Actiontec modems

Linux boxes have difficulty connecting through Actiontec modems. The problem is that the modem supplies its own IP address as one of the nameservers, and it is apparenly non-standard enough so this will not work with our boxen.

Solution: Set the linux box to a static IP in 192.168.0.x range, with a gateway of 192.168.0.1 and subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, and give it static dns address(es). The DNS address will vary from one ISP to another, but may generally be found by searching on google for "<ISP name> DNS server".

You need to edit /etc/network/interfaces to set the static IP

Edit /etc/resolv.conf to set the nameservers

ISP setup info

Another solution

apt-get install bind9
echo 'supersede domain-name-servers 127.0.0.1;' >> /etc/dhclient.conf
dhclient