User Manual 16x4 Cable Modem plus AC1600 Wireless Router MG7540
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Table of Contents Introduction Quick Start Alternate Ways to Connect Your Coax Cable Connecting Devices to Your Cable Modem/Router 5 6 14 15 CONNECTING A DEVICE VIA ETHERNET ............................................................................................... 15 CONNECTING A SMARTPHONE, TABLET OR OTHER WIRELESS DEVICE VIA WIRELESS ...............................
....................................................................................................................................................... 65 WHAT IF I THINK THAT WIRELESS DEVICES ARE INTERFERING WITH MY MG7540 WIRELESS ROUTER? ........ 65 Support 67 WE LIKE TO HELP. ............................................................................................................................. 67 LIMITED WARRANTY...................................................................................
Introduction The Motorola Model MG7540 is a 16x4 DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem with a built-in AC1600 Wi-Fi router that has 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports. This model connects to standard cable company Internet service. Model MG7540 can provide shared Internet access to Ethernet-capable and Wi-Fi devices including computers, smartphones, tablets, HDTVs, game consoles, security cameras, and streaming media devices. The MG7540 is a dual-band Wi-Fi router, and supports clients that operate on both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.
Quick Start Packaged with your MG7540 modem/router Power Cube Ethernet Cable Coax Wrench Velcro® Cable Tie
Let’s get started If you don’t have cable Internet service, please order that from your cable service provider. Now connect your MG7540 as shown on the next panel. Connecting to a Coax Cable Soon you’ll need to connect your MG7540 to a “live” coax cable. Sometimes a cable will already be available. Sometimes there’s a coax wall jack available, and you connect to the jack with a coax cable. Your MG7540 can also share a coax cable attached to a TV by using a coax splitter.
- ETHERNET (LAN 1-4) You can connect a computer, HDTV, game station, or other Ethernet-capable device to any of these 4 LAN ports. WLAN button Wi-Fi on/off button WPS button RESET COAX Connect a “live” coax cable to the modem’s COAX connector as discussed above. (Tighten the nut so it’s finger tight. You may want to use the supplied wrench. Make the connection snug but not over-tight.) ON/OFF button POWER Connect the supplied power cube between the power jack and an electrical outlet.
Prepare to activate By now you should have: Subscribed to cable Internet service. Connected your MG7540. Powered up your MG7540. To do this, the On/Off button needs to be On. Wait for the green online connection light to stop flashing and remain solidly lit. This may take up to 15 minutes. You should have a recent cable bill handy because it has your account number and you’ll probably need that.
For Comcast XFINITY Users Only: If the activation page does not appear, please go to www.xfinity.com/internetsetup for more information and to activate your modem. Here is a list of phone numbers for some major cable service providers. (Note that this list is subject to change.
Configuration Manager Most MG7540 users never use the Configuration Manager. Here are some reasons for using the Configuration Manager: You want to change the wireless router setup. For instance, maybe you’re replacing a router and want to use your existing Wireless Network Name(s) and/or Password(s) instead of the unique ones that come with the MG7540. You want to set up special Internet gaming settings.
Wireless Router As noted before, the MG7540 has unique Wireless Network Names/SSIDs and a unique WPA/WPA2 Wireless Security Key/Password printed on the MG7540’s bottom label. If you don’t change these, you should set up your wireless devices to work with these SSIDs and security key. Note that wireless performance depends on a number of factors. Please keep these things in mind: Where possible, put the MG7540 in a central place so that it’s not too far away from your other wireless devices.
Front Panel Lights During Power up, the lights will blink for about a minute. LIGHT COLOR Power Upstream Green Green or Blue DESCRIPTION ON: MG7540 power on OFF: MG7540 power off Green Blinking: Ranging in progress Connected on 1 channel Green ON: † Blue Blinking: Negotiating bonded channel(s) Bonded with 2 or more channels Blue ON: OFF: Downstream Online 1 3 2 4 Ethernet LAN ports 2.
Alternate Ways to Connect Your Coax Cable As summarized in the Quick Start, one important connection is the coaxial cable connection that carries your cable Internet service to your MG7540. Here are the main ways you can make that connection: 1 2 3 Use the loose end of an available “live” coaxial cable from your cable service provider. Plug the loose end into the Coax jack of your cable modem.
