SmartBro Connection Sharing Using ASUS RX3041 Broadband Router
I recently bought an ASUS RX3041 Broadband Router. I was supposed to get a Linksys WRT54G WiFi G Router but I was not able to find it over here. The Linksys WRT54G is one of those few Wi-Fi routers that seem to work with SmartBro out of the box. There were other Wi-Fi routers available but I was not sure if they would work with SmartBro. These other Wi-Fi routers cost around Php 4,000 to Php 5,000. The store I was buying from had a “same item only” return policy. I didn’t want to risk spending so much money on hardware that would not work so I settled on a regular router.
After making all the necessary wiring. I went on to configure the router. The router does not work out of the box with SmartBro and I had to figure out how to get it to work. I have been searching the Internet for simple tutorials on getting routers to work under SmartBro. So far most of these use the Linksys routers. Here are the steps I took to get Internet connection sharing using the ASUS RX3041 Broadband router…
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE
This guide is out of date! SmartBro has made some changes and it is now possible to setup your SmartBro account from behind the router without using the MAC address cloning technique described in this article.
On another note: If you are not using SmartBro or if you are using a different router, please go somewhere else! Everything in here is for SmartBro Plan 999 and the ASUS RX3041 Broadband Router! Please don’t waste your time reading and performing these instructions if you are not using SmartBro Plan 999 and the ASUS RX3041 Broadband Router. I am sick and tired of people trying these instructions and complaining (impolitely at times) that they don’t work only to find out they are not using SmartBro Plan 999 and the ASUS RX3041 Broadband Router.
DISCLAIMER
I have been receiving (and ignoring) requests for help on setting up connection sharing for some people wanting to run an Internet cafe using their residential SmartBro subscription. It is a violation of your terms of service (read: ILLEGAL) to use your residential subscription for commercial purposes! I posted this guide to help fellow residential SmartBro subscribers who wanted to share their connection for non-commercial purposes i.e., I have a laptop and a desktop PC and it is very inconvenient to have to switch cables every time I need to use the Internet from my laptop. Furthermore it’s a waste of electricity to have a whole PC acting as a router. If you intend to use this guide to violate your TOS with SmartBro, you are doing so at your own risk!
At this point, I assume that you have setup your cables and that your PC’s or Laptops are connected to the router.
DO NOT CONNECT YOUR SMARTBRO CABLE TO THE ROUTER AT THIS TIME!
First thing that must be done is to ensure that your wiring is good. Setup all your PC’s/Laptops to acquire their IP address from the DHCP server on the router. The manual includes instructions on how to do this for Windows-based OS. Once you have all your computers setup properly, try to see if they can ping the router. If you are having problems pinging the router, then check your cables or your network configuration.
Once you have configured your LAN properly and everything is up and running, you can now setup your SmartBro connection:
- Disconnect one of the PC’s connected to the router, attach your SmartBro cable to this computer. If this computer was able to connect to SmartBro before, skip step 2 below and proceed to step 3.
- Setup your SmartBro, to do this connect to any website. The SmartBro Wi-Fi portal website should show up. Activate your connection as usual. Double-check to see if you have a working connection.
For Windows 2000/XP/Vista users: Press the windows key, then the ‘r’ key. Type cmd on the Run dialog and press ENTER. On the command window, type in
ipconfig /all. Some text will scroll upwards. Use the scrollbar on the command window and find the “Physical Address” for the network card that is connected to your SmartBro cable. Write down the numbers you find there.For Linux users: Open a terminal window. Type
ifconfig eth0|grep HWAddrand write down the numbers after the HWaddr string.- Setup your router using the Wizard. On the second page, click “Cable Modem”.
- On the “Cable Modem” setup page, check “Enabled” for the “MAC Cloning” option and enter the MAC address you copied in step 3.
- Proceed with the rest of the wizard. Do not change the DNS settings.
Now, connect your SmartBro cable to the WAN port on your router. Your router should pick up the IP address assigned by the SmartBro DHCP server. Click “Status” on the router’s admin GUI menu. If there is no IP address/network settings displayed under “Internet”, click on “Renew”.
You should now be able to browse the Internet from all computers connected to the router.
