Squeezebox Players

[SASH]

I just changed from DSL to Charter cable internet and my Transporter SE won't connect to the network.  Should it automatically rescan for network settings or do I need to perform some type of reset ?

I'm running hard wired from an ethernet switch which is directly connected to the broadband modem.  I don't have a router hooked up yet.  My PC, which I am using as the music server, is also hard wired through the switch and I have no problem connecting to the internet.

Thanks

[pippin107 · Accepted solution]

If you don't have a router, yet, you need something on your network that acts as a DHCP server to assign IP addresses to your PC and Transporter or they will probably not be able to find each other.

Can't you use your old router for that? I mean: it would not have to connect to the internet.

[SASH]

Thanks Pippin.  I came to the same conclusion after doing a little googling.  This really messes up my plans now.  I had hoped to just have the modem active because I don't want WiFi on all the time.  I've changed over to a mostly wired network and did not realize that a modem could not assign internal IP addresses.  One possible solution is to find a cable modem/router that has an on/off switch for WiFi.  No luck so far finding such a device.  Netgear makes routers with a WiFi on/off switch but I don't think they have one that is aslo a cable modem.

[pippin107]

Your cable modem doesn't need to be the router, you can use two separate devices. I have two routers on my network, too, and only use is doing the DHCP.

But don't be afraid of WiFi. If you care about radioation, be assured that the good old radio and TV you are listening to will send an orders of magnitude more radiation into your room than does WiFi and you can't stop that.

WiFi radiation levels are really low.

[SASH]

It's funny you mention the radiation with WiFi.  The first time I heard this discussed was just a week or two ago, and I thought add another to the list.  My real concern is just being green and trying to save on the energy bill.  I simply don't like the idea of having devices powered on if I am not using them.  At the same time, I would like to simplify things but I seem to be going in the wrong direction.

I dropped DSL and my phone service too, to be replaced by cable internet and an Ooma for VOIP phone service.  The downside (which as you know I did not think through completely) is that I now have to have a modem, router, and the Ooma powered on full time... not to mention the extra cable and power cord clutter from these devices.  With DSL, I had just an ADSL router which I turned on only when needed.

Still trying to find a cable modem/router with a WiFi power switch, or a wired only modem/router.  Either would make me feel much better about my new set-up.

[pippin107]

But then again: WiFi just uses sooo little power.

All my network setup (and I have a LOT of that stuff here) together consumes less power than one of the light bulbs my better half leaves on all the time. We are talking of maybe 10-20$ a year for a whole setup.

And from an energy-saving perspective it only counts in summer because in winter it will count into your heat balance anyway, not that the few watts will matter.

Standby power consumption is grossly exaggerated, it makes up a single-digit percentage of private electrical power consumption which in turn is only a part of the overall power consumption, there's also the big portions being used for heating, industry and traffic.

[SASH]

I wouldn't have thought that to be the case, but it seems most modern devices are building in green features.  Do you know if it is possible to configure some routers to shut down the WiFi or go into a sleep mode if the WiFi is not being utilized ?  I think most newer ethernet switches have shut down or sleep mode features that automatically kick in but I've not heard the same of routers, other than the Netgear routers.

PS - Thanks for taking the time to educate me on networking.  It's always been a little puzzling to me.

[squeezeit]

Most WiFi routers have a simple On/Off toggle for it's WiFi within it's web UI interface.  Doubt you will find a Sleep function on a router.

[pippin107]

Sleep mode for WiFi is something you probably won't find because: how would you then turn it on if you want to use it again and how does it determine that it's not being used? If you run a Squeezebox, or an iPhone or something, there will always be continuous or periodic communication.

[SASH]

I guess by "sleep" I meant more of a low-power state.  I thought I read that the WiFi in some routers can be configured to run at lower power or lower amplification.

So if you can turn off the WiFi in the UI, then can you turn it back on in the UI wirelessly ?  If the WiFi has been turned off, I am not sure how it will receive the new command to turn back on.  But if this would work, it would be just about as good as a hard on/off switch.

BTW, I did discover that Netgear does indeed manufacture cable routers which includes the hard WiFi on/off switch.  The catch is that all of these Netgear routers are sold to service providers only.  The only common direct-to-consumer cable routers I see are Zoom or Motorola.