Fixing My Home Network

[dougdon]

Hi everyone,

Here's my networking setup:

I have a very large house, with a CATV switchboard sorta-thing in the basement. There, I have a Motorola Surfboard Modem connected to a Netgear WNR834B Wireless Router. From there, the modem emits it's wireless network, which I can get from most of the first floor, but almost none of the second floor. Also, I have a desktop on the second floor, which is hooked into one of the CATV ports on the wall, so it's directly connected to the Router.

So here's my question: what's the best way to increase the size of my wireless network? Can I buy another WNR834B router and hook it into the port that the second floor desktop is hooked into? Can I set up a repeater sort of thing? Or have two separate wireless networks? I guess I just wanna know my best solution.

Thanks a lot

[johnhook]

dougdon,

So here's my question: what's the best way to increase the size of my wireless network? Can I buy another WNR834B router and hook it into the port that the second floor desktop is hooked into? Can I set up a repeater sort of thing? Or have two separate wireless networks? I guess I just wanna know my best solution.

Yes and this is exactly what I was going to suggest. You'll need to run a CAT5 or CAT6 run between the two routers (can't exceed 100 Meters in length). The second router upstairs would simple be used as a repeater so you'd still be using all of the configuration of your downstairs router.


http://www.netgear.com/Products/Rout...s/WNR834B.aspx


- John

[dougdon]

Alright great.

Is it easy to configure? Are there instructions somewhere? And just to make sure, I could plug my upstairs computer into the upstairs router that's set up as a repeater, right?

Thanks John

[johnhook]

dougdon,

Yes, in repeater mode, it's active as more of a switch or hub, NOT a router. It's basically just extending the wired and wireless connections from your downstairs router so you can use WiFi and up to 4 wired devices upstairs.

- John

[johnwill]

Connecting two (or more) SOHO broadband routers together.

Note: The "primary" router can be an actual router, a software gateway like Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing, or a server connection that has the capability to supply more than one IP address using DHCP server capability. No changes are made to the primary "router" configuration.

Configure the IP address of the secondary router(s) to be in the same subnet as the primary router, but out of the range of the DHCP server in the primary router. For instance DHCP server addresses 192.168.0.2 through 192.168.0.100, I'd assign the secondary router 192.168.0.254 as it's IP address, 192.168.0.253 for another router, etc.

Note: Do this first, as you will have to reboot the computer to connect to the router again for the remaining changes.

Disable the DHCP server in the secondary router.

Setup the wireless section just the way you would if it was the primary router, channels, encryption, etc.

Connect from the primary router's LAN port to one of the LAN ports on the secondary router. If there is no uplink port and neither of the routers have auto-sensing ports, use a cross-over cable. Leave the WAN port unconnected!

This procedure bypasses the routing function (NAT layer) and configures the router as a switch (or wireless access point for wireless routers).

[dougdon]

Ok, I may be doing something really stupid, BUT....

I have my new router plugged into the wall, no internet jack plugged into it, and an ethernet cable running from the port 1 on the router to my computer. I go to routerlogin.net, which is the control panel for the router, and it won't connect me. The Windows interface says there's little to no connectivity. I've also tried going to 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.0.1, but nothing.

Am I doing something wrong, or is it a defective router? Thanks

[johnwill]

Let's see this:

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following command:

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.