Notes
- When buying a router for use with SmartBro, look for one that has a “MAC address cloning” feature. In theory, any router should work using the steps above as long as it has the ability to clone the MAC address that you supply to it.
- I have no idea what will happen if you let your SmartBro DHCP lease expire (forget to pay your bill). But you should be able to re-activate your connection using the same PC that has the network card that you cloned.
Please report success or failure by posting a comment to this article.
February 5th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Thnks for the info..hope it will work..
March 21st, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Ei, tnx for the info.. I reallly appreciate it.. I’m a bout to buy that ASUS router.. Im going to set it up later.. Hope you can help me if I have any problems.
March 21st, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Ei instead of buying a routher that costs thousand bucks, why not simply buy a LAN card that costs 250 pesos? Your pc as your routher. Nothing to setup. Just plug your second lan card and that’s it!
March 21st, 2007 at 3:59 pm
It’s a matter of economy. On average (depending on your local power rates), it takes about Php 4.00 / hour to run a PC, with the monitor powered down it’s about Php 2.00 / hour.
A router will only take about Php 0.25 / hour to run.
In the long run, the router will pay for itself in terms of power savings. You do not need to run a full-blown PC just to be able to share your Internet connection with your other computers.
April 21st, 2007 at 11:44 am
I followed your procedure to the letter using my PLDT DSL Plan 990 It didn’t work right away I have to manually enter the dynamic ip addresses on the WAN settings page where it says:
Dynamic Ip address Request IP address:———-
and I have to memorize the ip addresses the last time I got connected directly to the PLDT adsl modem alone (without the router)
I cannot understand this. The router should do this for me. It should automatically connect my pc to the right ip address available.
I tried many other ways but this is the only way it worked. And I have to do it trial and error basis.
I read the rx3041manual it says:
Request Ip Address: Enter the IP address of the device you will clone.
I tried to put in there the IP Address of my pc, but it didn’t work.
Any suggestion please??? Please help me make my life easier to live with.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:10 pm
You have to understand that this article is about connection sharing for SmartBro customers with an ASUS RX3041 router. So the instructions here will probably not work for you if you are using PLDT DSL.
However it is possible to configure your router to share your DSL connection. I don’t have DSL and I have not tried the following but it should work for you:
Now restart your DSL modem and your router.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:28 pm
PLDT Plan 990 is also using dynamic ip. We don’t have any user name or password. This is a new scheme of PLDT.
My friend in Davao has PLDT Plan 999 and he says it is using PPPoE.
I believe that since Smart Bro is using also dynamic ip than the procedure should also work on PLDT plan 990 dynamic ip.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:43 pm
I dunno how Plan 990 assigns IP addresses dynamically. SmartBro uses DHCP. Plan 990 probably uses UPNP (Universal Plug-n-Play) or Zeroconf protocol that the router is not capable of using.
I think you should call their tech support hotline and ask if they are using DHCP, UPNP, or Zeroconf for their Plan 990. I suggest that as much as possible you avoid mentioning “connection sharing” to their tech support. I am not sure, but I think that connection sharing would violate your TOS and they would likely either pull the plug on you or try to upsell to you.
Why didn’t you just get Plan 999?
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Hi! just want to ask if two(2) asus rx3041 is capable to make a WAN connection. hoping for a reply soon.I need your answer coz wer doing a web system and all we have is an asus rx3041 router.coz thats only what we can afford…thnx..
June 3rd, 2007 at 7:47 pm
@John Brian Anotado
I’m not sure what you mean but I’m guessing you want to connect two routers together right? One router (router A) connects to SmartBro and another router (router B) connects to it.
You just have to make sure that router A is serving DHCP address block from router B. That is, if router A’s DHCP server is serving address block 192.168.1.NNN, you should configure router B’s DHCP server to hand out addresses from a different block (e.g., 192.168.2.NNN). Connect the WAN port on router B to a regular port on router A. What will happen is that router A will hand out an IP address to router B’s WAN adapter and you don’t need to worry about setting up the routing tables on router B.
June 7th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
thanks for the configuration….
i already configure my router using asus rx3041 router…..
i bought my router yesterday only…
and it function very well…
thanks again and god bless you…..
