# Using general router as wireless Joey Access Point



## Weatherboy (Feb 13, 2005)

I have seen a few people do this successfully but I have not as of yet. I am not sure if you need to use a netgear router. I have a Belkin N750 with the 5 GHz band. I can get them to connect and the joey sees the hopper and the hopper sees the Joey but they will not link. Also tried the old way with regular joey and a usb wifi stick and same thing happened. Any ideas? or should I just bite the bullet and buy a access point too.


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

I presume that you are trying to give the Joey Internet access, if so, make sure that you enter the correct WPA2-PSK [AES] passphrase/password on the Belkin. Also, if you are using MAC Filtering on the router, either add the MAC address of the Joey to the list or disable MAC filtering.

To the latter point, there is no harm in disabling MAC Filtering as all it offers is a false sense of security and more often than not, bites the router admin.


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## Weatherboy (Feb 13, 2005)

No actually I am trying to run all dish programming mainly dvr over WiFi with a new wireless joey. It connects fine telling me there is no issue with passphrase it is some issue with linking them after connected. I think it is in the hopper because I am not using the wireless access point dish provides and trying to use my own tho I have seen others speak of it working fine over another WiFi router. I will most likely just purchase the access point if no one has any ideas as to why I could connect but not link the two.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

So, is the Hopper also talking to the same router ? Are they on the same IPv4 network ?


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## Weatherboy (Feb 13, 2005)

Yes both on same router and come up on the whole home section jsut when you click them to link it just blinks and stays unlinked and of coarse get the 1303 message when you just exit menus.


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

Whether the Joey is connecting to the router specifically for Internet access or to reach the Hopper on the LAN, what I mentioned earlier still applies. Sorry for not making that clear earlier.

However, if you are certain that the Joey is properly connecting via the wLAN on the router, one thing you might try is disabling "_Bridging_" on the Hopper.

I do not have any Joeys, only wireless Hoppers, so my experience troubleshooting a Joey is limited.

Good luck.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

You also need to insure that the Joey isn't logging on to a guest network.


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## Weatherboy (Feb 13, 2005)

Only way to get wireless joey to connect is wps button there is no way to input passphrase or anything just wps. Tired with bridging on and bridging off is odd to me thought maybe they don't link if not activated but dish said they would. Weird to me they would see each other but not let them link not even try from what it looks doesn't even take a second to try click it and it loads for half a second and goes flashes back unlinked. Almost seems to me the hopper doesn't recognize its ability to use wifi to link. It doesn't list the router as a wireless joey access point.


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

I'm surprised that DISH only allows WPS for configuring the wLAN connection since leaving WPS enabled on the router is a well known major security risk due to the poor way in which WPS was implemented. Worse, most router manufactures have the PIN enabled by default and users should disable the router's PIN as part of the initial setup of the router.

What does the router's log show when the Joey attempts to connect to the router?


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## Weatherboy (Feb 13, 2005)

well went and got an access point figuring it would work and still won't link are we sure they link when not activated? I planned on jsut using the dvr with the joey and never even activating it but is this something they thought of and won't let them link until activated?


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

If the router doesn't work, neither would an AP. Worse, if you are not familiar with setting up an AP, it only adds further unnecessary complexity to the issue. As far as using hardware that is not activated, I would guess that they should be able to communicate, since that would be part of the installation process, which is usually done before the tech calls to activate the hardware. Perhaps someone else will chime in with further clarification.

Have you tried what I suggested in post #9 to see if there is something obvious happening with the router?


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## Weatherboy (Feb 13, 2005)

OK did some more searches and found you do have to activate them before they will link just activated and it linked up instantly working great.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Wait... so the whole time you were trying to do this without activating the Joey? Joeys will not link to other accounts, nor will they link to your account if not activated... so nothing else you were doing even mattered until you activated the Joey.


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