Question Adding several routers to improve coverage

[GSE123]

Hi everyone, hopefully you can help!

I live in a 3 story house with 5 other students and and our virgin media wifi coverage is rubbish!

I’m looking to set up a network using 2 additional routers and my virgin media hub.
I’m thinking of having an Ethernet from my main router to another router then an Ethernet cable from the second router to the third.

Would this work? Any tips or suggestions on how to do it and what hardware to choose?

I have some old bt and sky routers lying around. Would these work?

Will doing this slow my speed down or will it stay pretty much similar. I’ve seen some websites that say it might improve it?

I’m looking at cat7 Ethernet cables. Do I need these or will cat6 or less be absolutely fine?


Please explain in simple terms as I’m a novice when it comes to this stuff! 😂

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[gggplaya]

What you're talking about is using your spare routers as additional wifi ACCESS POINTS. If your routers have the ability to change to access point mode, then yes it would be fine.

I recommend you give each access point a different SSID and manually select the wifi channels on each router so they're far apart from each other.

I don't think you need CAT7. Cat5e and Cat6 should be fine, you'll be limited to gigabit ethernet anyways, no reason for cat7.

1. Set your spare routers to access point mode.
2. Plug an ethernet cable from a switch port of the main router into a switch port of the 2nd access point(not the WAN port).
3. Plug an ethernet cable from a switch port of the 2nd access point to a switch port on the 3rd access point(not the WAN port).

Alternatively, if you're renting and they won't allow you to run ethernet. You can install some powerline wifi extenders. They won't give you anywhere near the bandwidth of ethernet access points, but they'll give you decent speeds for each floor.

 

[SamirD]

You should be able to use your existing routers as access points--disable the dhcp server, set an IP address outside of the dhcp range on your virgin router, and then plug cable into the lan ports only. This should allow you to use the old routers as access points.

I wouldn't set wifi channels manually--leave them automatic as other outside access points will also be on auto and best to let them all continuously hop around. If you have absolutely no other access points in range but yours, you can set the channels manually and should be fine.

Your existing ethernet cables are fine. No one needs cat7 at all--it's a marketing gimmick.

 

[GSE123]

Thank you both for your reply. Both really informative. I’m looking to buy some routers to act as the access points and I’ve found some sky ones on fb market place. It seems as if they use a different type of ethernet cable for the Ethernet in ( purple in picture). Would I be able to use a normal Ethernet cable into the yellow? For Ethernet in and out.

Hope that makes sense!

image: https://share.icloud.com/photos/0vbCkguy4IJLEE9JeHDKAwvnQ

Hope that link to the pic works 🤞

 

[GSE123]

Thank you both for your reply. Both really informative. I’m looking to buy some routers to act as the access points and I’ve found some sky ones on fb market place. It seems as if they use a different type of ethernet cable for the Ethernet in ( purple in picture). Would I be able to use a normal Ethernet cable into the yellow? For Ethernet in and out.

Hope that makes sense!

image: https://share.icloud.com/photos/0vbCkguy4IJLEE9JeHDKAwvnQ

Hope that link to the pic works 🤞

After abit of research I think it’s the WAN LAN stuff that’s confusing me. Am I right in saying that in extra routers ( not my main router) all I have to use is the LAN bits? So I’ll have an Ethernet cable going into via LAN ports and I can have Ethernet cables coming out via LAN ports. I may be completely wrong 😬again, any help is appreciated!

 

[nigelivey]

After abit of research I think it’s the WAN LAN stuff that’s confusing me. Am I right in saying that in extra routers ( not my main router) all I have to use is the LAN bits? So I’ll have an Ethernet cable going into via LAN ports and I can have Ethernet cables coming out via LAN ports. I may be completely wrong 😬again, any help is appreciated!

Connect them LAN to LAN. If you use the WAN port you will create a second network.

 

[bill001g]

In general it will work to cable to the LAN ports on any router. Make sure you disable the DHCP and change the LAN ip to not conflict on the "ap" router. Part of the confusion is some/many routers have the ability to run as a AP. Mostly the difference is they let you use the WAN port to connect rather than a lan. In effect they convert the wan port to a extra lan port when then have a AP option.

 

[gggplaya]

We also have to keep in mind that not every router has the ability to go into AP mode. Especially an ISP's router. Make sure before buying that you read the manual and verify it has to ability to operate as an access point.

 

[nigelivey]

The router acts as a hub that sets up a local area network and manages all of the devices and communication in it. An access point, on the other hand, is a sub-device within the local area network that provides another location for devices to connect from and enables more devices to be on the network.