June 9th, 2007 at 11:45 am
just want to ask a question…
what if my computer need to reformat for virus purposes….
what happen to my configuration?
do i need to configure it again to connect it very well?
hoping for your response on this matter thanks….
for any info…. you can text me at 09185104272…
thanks again and god bless..
i’ll be waiting for your reply as soon as possible…
June 9th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
@kisses
If you reformat your computer you don’t need to do anything to your router’s setup. A fresh install of Windows defaults to “Automatically Detect IP” for its network setup if you just click through the installation process.
June 10th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Thanks for answering my question. I think it’s a good idea because what i have tested is to connect 2 wan ports but it doesn’t work. I’ll apply right away..thanks again..
June 17th, 2007 at 12:03 am
I just want to know, if a pentium 3 computer with an 800mhz of power can realibly be used using smartbro connection, in terms of surfing the net, watching videos on the net and downloading. I know that elements such as videocard power and memory greatly influences computer performance. Regardless of these elements, Can a P3 800mhz of computing realiable, shall we say, about 4units of P3 using a router and a smartbro connection?
June 17th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
@julznava
As long as you have a good ethernet card I don’t see why you can’t use a Pentium 3-based PC. And you’re right about memory though I doubt that the video card will have effect on network performance. Since you will probably be using Windows on your PC’s then the more memory you have, the better.
As for reliability, you will probably be using older hardware so reliability will be a big question mark there. Memory boards become flaky with age, so do hard disks and motherboards. If you have those Pentium 3-based PC’s just lying around somewhere and gathering dust, then recycling them for use in an Internet Cafe would be a good idea. However, if you’re buying used PC’s I’ve seen used Pentium 4-based PC’s selling around 12K – 15K and comes complete with monitor. So I suggest you go for these newer machines.
June 26th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Hi,
im planning to buy this router Asus RX3041 is it good with SmartBro or not
tnx
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:49 pm
dude it works perfect.. i thought that i would not make this work… thanks… i had the same problem before because the linksys router cost alot compared to the asus i think i brought my first router for 1.5kphp and the linksys router kor 2.7k php tnx
August 31st, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I am using the asus rx3041 router for my smartbro since march and it lasted even 24/7 of operations..I have bought it for 1400 pesos at PC express.. Up to now, I didn’t encounter any problems
September 8th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
most cafe management software requires static ip for pc number assignment to work. most of the tips floating around suggest obtain automatically although imho we all know its for lame people who doesn’t know how to configure ip’s. But why not teach everyone static ip addressing?
October 16th, 2007 at 2:00 am
Thanks for the input, it really works
November 4th, 2007 at 12:42 am
I also have an RX 3041 router. It does not work with my DSL connection. I have the PLDT plan 1299 bundle with the telephone line (one of PLDT’s promos). This connection is the one that uses DHCP, everytime you turn off the modem (came with the DSL plan), PLDT assigns a different IP addess to your connection. The problem is the router’s IP address does not get that IP address that PLDT assigns to me, it stays with its default IP address 192.168.1.1. The router was able to assign an IP address to the 2 computers connected to it though, one is 192.168.1.2 and the other is 192.168.1.3. The router is set to dynamic IP but its not doing that. Is it possible that something is wrong with the router? Please help!!! thanks!!
November 4th, 2007 at 10:51 am
@piwi
Please take a look at the title of this post. It should be obvious that the instructions above will reliably work with SmartBro only. If you’re using another service then it’s up to you to figure out how to get it to work with your router.
I don’t have PLDT DSL (and don’t plan to have it in the future since SmartBro has been working well for me) so I can’t help you with your problem. In any case, just make sure that the Ethernet jack coming from your PLDT DSL is hooked up into the port labeled “WAN” on your router. You have probably connected the line from your PLDT DSL modem to one of the LAN ports instead, which is why your router is not picking up an IP address from the DHCP server on your modem.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:18 am
hello there,
I am here in HK and my mom got Smartbro. I sent 2 routers one is the old linksys BEFRS41 and a CNET CNIG914. I am using PPOE configuration here in HK and I’ve used the said routers using 2 of my PC’s and a laptop. i told my brother about how to set it up like what you’ve detailed here. Still no luck. It says that the PPOE server cannot be reached something…hope you can help me…many thanks…
November 16th, 2007 at 6:20 am
P.S. One more thing. I told my brother that once you’ve established the router it will automatically dial the username and password so you just connect to the LAN ports, right? I told him to do ipconfig /all and the pc’s address is already there. I told him to upgrade the firmware version of the linksys router.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
hi, we followed the steps you guys enumerated.
