[SOLVED] Second router as ap not working properly

[Sirlee]

(Not an IT guy)Hello! I tried to set up my network with a second router as an access point a couple of months ago, but gave up in the end. I have read countless guides on how to do so, but I can't get it to work properly. Therefore, I am posting here to see if anyone can help. Router name etc. Allright, here it is. I live in a house with 2 levels. The main router is on the second floor connected to the modem. My pc is on the first floor and it is connected to the main router via an ethernet cable. I have a second router by my pc in the first floor which currently is not in use. It is this one I want to set up as an access point, so I can extend the wifi. The two routers are the some model ZyXEL P8702N. Here is some info:
Main router

IPv4: 10.0.0.25
Default gateway: 10.0.0.138
DHCP range: 10.0.0.1 - 10.0.0.137

Second router:
IPv4: 10.0.0.21
Default gateway: 10.0.0.138
New default gateway: 10.0.0.2


What I did the first time attempting this was to log into the second router and turn the DHCP off and change the IP address from 10.0.0.138 to 10.0.0.2. Then connected the access point (second router) to the main router via ethernet (Lan-Lan) to establish internet connection. I logged on to the wifi from the access point and everything works. When I then go up a floor and connect to the main router, the wifi works. But when I go down a floor and try to connect to the second router, it is unable to get an ip address. I realise this is because I turned off the DHCP for the second router, but what I don't understand is how I can get this to work. I want to be able to use the wifi upstairs when I am there, and use the wifi downstairs when I am there. Is this possible without the hassle of restarting the second router everytime I have been connected to the first router?

 

[bill001g]

Where are you changing the gateway.

Normally all you have on a router is the ip address and the mask. By defualt the main router need dhcp to give out its ipv4 address.

So if you use 10.0.0.25 that is the gateway for the end machines. On the second router you set 10.0.0.21 but sinve you dhcp range is 1-137 I would set it something else.

I suggest to make things less confusing you use a more common configuration. Set you main router to 10.0.0.1 with the normal 255.255.255.0 mask. Set the dhcp to run 2-137. On the second router disable the dhcp and set the ip 10.0.0.200. You do not need any gateway on the second router. If it did have one it would be 10.0.0.1 which is the exit to the network.....which is what gateway means. Still the second router does not need to access the internet itself so it is safer to not even have it.

 

[gggplaya]

Settings should look more like:

Main Router:
IPv4: 10.0.0.25
Default gateway: 10.0.0.138 (I assume this is your modem)
DHCP range: 10.0.0.26 - 10.0.0.137

Second router:
IPv4: 10.0.0.21
Default gateway: 10.0.0.25 (Must point to main router, which has the NAT in it, not the modem)


Other than that, I suspect your problem is that you're connecting to the WAN port of your secondary access point. You need to plug from the main router's 4 port switch to the secondary routers 4 port switch, not the WAN port.

 

[SamirD]

So I think it's important to understand the concept here and I think that will help you.

A router is actually 3 things--a nat router, a switch, and an access point. Essentially what you want to do is simply use it as a switch and an access point, which is easy enough since all you need to do is not use the wan port and make sure you have a unique ssid for the access point (different from the other one, at least to get it up and running).

The problem is that even without using the wan port, the router will still have a dhcp server--so you need to disable this. If you want to be able to hit the webui of the router you're using as an access point, you will need to make sure the lan side of it has a static IP assigned that is reachable by the other router. Otherwise, this doesn't even matter. Default gateways don't matter--in fact, none of the IP stuff matters because it's just acting as an access point and switch--which are 'dumb' in that they will simply forward ethernet packets everywhere on the lan, which is exactly what you want.

Some routers actually make this very easy by having an 'access point' mode where they will take care of all of this for you. And lucky for you, the P8702N seems to have this, at least in the v2 version:
http://screenshots.portforward.com/routers/ZyXEL/P8702Nv2/Wireless_Access_Point.htm

After doing some more research, it seems that this thread is a continuation of your original from 2019 about the same problem (mod maybe merge them?):

How To - How to log in on second router (same brand as main)?

Hi! I have a Zyxel P8702N as my main router, and i want to connect another router of the same brand and model as an access point. To do this, I need to log in to each of the routers to fix the settings. My question is, how do I log on the second router? I can log on to my main router which has...

forums.tomshardware.com

It is interesting that the access point mode didn't work previously. I would try seeing if you can connect to it wired and see if that works. This way we can confirm that at least the switch is working and then go from there.