Extending home network

[jonmakela00]

I have a split-level home where the attic is diconnected between the middle level of the home and the upper level of the home. For me, this means it's very difficult to run ethernet from one side to the other. To overcome this, I want to add a second router to my home network. If this is called "cascading" routers as described in a sticky in this part of the forum, please stop here and tell me to follow those directions. If not, please read on.

I have 2 netgear routers - primary, in-use router is a Netgear R7000 and the old, in-a-box right now router is a Netgear N750 (wdnr4300). The R7000 is in a basement office on the corner of the house. I currently get inconsistent wifi on the opposite of the house and, importantly, on the main level in the kitchen and dining area where my kids use their chromebooks. My plan to overcome this is to run ethernet in buried conduit on the exterior around one side of the house and into the crawlspace under the main level and punch it up through the floor to the N750 and, as I conceive it, use the N750 as a second router to extend both wired and wireless network to that side of the house.

I followed a case study link found at the netgear forums and also read the N750 manual online and it appears that to use the N750 this way, then I must use WEP or no security at all. That was a hard stop for me. From the manual,
"To configure the wireless modem router as a repeater unit:
1. Log in to the wireless modem router that will be the repeater. Select Basic > Wireless
Settings and verify that the wireless settings match the base unit exactly. The wireless
security option has to be set to WEP or None"

I think this means that the second router will have no security, therefore, it wuold be open to anyone who can see it. Is that correct?

However, I have also found that folks have been successful in installing ww-drt onto their netgear routers to get around this, but I'm totally ignorant of flashing drt to routers.

I have now since read the sticky thread here about cascading routers. Is this a solution for me? If not, can I overcome what appears to me to be a security issue with connecting these 2 specific routers together to extend my network?

Please don't hesitate to ask for more information...I am unsure how much to provide since I am a networking rookie.

 

[failboat]

Here are some links.

You can read through some reviews on here.
You can do a wireless extender, a full mesh system, or powerline->AP in the absence of running ethernet.
some routers have the feature. I'd check the performance on there. In general a router has more things to pay for/go wrong than a purpose built one. Depending on your speed requirements you will have more options if you don't need as much.

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/wifi-system/view
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/wireless-extender/view
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/powerline/view

 

[bill001g]

It is unclear you say ethernet is hard then you describe how you are going to run ethernet.

If you connect the 2 units via ethernet then the second device is not running as a repeater it is running as a AP.

The term repeater normally means it receives a wifi signal and retransmits a wifi signal with no wired connection between the 2 boxes.

Repeaters should only be used when there is no other option. The drastically reduce your bandwidth and increase the problems with interference because you now have 2 radio signals that can be affected. Very old version of router had to use wep or no security. Lately all routers run what is called WDS. This is a way to allow encryption but still have mulitple mac addresses. It is not part of the official wifi standards but most router manufactures support it the same way.

You best option is the ethernet even if it is hard to accomplish. It is one time pain and it will pretty much work with no issues after that.

If you can not use ethernet I would consider powerline next. It does not work in all houses but works in the vast majority. The newer AV2 based units tend to work much better than the older av200 and av500 units.

 

[jonmakela00]

I see, Bill. What I meant was it is hard to run the ethernet from one side to the other inside the house, ie, behind the walls all nice and neat. Consequently, I have to run ethernet on the exterior of the house to get an ethernet line into a crawlspace and up through a floor to connect to a second router.

So the question is whether, given the two routers I have, can I use both to extend my network? Thanks for clarifying the difference between a repeater and an AP. So, yeah, I want the second router to behave as an AP to extend my network.

 

[bill001g]

You can use pretty much any router as a AP even if it does not have a special feature. You will find huge number of post on how to use a router as a AP.

 

[kanewolf]

You can use pretty much any router as a AP even if it does not have a special feature. You will find huge number of post on how to use a router as a AP.

Here is the Tom's sticky on converting a router to an AP -- http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/36406-43-convert-wireless-router-wireless-access-point

 

[jonmakela00]

Thank you, both. If I set up the second router as an AP, can I use it as both a wired and wireless device. In other words, can I plug a PC into the second router to connect to the internet?

 

[bill001g]

The lan ports act as a simple switch so you can plug things in. When you use a router as a AP it can be thought of as a dumb switch that has wifi radios...even though it is not really that simplistic.