical documentation by brute force).
January 11th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Hey how can i port forward a GT724 I can’t find the place to open the ports. I’m trying to run xbox live on it and it keep DC’ing me? Please help i;m one step away from chucking this thing out.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I’m trying to open a port to download torrents, but I can’t get into my Actiontec gt704 V preference. What do I do? I’m lost @ step 2
October 29th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
@Mike - are you having an authentication problem (it’s not taking your password) or are you having problems getting to the interface at all (it isn’t even challenging you for it)? If the former, you may have to just pin the darned thing. If the latter, take a closer look at step 1: it may be that your computer isn’t on the same subnet as your Actiontec. If your Actiontec is normally configured to act as a router, then it may be a good idea to run check what your system’s current gateway is (in Windows, open a command prompt at run “ipconfig /all” to get this) and browse to whatever IP it shows as your gateway.
If you have a router between you and your Actiontec, you’ll need to bypass it.