Connecting Devices to Your Cable Modem/Router You can connect computers, smartphones, tablets, game consoles, security cameras, streaming media devices (like Roku, Chromecast & AppleTV), Internet-enabled HDTVs and other devices to your cable modem/router. You can connect these devices either with an Ethernet cable (a wired connection), or via Wi-Fi (a wireless connection). An Ethernet connection is normally a faster, more reliable connection than a wireless connection.
Connecting a Smartphone, Tablet or Other Wireless Device via Wireless You will need to enter one or both of your wireless network names (SSIDs) and passwords into each client device that you want to connect to your network. Typically, you should enter SSIDs and Passwords for both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands into client devices that support both bands. If you haven’t changed the factory settings, you can find these on a label on the bottom of your modem’s stand.
Setting up an HDTV, Streaming Media Device, or Other Device A typical HDTV, for instance, has an Input or Setup section. Within that section there’s normally a Network section. In that section you may need to specify that you have an Ethernet connection if that’s how you connect to the MG7540. If you want to connect wirelessly to the MG7540, you’ll need to select its wireless network name and then enter its wireless password.
Accessing the Configuration Manager by Using a Browser Model MG7540 has a Configuration Manager that provides a lot of technical information about Model MG7540 and that tells you how to do some useful things. Please note that some users will never need to use the Configuration Manager. You can access the Configuration Manager from a computer or any other device that has a browser and that is connected via Ethernet or wirelessly to your cable modem.
You should see this page: 1 2 Type admin in the Username field. Type motorola in the Password field.
1 Click the Login button.
This should bring you to the Basic Status and Settings page shown below. The Basic Status and Settings page gives you information about your Internet connection, lets you view and modify your Wi-Fi privacy settings, and shows you basic information about your cable modem’s addresses and software version. The logout link lets you end your session with the Configuration Manager.
You can return to the Basic Status and Settings page from any Advanced page by clicking the Motorola stylized M Logo in the upper left-hand corner of the page. Note the circled (i) ‘information’ icons to the right of the page. You can click the icons for descriptions of entries: The information icons appear on every page, including Advanced pages.
Click the Advanced button. Note the Menus and Submenus at the top of the page. The currently selected menu item is highlighted (top row), and submenu items corresponding to the selected menu item are displayed in the second row. The currently selected submenu item is indicated by a small white pointer underneath it. In this screenshot, the menu item Status and submenu item Software are selected. The following sections in this guide will walk you through the features that users most often want to configure.
Configuring Your MG7540 to Support Devices and Applications with Special Requirements For Games Played on Game Consoles and PCs, and Security Cameras Devices including game consoles and security cameras often require special router settings to work correctly. This may also be true of games that you play on a PC or another device. For gaming, you probably want to use special settings if you’re playing another person or a computer over the Internet.
You can create forwarding rules for both IPv4 and IPv6 environments. These rules determine how data flows from the address to specified LAN addresses and ports. In this document we will describe how to create a rule for an IPv4 network. The steps are similar for IPv6. To create an IPv4 Forwarding Rule, first click the Add_IPv4 button. You can now enter your port forwarding information.
Review your game or device documentation to find the port or ports that need to be forwarded. Also, determine the IP Address that your device is using. You game or device documentation should show you where to find this. Your game or device may need more than one port to be forwarded. In some cases, the ports will be numbered sequentially, in a range. In other cases, the ports may be separated. In this case, you will have to set up a separate forwarding rule for each port.
To Create a Port Forwarding Rule 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Under Local IP Address, enter the address of the game station, PC or other device. In the case of a security camera, enter the address of the camera’s DVR. Under Local Start Port, enter the starting port that your device or game needs. Under Local End Port, if your device uses a sequential range of port numbers, enter the highest number in the range. Otherwise, if there is only one number, enter the start port number again.
For games and game consoles, you may also need to enable UPnP and to set the Firewall to OFF.
Click the UPnP Enable box, and click Save at the top of the Router Selections box.
Select Off in the IPv4 Firewall Protection pulldown, and click Save.
