Can I Clone MAC Address of Old Router to New Router?

[surefire888]

Hi,

This is something new to me so I hope some of the gurus here can chip in.

I am on Starhub MaxOnline cable broadband using the Motorola voice-enabled modem. My existing router is the TPLink 1043.

I just bgt a new router yesterday but when I connected everything, I couldn't surf the Internet even on my wired PC. I read that cloning the MAC address of a PC to the router may solve the problem.

What I would like to ask is - instead of cloning the MAC address of a PC, can I instead copy the WAN port MAC address of my old router onto my new router? The reason I m asking is because I have 4 PCs - 1 wired through Ethernet and 3 others wireless n I m not sure which one to clone. So I thought it might be easier to just clone the MAC address of the existing router.

Hope for some feedback. Many thks in advance.

 

[liangtam]

cloning is not actually necessary. You just turn off the modem to force it to associate with the new router's Mac ID can already

 

[ngbc]

Yes, you should first Power OFF both Cable modem & Router, then Power ON cable modem and wait for POWER, DS, US & ONLINE LEDs to stay green, BEFORE power ON the router.

You may clone the Mac address of you old router, but still need to repeat the above steps.

 

[commach]

Why would you want to clone the MAC address of the PC for MOL service?

MOL DOES NOT require to clone the MAC address when changing router, just power cycle the modem will do.

The only time I clone the MAC is to force the change of the WAN IP complete with a power cycle of the router, nothing to do with connecting PC/laptop for internet access.

 

[elpibe10]

You may clone the Mac address of you old router, but still need to repeat the above steps.

Actually that's not necessary. As long as the same PC's MAC Address is cloned, you can swap router without having to power cycle the cable modem.

I've done that when swapping from Asus RT-N56U --> Amped R10000 --> Cisco E4200

MOL DOES NOT require to clone the MAC address when changing router, just power cycle the modem will do.

Used to be true but they must have changed something at their end recently because it seems like they are able to detect that it's a router (maybe from the router's MAC Address ?) and the data transfer comes to a halt after a short while.

 

[surefire888]

Thks for all the responses.

I realise that power cycling the modem can usually get the new router working (although sometimes its takes a few tries) but I was just wondering if MAC cloning would remove the need to power cycle everytime u change the router (I guess people don't usually change router frequently but sometimes u may want to do so just for testing and comparison purposes).

From elpibe10's response, it seems that it will indeed serve that purpose.

My next Q is, instead of cloning a PC's MAC address, would it be the same to just manually enter the WAN port address of the old ROUTER and maintain this address for any new router?

Will the modem then think that it is connected to the same router all the time which means I can swap routers back and forth without power cycling the modem?

 

[elpibe10]

My next Q is, instead of cloning a PC's MAC address, would it be the same to just manually enter the WAN port address of the old ROUTER and maintain this address for any new router?

Will the modem then think that it is connected to the same router all the time which means I can swap routers back and forth without power cycling the modem?

Safest bet is to use a pre-designated PC's MAC Address and stick to it all the way. My guess is that the other end (ISP) is able to detect a router (from the MAC Address) and disable internet connection (requiring user to power cycle cable modem).

I've tried w/o cloning to router (i.e. power up cable modem and then power up router) and the internet connection will stop responding after a while ... could be immediately when router is set up or several hours / days later.

 

[surefire888]

Safest bet is to use a pre-designated PC's MAC Address and stick to it all the way. My guess is that the other end (ISP) is able to detect a router (from the MAC Address) and disable internet connection (requiring user to power cycle cable modem).

I've tried w/o cloning to router (i.e. power up cable modem and then power up router) and the internet connection will stop responding after a while ... could be immediately when router is set up or several hours / days later.

ok, got it.

I have 1PC connected thru cable and 3 other PCs and 2 laptops connected wirelessly.

Does it matter which one I select for the cloning? I don't really switch on the wired PC that much bec it is used mainly as a HTPC (I tend to use my P2P streamer more) otherwise that would be the logical choice I guess.

 

[elpibe10]

Does it matter which one I select for the cloning?

Doesn't matter as long as it's the 1st one the cable modem 'sees' when it is 1st powered up.

The cable modem is basically 'dumb'. Once you clone the MAC Address of that PC / Notebook to your router, it'll think that the router is your 1st PC / Notebook.

You can then swap as many routers as you like (as long as the MAC Address is cloned before hand) and the cable modem will still 'think' that it's the 1st PC / Notebook.

 

[surefire888]

Doesn't matter as long as it's the 1st one the cable modem 'sees' when it is 1st powered up.

The cable modem is basically 'dumb'. Once you clone the MAC Address of that PC / Notebook to your router, it'll think that the router is your 1st PC / Notebook.

You can then swap as many routers as you like (as long as the MAC Address is cloned before hand) and the cable modem will still 'think' that it's the 1st PC / Notebook.

ok, thks. will give it a try!

 

[bigpunch]

Hi but i have a question i have changed both the modem and router and i cant connect up to internet. any solution? do i set dynamic IP address and key in the mac address of the modem? or i should just clone MAC address?

 

[ngbc]

Hi but i have a question i have changed both the modem and router and i cant connect up to internet. any solution? do i set dynamic IP address and key in the mac address of the modem? or i should just clone MAC address?

When you change the Cable Modem on your own accord, you will have to call Starhub to update the MAC address of the modem in order to re-provision the correct MOL plan before you can use it.

 

[Mach3.2]

When you change the Cable Modem on your own accord, you will have to call Starhub to update the MAC address of the modem in order to re-provision the correct MOL plan before you can use it.

Mol plans is tied to cable modems.

 

[josemurdaninho]

Mol plans is tied to cable modems.

Hi,

Could anyone please hlp, im using starhub cable modem, and want to use tplink TL-WR841N wifi router, so i can use wifi, but the internet doesnt work thru my new tp link router?

It does work without any special configuration with my other wifi router linksys, but its old one and having problem (always restart). Thats the reason why i change into a new router.

Any answer will very much appreciate.

Thanks.