Am I wrong? (Router/Modem question)

Fort1tude

I work as phone tech support for a major computer company. A Customer called in not being able to connect his 2 PC's to the internet after a vacation. I had him power cycle his Modem and Router, Modem first, then Router, both off at the same time. Then I checked his PC's IP, its 192.168.1.100 which is good, its a linksys router. He still didnt have internet connectivity. I had him connect to the router through IE with 192.168.1.1 and the default password. The router said its IP was 192.168.1.47. I told the Customer that there is something wrong with his modem and that he would need to contact his ISP.

A co-worker overheard me and said I was wrong, that the 192.168.1.47 was valid. That the verizon modems give that out and its valid. Whos wrong?

ElectricTurtle

You are correct. 192.168.x.x is a Class C non-routable range, no exceptions. Non-routable IPs do not cut it on the intertrons.

EDIT: You should have asked him if the router listed a gateway, and if so if it could be pinged. It's also possible that the modem is some kind of router/gateway/bridge whatever by itself and is acting in the middle...

Fristle

Maybe Verizon gave him a routing device that is doing Network Address Translation and his own router is behind that. I almost subscribed to Verizon Fios recently but they said they would insist on using their own router, to which my reaction was, I would not stand for that and would need my own router behind theirs so that I still control my home network.

Like,
[Internet] <---> [Verizon router] <---> [customer-owned router] <---> [customer owned computer]

Fort1tude

I was pretty sure I was right. I honestly was just sitting there stunned and was lucky that he got a call before it got awkward.

tech_hunter

I am betting the problem is neither. You said he came back from vacation? I am betting either he had vacation service enabled on his account which essentially turns the service off for a set amount of time or a bill came in while he was on vacation went unpaid and his service was suspended.

tech_hunter

Fristle wrote: »

Maybe Verizon gave him a routing device that is doing Network Address Translation and his own router is behind that. I almost subscribed to Verizon Fios recently but they said they would insist on using their own router, to which my reaction was, I would not stand for that and would need my own router behind theirs so that I still control my home network.

Like,
[Internet] <---> [Verizon router] <---> [customer-owned router] <---> [customer owned computer]

That is possible but if you have any issues it wont be supported by tech support