Changing Wireless Settings The MG7540 comes set up for wireless-N (2.4 GHz band) and wireless-AC (5 GHz band) with WPA2 security, with unique wireless network names (SSIDs) for each band, and a unique password. Both bands use this password. There’s a good chance that you’ll want to use these settings. In that case you will need to configure client wireless devices (laptops, smartphones, etc.) with your MG7540’s wireless network names and password to connect the devices to the Primary Network on your MG7540.
This will bring you to the Basic Status and Settings page:
To Change the Network Name and Password For the 5 GHz band: 1 Select and delete the old Network Name, then type in the new Network Name. 2 Click the Save button. 3 You can click the Show Key box to check your typing for Password. 4 Select and delete the old Password, then type in the new Password. 5 Click the Save button. For the 2.4 GHz band: 1 Select and delete the old Network Name, then type in the new Network Name. 2 Click the Save button.
Wireless Guest Networks You can enable one or more Guest Networks to let friends use your Internet connection without giving them access to other devices on your network. To set up a Guest Network, first log into the Configuration Manager as described in chapter 4. In summary, you type 192.168.0.1 in the address bar of your browser, go to that address, enter the Username admin and Password motorola, then click the Login button. This will bring you to the Basic Status and Settings page.
To configure and enable a Guest Network on the 2.4 GHz band, first select the 2.4 GHz tab, and then: 1 Select the desired Guest Network (there are seven available). 2 Click the Save button. 3 Select Enabled and click Save to enable the selected Guest Network. The following steps are optional. Follow them if you want to change the default Guest Network Name and Password: 4 Select and delete the old Guest Network Name, then type in the new Guest Network Name and click Save.
To configure and enable a Guest Network on the 5 GHz band, first select the 5 GHz tab, and then repeat the steps above. Network Name can be from 6 - 32 characters long. You can use the upper and lower case letters (a – z and A – Z), numbers (0 - 9) and special characters (e.g. $_/& etc.) except the single quote ‘ . Password can be from 8 - 63 characters long. You can use upper and lower case letters (a – z and A – Z), numbers (0 - 9) and special characters (e.g. $_/& etc.) except the single quote ‘ .
The firewall lets you set your protection level through IPv4 Firewall Protection, for example. By default, with the Low setting, all services are allowed. If you select Medium or High protection, the firewall will block all services except those listed in the List of Allowed Services at the bottom of the page. Select the desired protection level, and click Save. The higher protection levels will make it harder for attackers to penetrate your network.
Tuning Wireless Performance This chapter discusses steps to tune wireless performance. These steps can optimize wireless performance in many cases. First, note that placement of your MG7540 can be very important. Make sure it is not too close to other wireless devices like Bluetooth transmitters (e.g. for headsets), or a neighbor’s wireless router. For example, in an apartment an MG7540 could be only feet away from a neighbor’s device on the other side of a shared wall.
Select the Wireless Scan/Bridge page. Hover over the Wireless menu item to bring the Wireless submenu options into view, then click the Scan/Bridge submenu option.
Select the tab for the band you want to scan, 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz. Then click the “Scan Wireless APs” button at the bottom of the page. This will pop up the wireless Scan Results table: Note that as in these sample Scan Results, you may need to scroll down to see all neighboring networks. For the 2.4 GHz band: Look at the Channel column. This shows the channels that your neighboring networks use. Available channels are 1 through 11.
If there are very few neighboring wireless devices in your location, you should follow the rule of choosing a channel separated by 5 from all other channels. For example, if there are two neighboring networks using channels 6 and 11, you should choose channel 1. If there are many neighboring networks, you may find that most use channels 1, 6 and 11.
Select the tab for the band you want to change. Then select the desired channel from the Channel pulldown, and click Save. Wait for a minute or so for client devices to resynchronize to the new channel. Check to see whether wireless performance has improved. If not, you can try another channel selection.
Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) Another possible way to improve performance is to change Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) settings. From the Wireless menu, click the WMM submenu: WMM is designed to provide Quality of Service (QoS) support for traffic on your network. In some environments, this may result in suboptimal wireless performance. You can turn WMM Off and see if that improves performance in your network. Select the tab for the band you are experiencing suboptimal performance with. Then select Off and click Save.
