connecting two routers together

[mcspadden]

I'm trying to connect two routers together so i can have WiFi all over my house. the first router is upstairs on the 2nd floor of my house and the 2nd router is downstairs in the basement. The first router has internet and works fine. I ran a 100 foot Ethernet down to my basement and connected it to another router and it produces no internet. i want to have the second router produce a WiFi signal and then i want to connect a computer via Ethernet from the 2nd WiFi. I've connected the computer but there is no internet access nor WiFi???? help me!!!

 

[kanewolf]

Some routers are easy to use as WIFI access points, some aren't. By default you would have to connect the WAN port on the second router to a LAN port on the first.

Start by doing a factory reset on the second router.

 

[gbb0330]

I'm trying to connect two routers together so i can have WiFi all over my house. the first router is upstairs on the 2nd floor of my house and the 2nd router is downstairs in the basement. The first router has internet and works fine. I ran a 100 foot Ethernet down to my basement and connected it to another router and it produces no internet. i want to have the second router produce a WiFi signal and then i want to connect a computer via Ethernet from the 2nd WiFi. I've connected the computer but there is no internet access nor WiFi???? help me!!!

what you are trying to do is very much against best practices.
get a proper wireless access point instead of the second router.

 

[Pooneil]

There is no problem doing this and it can work just fine and be as secure as wifi can be. You made the first right step by running the ethernet cable. Have you checked the that cable works? That is have you plugged it into a LAN port on your router and a computer in downstairs and gotten internet access. That is where I would start then work on the WiFi.

Let's call the upstairs router the "router" and the downstairs router the "access point" or just AP.

You have internet at the router. Connect the ethernet cable to a LAN port on it. You will need to access the routers setup and find the settings for the IP range it assigns to clients through DHCP. Either change the range to free up a few IPs or select the highest number in the range.

Go to your AP and enter the setup page. If it has a setting AP mode use that. Otherwise turn off the DHCP and set the LAN IP to the number you selected from the router. Turn off the WiFi encryption. Plug the Ethernet into a LAN port. Save and restart the AP. Use the WiFi to see if the Internet is working. If it is, then reset the WiFi encryption. If not You may have to report back here for more advice.

You can use the same SSID on both or not. If you have equipment that allows multiple SSIDs you can set one SSID the same on both and each with a unique SSID too.

These are rather rudimentary instructions, but if you had enough savvy to run ethernet and attempt this on your own, you can probably work out the details for your particular equipment.

connect a computer via Ethernet from the 2nd WiFi.

You will need a Client Bridge for this. Some routers will function as a bridge and there are some bridge only specific equipment. It is sometimes cheaper to use a regular WiFi adapter on the computer though. But IME the bridge is more reliable.

 

[mcspadden]

There is no problem doing this and it can work just fine and be as secure as wifi can be. You made the first right step by running the ethernet cable. Have you checked the that cable works? That is have you plugged it into a LAN port on your router and a computer in downstairs and gotten internet access. That is where I would start then work on the WiFi.

Let's call the upstairs router the "router" and the downstairs router the "access point" or just AP.

You have internet at the router. Connect the ethernet cable to a LAN port on it. You will need to access the routers setup and find the settings for the IP range it assigns to clients through DHCP. Either change the range to free up a few IPs or select the highest number in the range.

Go to your AP and enter the setup page. If it has a setting AP mode use that. Otherwise turn off the DHCP and set the LAN IP to the number you selected from the router. Turn off the WiFi encryption. Plug the Ethernet into a LAN port. Save and restart the AP. Use the WiFi to see if the Internet is working. If it is, then reset the WiFi encryption. If not You may have to report back here for more advice.

You can use the same SSID on both or not. If you have equipment that allows multiple SSIDs you can set one SSID the same on both and each with a unique SSID too.

These are rather rudimentary instructions, but if you had enough savvy to run ethernet and attempt this on your own, you can probably work out the details for your particular equipment.

connect a computer via Ethernet from the 2nd WiFi.

You will need a Client Bridge for this. Some routers will function as a bridge and there are some bridge only specific equipment. It is sometimes cheaper to use a regular WiFi adapter on the computer though. But IME the bridge is more reliable.

i have done what you said and it is not working. It created an unidentified network and i cant even login to my routers settings now. I think i have done something wrong, what do i do next?

 

[RealBeast]

This is quite simple. You may need to start by resetting both routers to default settings if you cannot access them, or perhaps only the secondary router. For the setup of each router use an Ethernet attached laptop to do the configuration.

You turn the secondary router into an AP: connect the two LAN port to LAN port, turn off DHCP in the secondary router, give the secondary router a static IP address that is in the network range of the primary router but outside of the primary router DHCP assignment range, use different radio channels on each. The choice of using the same or different SSIDs is up to you, I tend to use different to control which radio I connect to. You should use the same WPA2/AES security and can use the same security passkey. You can connect the two routers either with an Ethernet cable or if that is too cumbersome, use a good pair of MIMO capable powerline adapters instead of the cable.

I've never found a combination of routers that I can't set up this way.

The primary router will provide all IP addresses to all devices on the network with its DHCP, and the extra three LAN ports on the secondary (AP) router can also be used for wired connections as any other switch.

This results in a single network. If for some reason you want a different subnet upstairs (i.e. a different network that does not interact with the downstairs but still can access the Internet, I can explain that, but I wouldn't do that unless you have a good reason).

 

[Pooneil]

One key to getting this to work is to setup and test one step at a time. Get the router working first then test the ethernet upstairs then set up the access point.