Problem with Network using Verizon ISP

[netsurfer802]

I had went on a service call and one of the computers I had been working on a Windows 7 computer and was able to pretty much go on any website.

I had been asked to work replacing their router which had 4 Ethernet cables each for a computer on their network and one Ethernet cable that went to a Verizon box with a "faster" router ... what exactly the box did I'm not sure, but I was told that the coax cable that was to allow the Internet connection was connected to the box. In the directions for hooking up the new router it said to plug in the coax cable directly to the new router, but in order to do that I would have had to bypass the box by taking the coax cable out of the box and plugging it into the new router. Not knowing what the box was and not being able to contact Verizon due to the Holiday's I decided to hook back the older router which allowed the Internet connection again.

There was one issue I noticed; however, with one of the computers. It would allow the connection they needed to do regular tasks for conducting business by logging into the database system they used. It allowed one to go to Google and do a search, but after doing a search when you clicked on one of the resulting links it displayed a connection problem. I made sure to connect back the cables back the way they were with the older router and checked that IE was configured to connect with Enabling to Automatically Detect Settings. Also, another computer on the same network using the same router didn't have this problem.

My questions are:

1. Does anybody know what such a box would be used for?

2. Could it safely be bypassed?

3. Why would this be happening with Internet Explorer, and how could this be fixed?

[+Neowin User 007 Subscriber²]

You say four cables to a router - are you sure it's not a switch? It's possible it's just a regular ISP modem and then a aftermarket router (which is what most people do).

If you're replacing the coax cable from one modem to the new one that would make sense, but you'll have to bridge it to the aftermarket router (Linksys, Cisco, Netgear, etc).

[netsurfer802]

Actually they were trying to upgrade to FIOS. I called Verizon this morning and gathered it's probably something on their end they have to configure...so I guess I'll have to call them again when I get out there.

[remixedcat]

prolly the modem and the router is seperate....

but some ISPs give you what's called a "residential gateway" that has both the modem and the router in one box.

most of those are very limited as to what you can do.

[+John Teacake MVC]

Yeah one will just be a pure modem probably. Connect your PC to it and see what IP you get, Do you get a public IP? If so thats fine. Connect your PC to the other box and see if you get a NAT'd address. If you do thats OK. If you get a public IP, Do you get a few Public IP's with your service. Unlikely but without more info I cant say for sure.