I would refrain from using the term "hub" in a networking context, it exists as a device, is outdated and undesirable in modern network topology!!

 

[nigelivey]

We also have to keep in mind that not every router has the ability to go into AP mode. Especially an ISP's router. Make sure before buying that you read the manual and verify it has to ability to operate as an access point.

If DHCP can be disabled, it has switched LAN ports and wireless capabilities, any router can act as an AP. Purely acting as a layer 2 device.

 

[SamirD]

We also have to keep in mind that not every router has the ability to go into AP mode. Especially an ISP's router. Make sure before buying that you read the manual and verify it has to ability to operate as an access point.

Most can operate as an AP by design, even isp ones. The only ones that can't are typically dsl routers, but I even have some of those that work.

 

[GSE123]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking at adding a 2nd access point now. I've seen YT videos on being able to connect a 2nd access point to my 1st access point but not connecting 2 access points to the main router. Would connecting two access points via ethernet to the main router be okay or would running my second access point from the 1st access point be better?

Thanks.

 

[gggplaya]

You can add as many access points to tge main router as you want.

Keep in kind that wifi signals may intefere with each other if they arent smart enough to individually change channels when necessary. Many people set a fixed wireless channel for each access point if they live in a low wifi congestion area.

 

[bill001g]

It doesn't really matter a lot on how you cable it. You will not be running enough traffic to worry about both AP sharing a cable back to the router.

It all depends which is easier for you to cable. I guess you run the risk if you plug ap2 into ap1 and ap1 fails or the power is off you lose both AP.

Youtube is full of so called "experts" who have never even worked in the field, in many cases they just want to be internet stars.

 

[robert600]

Very new to all this so take what I say accordingly:

The etherent cable: You haven't said too much about how (physically) you're going to run your cable. I'm guessing up the stairwells ... around a few corners ... maybe tacked to the baseboards ... something like that? Something to be aware of is CAT5e is much more supple than CAT6 (I think it might have to do with the sheilding in the cable) so... it is much easier to work with CAT5e ... making 90 degree corners etc ... since you're not losing anything by using it, I would recommend it above CAT6 for that reason alone. It's probably cheaper too.

The 2nd Modem Choice: I've only just started using these. 3 days or so ago I installed a Dlink as a secondary ... it worked but I decided it wasn't the best choice and just last night replaced it with a Linksys. Both are dual band and both have USB ports. Here's something weird though ... when setting up the dlink ... as soon as it understands you want the LAN to LAN thing ... all menus to do with the usb drive grey out and you can't use the usb port. Also ... it only lets you use one band 2.4 OR 5... you can choose which one but you can't use both. Like I said last night I replaced it (for a different reason ... no need to go into that) with a Linksys. Running the setup and doing the same LANtoLAN thing ... no greying out of the usb port occured and both the 2.4 and the 5 Ghz can be used. I don't know if the dlink limitation is just in that particular router or if it generalises to all dlink routers. Based of this though ... I tentatively suggest Linksys might be a better choice for a secondary. Thinking of the usb port ... you have to use the setup program to allow access etc to it ... easy enough since your already in setup to do the LAN to LAN thing anyway. I have hooked a portable hard drive to the linksys and I can confirm that I can see the movies on it with my laptop. This just being done last night means I haven't had a chance to really check it out but if I can see the files, I should be able to play them. You and your room mates might enjoy having a hard drive (loaded up with music, movies etc.) plugged into your secondary router that way and everyone could access them from their devices. Just a thought. Anyway ... my tablet confirms that Linksys is indeed using both 2.4 and 5 ... so all is good. Good luck with your networking!

 

[robert600]

I was thinking and I don't think that this has been mentioned in this thread. I'm guessing you'll be using a previously used router for both your second and third router?

If so ... your 1st step should be to reset the router back to it's factory settings. It's real easy to do, plug it in (the power I mean ... not the ethernet ( Wan port), or the LAN ports). When it lights up steady ... take a pin orsomething to get into the 'reset' hole' ... press and hold the reset button with the pin ... the router will turn off and then back on with a bit of light blinking. Once it settles (15 -30 seconds maybe) release the pin and job done!
Without doing this:
1/ if the IP address of the router has been changed by the previous owner ... you'll never be able to get to the setup (unless you know the address it's been changed to).
2/ even if the address hasn't been changed and you can get to setup ... who knows what will have been changed???

You REALLY want to start with the router in its factory default settings when you fiddle about with setting changes you want to make ... so ... reset it before you start.