Qwest Broadband and Apple “Home Sharing”

March 20, 2011 in Uncategorized by admin | 2 comments

For many who are trudging through the Internet about iTunes, iPad, AppleTV and Home Sharing of digital media over your home network: At least as far as Qwest and its Actiontec modem/router is concerned, forget it.

The Actiontec does not support Bonjour, Apple’s name for the IGMP protocol, which is required for Home Sharing on Apple devices. A firmware fix is in the works, due sometime in 2011.

I have iPhones, an iPad, an Airport Express, a MacBook and a Windows 7 and iTunes, but cannot use Home Sharing, Remote on the iPhone or multiple speakers (with the Airport Express) because none of ‘em can “see” the others due to the Actiontec.

  1. TalkToQwest’s avatar

    TalkToQwest on March 21, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    Hey this is Rich with the TalkToQwest Team and below is an excerpt from a recent conversation I provided to a family member who was having similar issues sharing media over a home network. Turn off any services you don’t need; ex: if 802.11b wireless networking support is no longer used on your network, turn it off. Once this is done Bonjour services should become available on the wireless network to all devices. This is not a permanent fix, but should get most users back to sharing while waiting for the firmware update that Actiontec has promised for later this year.

    Here are the specific steps to complete the mentioned actions for most Actiontec driven home networks:

    1) Login to your wireless router (usually at 192.168.1.1 on your home network)
    2) Click on Wireless Settings
    3) Click on Advanced Security Settings
    4) Click on 802.11b/g Mode (at the bottom; it looks like bolded text)
    5) In the drop-down box, select “802.11.g Only”
    6) Click Apply

    If your network does require 802.11b support, you might try selecting “802.11b Only” rather than “802.11g Only” in step 4 above, but I can’t test that on my network to know if it works or not.

    I hope this works for you!

    Reply

    1. admin’s avatar

      admin on March 21, 2011 at 4:28 pm

      Disabling the wireless service isn’t an option for me because I have wireless devices that need to use that service on the router. As you are with Qwest, can you tell me if I can exchange the Actiontec for the ZyXel modem/router, which supports Bonjour and Apple Home Sharing? Other Qwest users have reported that they were able to do so.

      Meanwhile, I have connected my old wireless router (ZoneAlarm router) into the Actiontec via Ethernet, created a separate wireless network on the old router and have my wireless devices connect to that wireless network. Home Sharing and Airport Express all work perfectly and devices share the Qwest Internet connection. Not optimal, as I’d prefer one router to handle all services, but this is a workaround.

      Reply