Password for wifi and repeaters.

[johnnybregar]

My father-in-law lives in NY. I'm in Seattle. I have Jump Desktop and I want to remotely add a wifi password to his network. If I change the repeaters first (they will be kicked off of the network briefly) and then change the main router to same new password, will the system stay up? I realize I will be booted off the system until he rejoins his machine to the network with the new password (he is on the main router), but that's ok.

I need to make sure I keep everything up and running because he is elderly and not able to make changes beyond simply signing in to his wifi with a new password.

Will I need to turn on the devices in a specific order or will they automatically come back on line once all the devices all have the same wifi passwords?

 

[Ralston18]

Johnny,

Would you explain a bit more when you say "If I change the repeaters first.....".

Something is not tracking, at least in my mind, and I think an understanding of the bigger picture will help.

Thanks.

 

[johnnybregar]

I assume, since there are no passwords to protect the wifi right now, that if I create a new password (remotely) on the main router (the one connected to the cable box) first, that I will lose the ability to change the password on the others because they will drop from the network as soon as I create a new password. Therefore, I'm asking if it will work if I change the repeaters' passwords first - so that I can stay online and connected, up until the point where I change the main router wifi password. At that point, all three devices have the new password, and we are all kicked off until my father-in-law logs in with the new password.

Then, I'm assuming - and this is the crux of my question - that all three wifi devices (the router, and the two repeaters) will all be up and running and ready to accept new clients (with the new password).

Make sense?

 

[johnnybregar]

At the highest level, I'm basically asking for the process (order) for protecting a wifi network with a router and 2 repeaters that is completely open right now, but I'm in Seattle and he's in New York so I only have Remote Desktop to do this....

I know how to find the ip addresses of the router/repeaters (angry ip) and I know how to change/add a new password on the admin page - I just don't know the order in which I should do things to make sure I don't mess up his connectivity cause that would be a nightmare....

 

[Ralston18]

Does your father-in-law strictly use wireless and moves a laptop around the house? Or is his computer fixed in one location (wired to the router) and other devices use the wireless repeaters?

The reason for the question is that the important connection to protect is his computer to the router. If that stays intact then you, of course, can remote in and access the router and repeaters.

That said: Router on first. And yes, I think that the repeaters should come back up and connect with the router. It may take a few minutes for them to establish communications. Probably do one at a time.

However, I am trying to think about some fallback options and additional safeguards...

Something like this:

I think I would leave one repeater as is (without a password) but set a static IP reserved for it on the router via the repeater's MAC address.

Then change the second repeater to the new password and again set a different static IP reserved for it via the repeater's MAC address.

Both static IPs outside of the DHCP range allotted to the router.

Then change the router to the new password. Your father-in-law logs in wirelessly and connects to the router. Then you remote in.

Hopefully you will see and be able to access both repeaters as you know the IP addresses.

The overall idea being to keep part of the network functional at any given time and still retain correctional access to the other part.

Seems that some sort of failsafe could be put into place. Just wrestling a bit with the specifics.

Does it seem viable? You certainly have a better understanding of the situation and setup.

 

[johnnybregar]

This seems like a good option - nice. I appreciate the help. I like the idea of giving static IP's to the repeaters. And yes, he's wired to the router. So he will have access no matter what, and that's good. 🙂