Parental Control Parental Control lets you limit access to the Internet from particular devices on your network. For a device like a child’s computer or tablet, you can create lists of websites that the device is allowed to visit, blocking all others (whitelists). Alternatively, you can create lists of websites that the device may not visit, allowing all others (blacklists). You can also set times where Internet access is allowed and not allowed.
Note that Parental Control is Disabled by default. You should leave it disabled until you have set up all desired Whitelists and Blacklists. Enable Parental Control once the Whitelist and Blacklist settings are complete. Select Enable, and then Save. If you need to modify the Whitelists or Blacklists, first Disable Parental Control and Save. Then, Enable Parental Control when the changes are complete, and Save again.
You may also find the device’s MAC Address by looking at the client list on your MG7540. Click Basic Router DHCP and look at the MAC Addresses in the DHCP Client List: You may have to do a little sleuthing to find your device’s MAC Address, for example by turning the device off and on again to see which MAC Address is removed and then restored to the list.
Here is an example entry to block access to BadSite.com at all times: Finally, make sure to check the Enable box, and click the Save button. Click the + sign to add another site to block for this device: Now you can add another site, for example WorseSite.com, to the Blacklist: Remember to click Save. Click the + sign again to add more sites if you like.
Click the Add button to configure a blacklist for another device, if you like. When you have completed all Blacklists, remember to Enable Parental Control at the top of the page, and click Save. Setting up a Whitelist Before you make any changes, make sure Parental Control at the top of the page is Disabled, and click Save if you had to change this. Under the tab List of Blocked Addresses (Whitelist), click the Add button to the right. A set of fields will appear.
Here is an example entry to allow access to Jill_Site.com from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm: Now you can add another device, for example Joey’s PC, to the Whitelist. First click the Add button. Then enter the entry name, device MAC Address, site to allow, and start and end time for the entry. In the example below, we have named the entry Joeys_PC, and the site Joey_Safe_1.com, with active time from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Remember to click Save.
When you have completed all Whitelists, remember to Enable Parental Control at the top of the page, and click Save. Setting up Times when Internet Access is Allowed and Not Allowed Before you make any changes, make sure Parental Control at the top of the page is Disabled, and click Save if you had to change this. You can set up times when Internet is allowed by configuring a Whitelist entry with a universal URL.
Now set the start and end times of when you want to allow the device to have Internet access. Here is an example of entries to allow Internet access in an after-school period from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm. We have named the sample entry AfterSch: Make sure to check the Enable box, and click the Save button. Click the Add button to configure a Whitelist entry for an allowed schedule for another device, if you like.
VPN (Virtual Private Network) Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide protected connections across the Internet. Some companies and other organizations provide remote access to their internal networks via a VPN. Employees are typically provided with software that makes the VPN connection from a computer. When a computer provisioned for this type of VPN connection is connected behind the MG7540, the MG7540 must pass through the VPN traffic. The MG7540 is configured by default for VPN pass-through.
To summarize, the MG7540 supports: VPN Pass-through (for clients connected behind the device that need to access for example a corporate network)
Termination of VPN clients via PPTP & L2TP (The MG7540 can be configured as a VPN server in a small office or similar environment. Clients located on the Internet can connect to the small office network through VPN tunnels terminated at the MG7540.
Site-to-Site VPN via IPsec (the MG7540 can be configured to create a tunnel for all devices on the MG7540's LAN side to connect to a corporate network). The MG7540 will NOT support termination of client VPN connections via IPsec. A couple of notes about VPN options. IPsec uses encryption and provides the strongest security. PPTP is considered to be the least secure VPN option. PPTP connections are not required to include encryption or authentication.
IPsec, L2TP/PPTP and Event Log. Use the IPsec page to set up an endpoint for a site to site IPsec connection. Use the PPTP/L2TP page to set up a server for a set of remote clients that connect via PPTP or L2TP. You may find the Event Log useful to determine what has gone wrong if you have trouble setting up a VPN. For details on how to configure a VPN on the MG7540, follow the help available through the information icons on the configuration manager pages.
