Lost static IP

[gismo]

I'm visiting family in Texas for the holiday and they have an RF linked broadband ISP. The technician that set things up (RF antenna/tranceiver and separate NetGear WGR614v6 wireless router) changed the router's admin password and didn't provide the new password or any other information about the ISP. I wanted to use the wireless node with my laptop but there was no SSID broadcast. Since I couldn't get past the router's login without the password I reset the router to restore the default pw. Unfortunately the ISP requires a static IP which had been loaded into the router (and is now erased) along with a subnet mask, gateway IP and a couple DNS IP's.

Of course the ISP support is closed for the holiday weekend. Does anyone have any ideas how to resolve this before Monday.

The ISP is gvec.net 63.125.64.56 (ping lookup)

 

[jesse]

I'm visiting family in Texas for the holiday and they have an RF linked broadband ISP. The technician that set things up (RF antenna/tranceiver and separate NetGear WGR614v6 wireless router) changed the router's admin password and didn't provide the new password or any other information about the ISP. I wanted to use the wireless node with my laptop but there was no SSID broadcast. Since I couldn't get past the router's login without the password I reset the router to restore the default pw. Unfortunately the ISP requires a static IP which had been loaded into the router (and is now erased) along with a subnet mask, gateway IP and a couple DNS IP's.

Of course the ISP support is closed for the holiday weekend. Does anyone have any ideas how to resolve this before Monday.

The ISP is gvec.net 63.125.64.56 (ping lookup)

Good chance you are SOL.

Unless you have some way to figure out what their IP address was. Perhaps you visited a website with their connection before this and the admin of that site is nice enough to dig through the server logs to get the IP...then you would also need the gateway and subnet....Maybe call soemone who has the same service and use what they use... DNS wouldn't matter that much, just use any dns server.

Everytime that I've seen a provider setup static for their customers they provided the customer with a piece of paper that said the information..Usually I was always able to make the customer find this.. Otherwise you are just going to have to wait it out until they are open.

there are really no good options.

 

[Brian Austin]

Lance, PM me if you've ever posted from that location on PoA. Let me know the approximate date and I'll PM you back any IP address from your posts that we have in our logs.

Some routers have backup configs available, even after a reset (usually stored in flash somewhere). Not sure about the one you mentioned, though.

The RF transceiver may be able to tell you what you need, regardless if it's a bridge or router. Hook up your laptop, set your IP address and default gateway to the same address (doesn't matter what) and set your mask to 255.255.255.255. This causes Windows to ARP for everything. Turn off any firewalls on your system first. Ping 255.255.255.255 (probably with no replies), then check your arp cache by using 'arp -a' at a cmd prompt. The numbers in the cache will be the other side of your connection or anything within the broadcast domain.

The tricky part is determining what size their network is set up for. If it's a point-to-point link, routed and not bridged, it's probably a /30 (255.255.255.252) with only four IP addresses (two usable). Best bet: assign yourself one IP address HIGHER than what you see returned, set the gateway to the lower IP address, and then try to access the Internet or ping another site. If it doesn't work, try randomly picking something in the same network (ie with a response from 192.168.1.1, pick 192.168.1.159 or .193, etc..).

If they're using MAC-based IP authentication, you're screwed unless you spoof the MAC address of the router you're substituting. In reality, this is a pain in the butt for an ISP to maintain so I wouldn't expect it.

Good luck.

Found your DNS info via WHOIS:

NS1.AXS4U.NET 64.132.16.223
NS2.AXS4U.NET 64.132.16.224
NS1.GVEC.NET 63.125.62.65

I suspect the bottom entry is all you need, though.

 

[jesse]

Well. Whatever the IP address is.. It's going to be a 63.125.*

Might be even 63.125.62.*


I was hopeing that you viewed a thread that had my signature in it, because then your IP would be in my server logs. Doesn't look like that's true.

I guess I'm not exactly sure what this website is ran on.. But this would be a pretty simple thing to do... In linux

cat access-log | grep 63.125

Would output all the lines that had that in it.. I'm sure you could do that just as easily if this were a windows server..in notepad or something.

