Extending home LAN question

I have an 40-year old home with plaster/lathe walls and computers that extend from one end to the other. Currently, I am using a 4-port wireless Netgear router, but the wireless clients on the far end of the house only connect intermittantly.

I have a 4-port Linksys wired router and am thinking of moving the wireless router to the highest point in the house and connecting it to the wired router.

It's been awhile since I've done this type of work, so I'd like to ask if this will work

Current setup: WAN into wireless router providing DHCP, 3 wired clients and wireless clients.

The changes would be...

Wireless router

- disconnect WAN port

- move router to a more center, higher position

- turn off DHCP and change the address to 192.168.0.2

- use a crossover cable to connect a LAN port from the wireless to a LAN port on the wired router

Wireless client

- accept DHCP

- set the default gateway to the wired router IP (or, should this be the wireless router IP on the same subnet?)

Wired router

- turn on DHCP

- set the LAN segment to be on the same subnet as the wireless router and clients

- allow wired and wireless clients to accept dhcp from the wired router

- plug in cable modem into WAN port

TIA, Dave

Reply to
tom_sawyer70
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Hi,

That sounds like a plan.

Yep, this will effectively use your wireless router as just a WAP. Wireless routers are basically wired routers with built-in WAP's. Turn the DHCP server off since DHCP will be handled by your wired router. In the LAN settings, set the IP to 192.168.0.2 and subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 Try a straight-through cable first. It should work. Modern stuff autosenses.

Yep, your clients' gateways will be your wired router: 192.168.0.1, I assume. That is your gateway to the internet. Shouldn't really have to hard set the gateway IP on your clients though, as the gateway IP also gets pulled from DHCP.

You got it.

If your coverage still isn't satisfactory, you'll need a second WAP. If you want a second WAP to repeat your wireless router, make sure they are compatible before purchasing. Also know that repeaters cut your bandwidth in half. If your traffic is mainly just internet (unless you have a T2+), cutting your pipe in half probably won't have much an effect (except for some latency), but if you do a lot of LAN traffic (computer-to-computer file transfers) then it will be ugly. Its better to run cable to a second WAP and use the same SSID/channel as the first. Or, you can do what I'm doing for one of my second WAPs: plug it into a wireless-ethernet bridge (cable replacement). You then get the convienence of having a "repeater" over-the-air, but without cutting the pipe in half.

Reply to
Eric

There is a simple solution - get a pair of devices that use your mains wiring as the network - security issues are minimal and you have a much more reliable connection than wireless. I have a set made by Devolo - can't fault them - no interference from household electrics either. You can get ones that have wireless or wired connection to your computer - I think they have to be wired at the router end though.

Reply to
Alexis.happyphoenix

A couple of points ...

Putting the wireless router in a central location is good, but higher may not be better.

I wonder how well your wireless clients will be able to connect to the internet if the NAT function is not provided by the gateway itself (I think that is what you proposed). If your proposed configuration does run into that kind of trouble, try the following ...

Put your wireless router in a central location and physically reroute the WAN cable to it. Get a switch instead of using the wired router and continue to use DHCP of the wireless router (which would remain as internet gateway) so it can sort out IP addresses and be sure there are no conflicts between wired and wireless clients. Connect the up-link port of the switch to one of the LAN ports on the wireles router. Do not use crossover if done this way.

Bob

Reply to
rcp

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