Disable Actiontec M1000's Router

If have a DSL subscription and are using the default settings on the Actiontec M1000 modem as well as another wireless router you aren't getting the most out of your internet connection.  Because the M1000 has the ability to add a wireless adapter and be a wireless router the M1000 acts like a router by default.  If you have another wireless router which you are actually connected to, your internet connected device is going over an additional hop to get to the internet.  Here is what you need to do:

Configure Your Modem to be a Transparent Bridge

First, you need your DSL subscription login name and password.  These will be what you used to set your modem up for the first time.  If you don't have them, you can call your provider and they should be able to give them to you.  Second,  you need to configure your modem to be a transparent bridge.  Go into the modem configuration page by typing 192.168.0.1 into a web browser.  Go to the Advanced Setup section.  Select WAN IP Address in the left-hand column.  Select the button next to the RFC 1483 Transparent Bridging and click Apply.     

Configure Your Router to Connect with PPPoE

This article is going to use a LINKSYS router for the configuration.  Go to 192.168.1.1 in your web browser and enable PPPoE.  You will have to use your DSL login name and password here. Once you have done that save your settings and wait for your internet connection to reconnect.  You have now removed one of the hops in your internet connection.

I didn't see any kind of performance increase in my internet after changing these settings but it doesn't make sense to use two routers either.  My hope is that this will help with using remote desktop when I build my new machine later today (more on that in a later post!).