Configuring 2Wire as a Bridge

This HOWTO helps you to set your 2Wire ADSL modem as a brifge.

I was faced to use a 3com router over 2Wire ADSL modem cause it supports content filtering. We required this functionality to avoid users from browsing freely on the web, but 2Wire modems doesn’t support that functionality. So we’ve set our 2Wire ADSL modem as a bridge and let our 3com router to handle the Internet connection.

This is not the last time that we’ll tell you: WARNING!!! This is and advance topic and we assume that you know what you’re doing.

Step 1

To set our 2wire modem as a bridge first open Firefox (or the browser of your choice) and enter enter the following address: http://gateway.2wire.net (if you can’t access this page try http://192.168.1.254).

Step2

Once there, click on Broadband Link, located on the top of the page as a tab (the second one).

Step 3

Now click on Advanced Settings from the same menu bar (if a password is requested provide it).

Under the section DSL and ATM:

1. For the ATM Encapsulation parameter select Bridged LLC option.
2. And for the ATM PVC Search parameter select the option Disabled.

Under the section Broadband Network:

1. In the Connection Type parameter select Direct IP (DHCP or Static) option.
2. And leave blank the Username, Password and Confirm Password textboxes.

Step 4

Enter the following address: http://gateway.2wire.net/mdc or http://gateway.2wire.net/management (or http://192.168.1.254/mdc).

Once there click on the Configure Services link in the Advanced section from the vertical menu located on the left of your window and disable the option Enable Routing (unchecked) to set your modem as a bridge.

Now check that the Power, Network and ADSL leds on your modem are turned on and green, and your Internet are turned off or orange (depends on the model).

And that’s it. Your 2Wire modem as a bridge!!!!

There’s another way to set your modem as a bridge, but is a trick… quick and dirty. To do so simply go to the Broadband Link options and click on the Advanced Settings from the menu bar (seen on step 3), and type a completely wrong Username and password for your connection (say x for the user and x for the password) and that’s it!

Yeah, quick but too dirty for a formal configuration.