@AlexSolonik said:
Hmm,perhaps my network concepts are fuzzy, but what I said remains:
I could not set/fix an IP on a device. I included that as part of my original post, and if I had been able to do that , this wouldn't have been a WTF.
You still seem to be a little confused about some basic networking concepts. DHCP reservations (what it sounds like you're talking about) are different than static IPs (what everyone else is talking about). DHCP reservations (sometimes unfortunately called "static DHCP") are set on the DHCP server (eg. your router) so that the DHCP server always hands out the same IP address to a specified MAC address. Actual static IPs are set on the device. For example, in Windows, you can change your network settings to either use DHCP, so it asks for an address, or a static IP, where you can specify what IP address to use. I can't think of any devices I've ever worked on that couldn't have a statically assigned IP address. And as long as you specify an IP address in the proper subnet, with the correct subnet mask and gateway, and preferably outside of the DHCP pool, it should just work.
Also, most ISP-provided modem/routers can be put into bridged mode. In bridged mode, the modem just acts like a modem, and you can use your own router to do the PPPoE (if it's DSL), and your own router gets the external IP address passed through to it.