How to use a Westell 327W DSL modem as a wireless router with cable internet

Some years ago when I came to the US, I had subscribed to Verizon DSL for my internet connection. As a part of the contract, they had given me the Westell Versalink 327W DSL modem with wireless router. After some time, I switched over to Comcast Cable for my internet connection. I still had the DSL modem as Verizon sells the modem & does not require their subscribers to return the modem.

As a rule, I don't like wireless networks in the home for a limited number of devices as the risk is far greater than the minimum of convenience the wireless network provides in a home. As time progressed however, the number of devices that required internet connectivity in my house increased (see figure below) & I had to look at other options to provide connectivity to the devices in my house. I tried using switches, hubs, powerline ethernet to extend connectivity to all my devices, but then it quickly became quite unmanageable given the facts around a typical home. I didn't really want to spend 50 bucks on a wireless router when I realized that I already had a wireless router. The challenge was to figure out who to use it with Comcast Cable internet modem.

Given the knowledge of networking that I have, that proved to be very simple. I have another router (Netgear RT314) which is right after the Comcast Cable & provides the firewall, & switching function to my network. I simply connected a cross over cable to one of the ports on my Netgear router & to the Westell router & VOILA' it started serving IP addresses from the DHCP server in the Netgear RT314 router to other devices in my house. To make a homogeneous network, I changed the network range on the Westell router to my own range (the default network is 192.168.1.0) & disabled the DHCP server.

Accessing the Westell router is very easy. There are a bunch of sites out there that give detailed instructions on how to do that. I might add my own thoughts as time permits. Yesterday I restructured the cabling in my home & inadvertently reset the Westell router necessitating me to reconfigure the whole thing. Since I had not documented it earlier, I had a hard time remembering what I had done earlier & to complicate one of the ports on my Netgear router failed. That caused me to think that I had done some major engineering feat to make the Westell router work with my cable internet making me research on the internet how to do exactly the same. I found out that people have given a lot of thought and spent a lot of time in achieving the same thing that basically can be achieved in 5 minutes & with a cross over cable.

That prompted me to post my experience and advice to people who want to achieve the same.