For everyone out there looking to switch to AT&T U-verse, I thought I would supply this handy tip. The first thing you will realize when you get the service installed is that the modem they supply has a built-in router. The router AT&T supplies is only 802.11 N 2.4 GHz. If you plan on streaming HD videos from a local file server or transferring large files via Wi-Fi then you will want to use your own router with the latest and fastest 802.11 ac Wi-Fi. Here is how to set up your own router to work with AT&T U-verse.
Assuming the AT&T representative set up your internet service and you can access the web, the first thing you will need to do is plug in your own router. You will need to run an Ethernet cable from the WAN port of your router to the LAN port on the AT&T Fiber router. Next head over to your computer and type 192.168.1.254 into your web browser. This is the IP address of the AT&T modem and will allow you to configure the settings. You should end up on a page that looks like the one shown below.
You will then want to click on the wireless setting under Key Things to Do using your gateway. Once on the wireless setting you will need to find the Wi-Fi setting and switch it to disabled.
Now you are done with the AT&T modem and can move onto configuring your own router. For my demonstration I will be using an AirPort Base Station like the one shown below, but the process is similar for most routers.
Enter the IP address of your router into your web browser or in my case open the AirPort Utility application. After launching AirPort Utility or entering your IP address you should come to your router settings.
Under the network section of your router settings you should find an option for DHCP or Bridge mode. You will need to put your router in Bridge mode since you are connecting a router to a router. This will allow your router to use the IP address of the AT&T modem and essentially only broadcast Wi-Fi.
Assuming you did everything correctly you should be able to see your Wi-Fi network and be able to access the Internet.
I have tried this but it only worked with devices that are directly wired to the third party router.
Ex. Turned off the wireless on the uverse router. Changed the ip address of the third party router. Set the uverse to detect router behind router. Wireless devices will connect to the third party router, but cannot get internet. Wired devices connected to the third party router can connect to the internet.
Thanks for all the great comments guys. This post was only to shed some light on how AT&T had suggested i set up my router as all the other suggestions had failed.
This is nice to know it ur n to apple but i am not so how do u set it up for a PC! the only thing i would buy of apple is the ipad min for the vid take like u guy do! i enjoy ur shows and news, info thanks!!!!
This is actually _entirely_ wrong.
You do not want to put your router in bridge mode – this defeats most of the purpose of buying an aftermarket router.
The correct way to do this:
Turn off the wifi as suggested above
Go to Firewall, and Pinholes & DMZ
Select the new router by hostname or MAC address (attached devices will be listed in clickable form, by device name. Note: unnamed devices will be listed as “unknownaa11bb22cc33”, where “aa11bb22cc33” is the MAC address of the device.
Once you have the router selected, go to the bottom of the page, and click the option for DMZ Plus Mode
Click OK.
Now, connect to the new router. Make sure the new router is not using the 192.168.1.0/24 subnet (the local network (LAN) IP of the new router should be set to a different private IP, such as 192.168.98.1) to avoid conflicts
This allows traffic to pass to your new router as unmolested as possible. There’s no point in running SPI, port scan, DoS protections on 2 devices in series, and I guarantee whatever you put behind the ATT modem/router will be better at it.
i have tried that and didn’t have and success with that method thats why i made this post.
You don’t need to even put it in Bridge Mode. I have Bell Fibre and it essentially is the same as uverse. I do shut off the wireless from the modem but I only hook the tv receivers to the Bell modem and I put my router in the DMZ then you hook your computers to your router and it is just like having your own router and a modem. Much better then using the crap routers supplied.
Thanks for the interesting article. A few questions for you though as I am not a technology genius. 1) Would this help out with wifi streaming Netflix on an Apple TV device(generation 1) ? Would all of the other wifi devices in the house have better streaming or downloading speeds i.e. Moto X, Chromecast, Ipod’s, ipad, iphone, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) ? Before I go buy a better router, I want to make sure that it would help the devices mentioned above. Thank you !
This tutorial will mostly help with local streaming from a network storage or for online gaming. In general it will help improve the performance of your network. you probably won’t notice much difference with Netflix. The 802.11 ac wifi speed boost is helpful for local network file sharing or streaming. the built in n router that comes with the U-verse service is fine for streaming Netflix or online gaming. just not great for local file sharing.