for some reason, i’m getting a “page cannot be displayed” error once accessing yahoo mail or by clicking on a web page displayed as a search result.
any one who can help us please?
using smart bro. and i have updated the firmware already.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
i have a rx3041 router , pldt dsl plan 999 and zyxel p600 modem i gave connected all my cables and i see my network status is CONNECTED but when i acces the configuration of my router, the status is CONNECTING and when i try to browse web page. nothing happens please help me
December 27th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
To everyone here who is asking for help regarding PLDT DSL plan 999 and other non-SmartBro subscribers — I am unable to help you troubleshoot your problems as I have been and probably always will be a SmartBro customer.
Please read the title of this post: “SmartBro Connection Sharing Using ASUS RX3041 Broadband Router”
SmartBro!!! Not, PLDT DSL or anything else. If you have problems with your PLDT DSL, go somewhere else. You will not find a fix here, nor will I help you with your problem.
For SmartBro users finding this post, please note that SmartBro appears to have done some changes and that it is now possible to configure your connection without going through the MAC address cloning thing described above. Simply plug in your cables, browse to any website and you should get your SmartBro portal screen where you can log in and reset or activate your connection.
December 29th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Hi, thanks alot for the info.. im just planning to by a router hope i can find ASUS-3041. How about if I have 2 SmartBro plan and im planning to connect them into the router. Some of my friend advise me to use 2 router also, but how to configure it? and How to connect them to my LAN?
Hope you can advise me… thnks a lot…
December 30th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Your friend is correct since the router has only one WAN port. You need two routers if you want to use your two SmartBro accounts simultaneously. If you already have a LAN connected through a switch/hub connect your switch/hub’s “through port” (it’s usually port 1) to one of the router’s ports (1-4).
January 4th, 2008 at 3:05 am
Hi, I wanna ask why i cant Configure my Router….. if i open http://192.168.1.1 the Internet Browser cannot open this page??? What Should I do… pls help me……..
This is my second time i configure my router but…. i can’t open ASUS Rx3041 Configuration…. and my Connection “Limited or no connectivity….
Can Plz Help what should i do… to fix my Connection…..
Michael Isla Manila Phillippines
January 4th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Uhm, I don’t know what is wrong with your setup since I am (obviously) unable to see what you’re doing wrong based on your comments alone. Why don’t you check your cabling? Or maybe your network card? Maybe you reformatted and reinstalled your OS and forgot to reinstall your network card’s device drivers?
It can be a million different things working to conspire against you.
Check your cable connection, your network card, and your network card device drivers. What happened the first time?
Right.
January 4th, 2008 at 11:22 am
|Hi, thanks alot for the info.. im just planning to by a router hope i can find ASUS-3041. How |about if I have 2 SmartBro plan and im planning to connect them into the router. Some of my |friend advise me to use 2 router also, but how to configure it? and How to connect them to |my LAN?
I suggest its better for you to buy a load balancing router, this device have 2 or more WAN ethernet port, and this is recommended for two internet connection that is needed to be distributed to LAN as one internet connection. I hope this will help a little. by the way you have it search on the web what available brand is out there in the market, and what really is “load balancing router” God bless
January 5th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
hi can i ask Question… what if i tell to a custumer service in smart bro? about my loss connection in internet and im having a router sharing ASUS rx3041 and now i cant open my ASUS Configuration http://192.168.1.1 i cn’t share my WAN to other PC When i plug in to one PC i have a Connection…. Is there posible to Share my Internet Connection to other PC using my Router??? my Frends tell me Customer rep. Will Block my MAC address?? is There other way to fix it ??
Plzz help me nimrod tnx…….
January 5th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I can’t tell from your comment what your problem is. You have not provided enough details as to what you did before you encountered your problem. Was your router working before? Did you check your cables? Did you check your network card and if drivers are installed?
