3 Access Points with Powerline and range extender

[DoruSonic]

Hello,

First of all I will describe the devices in the network do it's easier to refer to them:
Main router (MEO fibergateway), powerline (TL-PA4016P KIT), upstairs router (SMCWBR14S-N2) and range extender (TL-WA850RE(EU) ver:1.23).

I tried to draw the setup (don't judge my art skills): https://imgur.com/ybxjgKl
I have the main router in a corner of the house, this is the router from my ISP that receives the fibra signal (it has 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wifi). Since the signal doens't reach the room area, there's a range extender there connecting.
On the other hand, upstairs doesn't get any signal aswell, therefore I have one powerline connected to the main router, and the other powerline paired upstairs. This powerline is however connected to the upstairs router through LAN, and from there it also connects via ethernet to my computer.

On this setup, my network sometimes goes off, almost as if someone just cut down the power and immediately turn it back on, sometimes it happens more once per day, sometimes it goes a week or two without anything happening (or it does I'm simply not using it at the time, can't be sure since the uptime doesn't reset). I called my ISP they did change the main router but also said that the problem may be in the upstairs router interfering.
The main router has a bridge mode, that i'm not using. Would my setup as now work, needs some modifications, or should I enable bridge mode on my main router? And if I enable what should I setup?

PS: my upstairs router does not support bridge and I can't find a dd-wrt for it.

 

[kanewolf]

Your upstairs router should be configured as an access point -- http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/36406-43-convert-wireless-router-wireless-access-point That way there is only one router. You will still be able to use the wired and wireless connectivity from the upstairs device.

 

[DoruSonic]

Your upstairs router should be configured as an access point -- http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/36406-43-convert-wireless-router-wireless-access-point That way there is only one router. You will still be able to use the wired and wireless connectivity from the upstairs device.

It is configured like that, gateway was set at 1.1 changed it now to 1.253 since the main is set at 254. But as far as I know, it doesn't change anything

 

[kanewolf]

The gateway for an access point is the main router (whatever IP address that is). A static IP on the AP is advisable. If you have DISABLED the DHCP server on the upstairs device, then that is the MOST important action. If your wired connection has issues, then you need to look at your powerline adapters.

 

[DoruSonic]

The gateway for an access point is the main router (whatever IP address that is). A static IP on the AP is advisable. If you have DISABLED the DHCP server on the upstairs device, then that is the MOST important action. If your wired connection has issues, then you need to look at your powerline adapters.

Sorry, what gateway should I set the upstairs router? The main one has 192.168.1.254 as the gateway.
The range extender and the upstairs router have DHCP disabled, and both with static IP. It may have been just chance, but when I turned off upstair router and connect the powerline to my PC directly, it was fine for more than a week. Again, it may be just luck, but since this router is probably more than a decade old, I'd go for that...

 

[kanewolf]

I don't know why your main router would have a private IP address as the gateway. Unless your ISP device is also a router. Optimally your main router would have a public IP address and the gateway for it would be provided by DHCP. That address should be the first ISP router.

 

[DoruSonic]

I don't know why your main router would have a private IP address as the gateway. Unless your ISP device is also a router. Optimally your main router would have a public IP address and the gateway for it would be provided by DHCP. That address should be the first ISP router.

Yes, my main router is the one provided by my ISP that distributes internet via ethernet and wireless (2.4 and 5).
I checked and going to the "LAN local area network" tab it says on "primary networks" default gateway is 192.168.1.254 and sub mask 255.255.255.0
However on the "WAN Wide area network" the IP and gateway is totally different.
Is this WAN gateway that I should set my upstairs router gateway aswell?

 

[kanewolf]

OK, the default gateway on the LAN side is what the main router tells the DHCP clients to use as a gateway. That is what all LAN connected devices should have.

 

[DoruSonic]

OK, the default gateway on the LAN side is what the main router tells the DHCP clients to use as a gateway. That is what all LAN connected devices should have.

So should I set the upstairs router gateway to the same gateway as the main router?
I use the 192.168.1.254 to access the main router configs, and the 192.168.1.253 to access the upstairs router. Setting the gateway to the same thing won't cause conflicts?

 

[kanewolf]

Think of the "gateway" that a network device knows about as the "next stop" in the path that data is supposed to move. The WAN side of your router has a gateway that is the ISP's router. ALL your LAN and WIFI devices should have your main router as their gateway because that is the "next stop" on the path to the internet. Your upstairs router can have 253 for the IP address, but if you have followed the sticky I provided, disabled DHCP and connected the wired cable LAN-to-LAN between the two routers, then the gateway on the upstairs device should be 254 (the main router).

 

[DoruSonic]

Think of the "gateway" that a network device knows about as the "next stop" in the path that data is supposed to move. The WAN side of your router has a gateway that is the ISP's router. ALL your LAN and WIFI devices should have your main router as their gateway because that is the "next stop" on the path to the internet. Your upstairs router can have 253 for the IP address, but if you have followed the sticky I provided, disabled DHCP and connected the wired cable LAN-to-LAN between the two routers, then the gateway on the upstairs device should be 254 (the main router).

Ok, then the upstairs router I can setup any IP (static at 192.168.1.1), DHCP disable, and set its gateway to 192.168.1.254 (gateway of the main router), is this correct?

 

[kanewolf]

Think of the "gateway" that a network device knows about as the "next stop" in the path that data is supposed to move. The WAN side of your router has a gateway that is the ISP's router. ALL your LAN and WIFI devices should have your main router as their gateway because that is the "next stop" on the path to the internet. Your upstairs router can have 253 for the IP address, but if you have followed the sticky I provided, disabled DHCP and connected the wired cable LAN-to-LAN between the two routers, then the gateway on the upstairs device should be 254 (the main router).

Ok, then the upstairs router I can setup any IP (static at 192.168.1.1), DHCP disable, and set its gateway to 192.168.1.254 (gateway of the main router), is this correct?

The 192.168.1.1 static IP address, you need to check against the range that the main router uses for DHCP. They can't overlap. If you are going to use low numbers for static then you need to change the range that the main router DHCP server allows. Set the lowest address to 100 and the highest to 253. That way you can use 1 - 99 for static IPs and still have 150 addresses for DHCP. The gateway would be correct.

 

[DoruSonic]

Think of the "gateway" that a network device knows about as the "next stop" in the path that data is supposed to move. The WAN side of your router has a gateway that is the ISP's router. ALL your LAN and WIFI devices should have your main router as their gateway because that is the "next stop" on the path to the internet. Your upstairs router can have 253 for the IP address, but if you have followed the sticky I provided, disabled DHCP and connected the wired cable LAN-to-LAN between the two routers, then the gateway on the upstairs device should be 254 (the main router).

Ok, then the upstairs router I can setup any IP (static at 192.168.1.1), DHCP disable, and set its gateway to 192.168.1.254 (gateway of the main router), is this correct?

The 192.168.1.1 static IP address, you need to check against the range that the main router uses for DHCP. They can't overlap. If you are going to use low numbers for static then you need to change the range that the main router DHCP server allows. Set the lowest address to 100 and the highest to 253. That way you can use 1 - 99 for static IPs and still have 150 addresses for DHCP. The gateway would be correct.

The range is set from .64 to .253 so its no problem.
Thank you very much for your time, and sorry to bother you so much!