Will a new modem require reconfiguration of WAP's?

[david_austin_k6]

I have a Lennar smart home that came with three Ruckus ZoneFlex R510 WAP's and a Brocade ICX 7150-C12P switch. Amazon, whom Lennar contracted with to final install/setup all of this provides absolutely no support beyond the initial 90 days after install; i am about 26 months post-install. 

I know just enough about this stuff to screw it all up.  I have an old (~8 years) Cisco cable modem and a fairly new Linksys router.  I have been having issues with extremely slow broadband and my cable company (Cox) is telling me that my modem is going bad and I need to replace it.  Their option for modem will not fit in a smart panel, so I am looking at an Arris SURFoard SBG8300 modem/router combo. 

I know that the slow speeds are probably attributed mostly to the Covid-19 BS and everyone is home using their service, slowing it down for everyone.  Having said that, it probably wouldn't be bad to upgrade my modem anyway. 

Would I just be able to connect everything, use the same SSID and passwords and have everything work?  Is my ignorance making you guys laugh?  Haha.  Any input would be appreciated.

[mceik]

Can you explain HOW the configuration will remain the same in just replacing the modem??  We had to replace our modem and the 2 AP's  are no longer recognized, and i can NOT find how to get this corrected. 

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I"m scouring all the posts trying to find my same problem, and would appreciate any help!!

[david_austin_k6]

Thank you for your reply.

I have a Cisco cable modem linked to my Linksys router, which is then connected to the ICX switch, which then goes out to the three WAP's.  Is that what you were saying would help here?

[syamantakomer]

Hi David,

Yes, this is what I wanted to know.

CISCO cable modem >> Linksys router >> ICX switch >> APs ) ) ) SSIDs

If I am understanding it correctly, then you are just replacing CISCO cable modem. If yes, then make sure you know how cable modem is configured and how it is passing traffic to Linksys router.

It is also worth checking where is the DHCP server configured, if it is on Linksys router or on ICX switch.

If DHCP server is configured on Linksys router or on ICX switch, then all you need to do is, configure new modem and pass the connectivity to Linksys.

There is another possible way to reduce count of devices in this topology but that needs configuration on ICX switch which may not easy or may break your already running setup. But I am just sharing my thoughts.

You can skip Linksys router from this topology and may feed the network connection from new cable modem directly to ICX and configure ICX to handle routing/DHCP/VLANs. Now new topology will look like below.

New cable modem >> ICX switch (acting as router/DHCP + switch) >> APs ) ) ) SSIDs

Regards,
Syamantak Omer

[david_austin_k6]

Thank you for your help.  My DHCP server shows at the IP address for my router, so I am assuming it's configured on the router. I could be wrong, as this is all foreign to me! Ha

[diego_garcia_de]

IT should work "as-is" as long as you configure your new cable modem in bridge mode (I asume the current one is in bridge mode). Was the linskys router part of the original build? If you connect to the router, do you see if getting a public IP on its WAN interface (not 192.168.x.x / 172.(16-31).x.x / 10.x.x.x.x) ? You might be able to collapse the router and cablemodem into a single device (by using the new cablemodem in routed mode) but make sure you disable the modem's built in wifi.

I don't know the specific details on what lennar was installing... but do you see more than one SSID (wifi network) or just a single one? I asume you have the credentals for the router? or the zone director?