First off, if you have problems accessing your ASUS Router Configuration screen from the default address, it’s probably because you changed your default address space from 192.168.1.0/24 to something else. To determine your LAN IP address block, use the ipconfig command as instructed in step 3 above.
For example if ipconfig reports 192.168.0.100 as your IP address, then your LAN IP address block is 192.168.0.0/24 so you should point your browser to http://192.168.0.1/ to access your router configuration screen.
Second, why on earth would you tell them you are having problems because you’re sharing your connection? If you are sharing your connection for personal use, as in my case I do it because I use both a laptop and a desktop, then I don’t think they would mind because basically all you’re doing is maximizing your connection and technically you’re using only one connection to their pipes. If you want to share your connection for commercial purposes as in a cybercafe, then that is clearly a violation of their TOS if you’re on a residential subscription.
As for customer rep blocking your MAC address, I don’t think they have the ability to do that on their end. They are supposed to be for technical (really, really bad) support. If they escalate your call, maybe you get pissed off and you start swearing at them, then probably they would get a supervisor who does have the ability to block your MAC address. I don’t see why blocking the MAC address would be feasible on their end since MAC addresses are unique ID’s assigned to network cards. That is, each network card, or Ethernet device you can buy has a unique MAC address. All you need to do to work around it is either use the MAC address cloning feature of the router to spoof a new MAC address or buy a new network card.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:58 am
I already read all comments above, thanks for this website, it’s a perfect timing for my new year plan to setup for my netcafe. I am using a SMARTBRO for almost 3 years and now I want to use it commercialy. After reading your instruction and likewise the other guys use them too, I have a clear idea on what router I will use now. God bless you.
March 16th, 2008 at 5:48 am
hi i just want to ask if you have a solution on the problem that im having..i am connecting through smart bro as well..i have a win2000 desktop computer i bought a linksys wireless adapter and a linksys router..i already installed the drivers for my wireless adapter on my computer..i accessed the gui of my router then configure it with PPPoE then userid and pw from smart bro..i already enabled the wep key encryption to 64 bit..when i tried to connect wirelessly i am getting a message using the linksys wireless client it says “connected to access point but cant find internet”..pllss help me tnx
March 16th, 2008 at 9:55 am
@toyotacorolla127
The Linksys routers should work out of the box with SmartBro, but don’t use PPPoE.
In the “Basic Setup” page of your router’s admin web interface, select “Automatic Configuration – DHCP”. Restart your router. Once it restarts, it will pull its WAN IP address from SmartBro’s DHCP servers, but you can’t connect to the Internet just yet. When you try to browse any site, you should get the SmartBro portal page. This is where you are supposed to enter your username and password to activate your connection. Once you have done that, restart your router again and by that time you should be able to connect to the Internet.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
thanks bro…. it really helps me alot……. just set the cables right. AUTOMATIC detect settings and your on the go…… IT WORKS FOR ME…… my DESKTOP has XP OS and my LAPTOP has VISTA …. it works fine
THANKS AND GOD BLESS
April 21st, 2008 at 10:19 am
hello…
whoever posted this, it’s absolutely right.
it worked with my Encore Wireless Router.
whoever you are man. thanks a lot.
Carlos
April 21st, 2008 at 10:20 am
oh got it.
it Nimrod, righ?
thank Nimrod. you’re the man! God bless!
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Thanks for the info. I have a Belkin wireless G plus router that has a mac address cloning capability. I will try your procedure and hope it will work on this router. I tried setting up the router using PPPoE but the connection is very slow at first and then get disconnected after a few minutes.
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I’m currently using ASUS RX3041 for my Smart Bro Wireless connection. It is good in term of performance. No configuration needed at all. Plug and play. Just enter the username and password for the sSart Bro Account. I’m in Malolos, Bulacan.
September 24th, 2008 at 7:56 am
this really works with my asus rx3041. now i hav to machines running with internet. tnx bro!
September 25th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
ei, how ’bout for wireless connection?
September 25th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
@star
You will still need to connect your SmartBro cable to a free Ethernet port on your PC or laptop if you want to use the MAC address cloning technique described above. Once you have your router set up properly, you can use your Wi-Fi to your heart’s content. There is nothing special you need to do for wireless.