Unless they own another block of addresses... Or perhaps they might even resell their wireless via another provider.. because as far as I can tell they only "own" 63 ip addresses.. That would be very difficult to setup an entire ISP and have much of a client base with.

 

[gismo]

Thanks guys, we were able to contact the technician who originally set up the network and he got us the static IP so we are up and running now. (Brian was right about the DNS server IP's)

 

[Brian Austin]

Well. Whatever the IP address is.. It's going to be a 63.125.*

Might be even 63.125.62.*
...
Unless they own another block of addresses... Or perhaps they might even resell their wireless via another provider.. because as far as I can tell they only "own" 63 ip addresses.. That would be very difficult to setup an entire ISP and have much of a client base with.

It's not unusual for smaller ISPs to use non-public IP blocks (172.16.1-23.x, 192.168.x.x, or 10.x.x.x) for their internal addressing to avoid having to pay for large blocks of addresses.

And DNS addresses don't necessary have to be on the same block. In fact, on larger networks, they rarely are. Some ISPs filter DNS requests based on source IP while others don't care (UUNet/MCI for example). Some use caching servers while others just provide primary and secondary DNS services. It's a matter of money, management and network size.

Thanks guys, we were able to contact the technician who originally set up the network and he got us the static IP so we are up and running now. (Brian was right about the DNS server IP's)

Glad to hear you're back up, Lance!

 

[jesse]

It's not unusual for smaller ISPs to use non-public IP blocks (172.16.1-23.x, 192.168.x.x, or 10.x.x.x) for their internal addressing to avoid having to pay for large blocks of addresses.

They would be a pretty worthless ISP if you did not get a public IP assigned to you.

You could pretty much cross out any type of direct connection in IM clients, etc.

I have seen many small ISPs though that are more of a reseller then anything, really do not have their own infrastructure beyond their website..This may be the case here.

As far as DNS servers go some ISPs seem to run decent ones, while others you'd think you were on dialup surfing the web but the actual delay is just due to their DNS server.

I completely gave up on Charter.net and the DNS servers they provided and switched to my own DNS servers that I run.

Anyways enough of this talk.. I'm looking out the window and its not a low overcast! Time to fly!

 

[Brian Austin]

They would be a pretty worthless ISP if you did not get a public IP assigned to you.

You could pretty much cross out any type of direct connection in IM clients, etc.

I use NAT in both my home and corporate networks with no adverse effects for IM or any other service. Depends on set up of the routers. In the few ISPs that I have worked with that use 10.x addressing internally, I haven't seen or heard any issues with connections, except where dedicated client VPNs were required. Then they just statically assigned an external IP (public) to the internal 10 address and the issues go away.

 

[jesse]

Then they just statically assigned an external IP (public) to the internal 10 address and the issues go away.

Yeah it's OK if they do that.

But I've seen some cases.. Not sure if it's still like that, but DirectWAY for example. ( I think thats the name of DirectTVs internet offering) to where you were never assigned a public IP at any level.

Doesn't work worth a $@#%.

 

[Brian Austin]

Yeah it's OK if they do that.

But I've seen some cases.. Not sure if it's still like that, but DirectWAY for example. ( I think thats the name of DirectTVs internet offering) to where you were never assigned a public IP at any level.

Doesn't work worth a $@#%.

Direcway is a different issue. They use asymmetrical routing and play with different source/destination IPs depending on subscriber location. Asymmetrical routing by itself isn't that big of a deal but combined with different destination IP addresses (compared to source) or changing destinations based on which satellite has a better signal is what screws up any long term communication conversations. VPNs don't work well (if at all) using satellite systems either. Satellite is okay for web-based stuff (short conversations, usually cookie-based identification vs IP-based) or e-mail (short spurts inbound or outbound) but little else.

 

[jesse]

Satellite is okay for web-based stuff (short conversations, usually cookie-based identification vs IP-based) or e-mail (short spurts inbound or outbound) but little else.

The problem is the latency makes it worthless for that too.