Changing Your MG7540’s Username and Password, and Resetting to Factory Defaults Changing Your MG7540’s Username and Password To change your MG7540’S Username and Password, first log into the Configuration Manager as described in chapter 6. In summary, you type 192.168.0.1 in the address bar of your browser, go to that address, enter the Username admin and Password motorola, then click the Login button. This will bring you to the Basic Status and Settings page.
upper-case letters (a – z, A – Z) and numbers (0 – 9). Special characters are not allowed. Be sure to click Save to write your changes to memory. Caution: Once you make this change, you will not be able to log into the modem if you forget the new Username and Password . To recover, you will have to reset the modem to factory defaults. When you reset the device to factory defaults, you will lose all changes you have made to the modem.
Configuring Alternate Wi-Fi Security Settings Alternatives to WPA2--WPA, WEP, and RADIUS Your Cable Modem/Router comes from the factory configured for WPA2-PSK wireless security with AES encryption. Some older clients may not support this security mode. (For details, see About Wireless Security, below). To change the wireless security mode, first open the page WPS_RADIUS_WEP. To do this, first log into the Configuration Manager. In summary, you type 192.168.0.
If you need to support WEP, follow these steps. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Disable all WPA and WPA-PSK entries. Make sure to click Save for each entry you change. Under 802.11n Mode Enable/Disable, select Disable from the pulldown. Click Save. Find the tab WEP Security Settings. In the field PassPhrase, enter a sequence of letters. This can be words, names, or an arbitrary sequence. Click the button Generate WEP Keys. In the WEP Encryption pulldown, select either WEP-64 bit or WEP-128 bit.
About Wireless Security There are two basic wireless security modes: WPA and WEP. There are two versions of WPA: WPA and WPA2. When configured as part of a typical home or small office network, WPA and WPA2 require a Pre-Shared Key, or PSK. These modes are typically called WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK, respectively, though sometimes they’re just called WPA and WPA2. You can enable either WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK alone, or you can enable both WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK together.
How to Tell if Your Clients Support WPA2 You can check to see if all other clients that you plan to put on the network support WPA2. You can do this by checking the manual that came with each device or by checking the configuration software for the installed device. Look under Security or Encryption or Setup or Advanced Features. How to Configure Wireless Security for a RADIUS Server If you have a Radius Server, select the WPA/WPA2 options without PSK.
Troubleshooting Tips What if I can’t make an Internet connection right after installation? First turn your MG7540 off for at least 8 seconds, then on, to see if that fixes the problem. Check the connections you’ve made to your MG7540. Power and coax connections are required, and up to 4 Ethernet connections are optional. Are those connections good? Check that the MG7540’s power cube is plugged into a live outlet, and that the Ethernet cable is connected securely to a computer.
What if I’m getting Internet service but my speed is disappointing? Be sure you know what speed you’re paying for. Check the speed with a computer connected to the modem via Ethernet. Use one of the tools found when you search the phrase: broadband speed test. If you get good speed when a computer’s directly connected to the modem, you may have a wireless problem. In that case, please re-read the wireless router section.
What if I don’t know my MG7540’s Wireless Network Names/SSIDs or Security Key/Password? The default values are printed on the bottom label of the MG7540. Use these unless you changed them. If you changed them, try to remember where you saved copies of the new values. Alternatively, if you have a device that connects wirelessly to the MG7540, it may show the Wireless Network Name/SSID and Password. You can also find this information through the MG7540’s Configuration Manager.
Do you have any other questions? We have lots more information at www.motorolacable.
Support We like to help. Please visit the support page on our Website or call our support specialists. Our Website has our Motorola Mentor information, and also provides returns and warranty information. www.motorolacable.com/support Email: support@motorolacable.com Phone: 800-753-0797 Limited Warranty MTRLC LLC warrants this product against defects in material and workmanship for a warranty period of 2 years. To read the full warranty, please go to www.motorolacable.
Compliance FCC Interference Statement This device has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against radio interference in a residential environment. This device can generate, use and radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions in this manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
FCC Caution: Any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user’s authority to operate this equipment. FCC Radiation Exposure Statement This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment. This equipment should be installed and operated with minimum distance 20cm between the radiator & your body.
