Bell's 2wire modem is one of the best DSL modem I've used, it works well with bell internet or any other DSL service provider's ADSL or ADSL2+. Flashing out Bell's firmware will give you more control over the modem. Bell's firmware won't allow you to make this modem to bridge mode. But SingTel's or CenturyLink's firmware will allow you to do that.
We can use this 2Wire modem as wireless access point around the house, to extend the wireless range. First we need to flash the firmware and update it to CenturyLink's 2Wire firmware. You can download this firmware from their support website here. If it is asking you to enter zip code, you can use 55401. Down the list you will see 2Wire 2701/270HG, expand it and follow the instructions to download the firmware.
Bell updated all their 2Wire modem firmware to a new version. You can access the modem's web gui from the browser (http://192.168.2.1) and check the firmware.
If you see the following picture then your modem still has older firmware.
The updated firmware will looks like this
also make a note of this VPI/VCI values before the upgrade, you will need them later.
VPI: 0 and VCI:35
If you have the older firmware, type this in browser http://192.168.2.1/tech/upgrade.html
If you have the new firmware, type this in the browser http://192.168.2.1/xslt?PAGE=UPGRADE1
choose the firmware you have downloaded from CenturyLink website
click upgrade now
Once the upgrade in progress, you will see the power lid in the modem is red and blinking and it will continue this through out the upgrade and will be green once completed.
Once this upgrade complete (power lid on the modem will be green) , you will have to type this http://192.168.0.1 on your browser to open the new modem page.
If you want to use this as regular DSL modem then follow the instructions bellow. But if you are going to use this as access point and go to the bottom of the page and follow the instructions there.
Click on advanced setup page and go to Broadband settings
enter the VPI/VCI values as shown above and apply. Then go click on the quick setup and enter the Bell internet username and password (or your service provider's)
Configure this modem as wireless access point
You can skip the above setting to use this modem as access point. Note you will need to have a cat 5e/ Cat 6 cable to feed this modem from your main DSL modem to have this feature to be working. I have my main 2Wire modem in the basement, I ran Cat 5e cable from the basement to first floor where i have my 2nd 2wire modem located. I feed this cable to the 2nd 2wire modem's Ethernet port 1.
Log into the modem web gui from the browser using http://192.168.0.1 and click on wireless settings.
Here you will have to setup the wireless SSID and security.
click on the picture above to see all the settings. Once you completed this step , click apply.
Last part is turn off the DHCP server. Once this complete you will not be able to access the modem, but there is a workaround if you have to access this modem in the future. Once the DHCP is turned off, the modem will act like a switch and will pick the ip info from the main DSL modem (in my case it is the main 2Wire modem)
Go to advanced settings, click on DHCP settings and disable it as shown on the picture bellow.
Once this completed, you should be able to use this wireless access point. If you ever have to access this wireless access point all you have to do is change your network adapters IP address and connect directly to this access point.
Bridge Mode
First turn off the wireless. Go to Advanced Setup -> IP Addressing ->WAN IP address-> select RFC 1483 Transparent Bridging -> Apply.
Now you can setup your router to handle the PPPoE authentication.
