Wireless network, two wireless routers?

I believe that what you need to do is connect the two routers by two LAN posrts, not using teh WAN port on the Linksys. You then need to disable DHCP on the Linksys (as the first router issues IP addresses). If the Zyxel is 192.168.1.1, then set the Linksys to 192.168.1.2 (all other details teh same as the Zyxel).

To achieve your goal of extending wireless coverage, leave the WiFi on for both routers.

Thank you, I hadn't thought about the DHCP.

Since I don't know any better, I won't use the WAN port, but to educate me, can you tell me why?

snipped-for-privacy@netscape.net wrote in news:1138464410.153510.9870 @o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

If you plugged the zyxel into the linksys wan port, everytime you went from using one routers wireless signal to the other (such as moving to a different room), your ip address would change to an address within the scope/subnet of the other router. And turning off DHCP wouldn't work, because once you switched rooms, your IP address wouldn't work with the other router.

Do as __spc__ says, and also remember to set the SSID and wireless channel the same. Most adapters will allow you to roam freely between the 2 without stopping or having to configure anything.

Smowk

[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

Same SSID, but different non-overlapping channels (1, 6, 11) to avoid interference.

John Navas wrote in news:cqRCf.305987$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

oops

Does that hold true for two routers in WDS? Same SSID but different channels? The tutorial I followed

site down at the minute) had same WiFi channel on both routers.

"__spc__" hath wroth:

"509 Bandwidth limit exceeded" End of the month quota blues?

WDS acts as a store and forward repeater, which means EVERYTHING has to be on the same RF channel, use the same SSID, and use the same encryption method and key. The idea behind WDS is to allow an access point to simultaneously act as a repeater and to allow clients to connect.

So when I look for a wireless network now and see "MyHome" (I know real inventive) I should set them both to that same name? I thought I would have MyHome and MyHome2, so I'm glad you clarified this.

I'm not sure what channels you are talking about, but I bet I can find them when I start to look ath te setup for both routers.

What about the WEP key? I assume I should set it the same on both of them?

Another question occured to me this morning. Right now I access the linksys router configuration by going to address 192.168.1.1 in my browser. When I plugin the Zyxel, I assume that's the default address for it too. How will I access both router configurations once they are connected? Should I change the LinkSys before I plug in the Zyxel, or am I worrying about nothing?

BTW, I really appreciate all the help and comments from everyone.

I know, I know - popular site, many hits, I hope this gets sorted soon. [And I got this link from you in another thread, Jeff, so I thought I'd paste it again, as it's more useful than saying "Google for it..."

I have router 1 on channel 1, and router 2 on channel 6. Having today repositioned router 2 and the aerial on my most distant WLAN desktop, slightly, to optimise signal, this desktop now gets 54 Mbps connection speeds. Previously, with just router 1, it was at 18Mbps, and with the introduction of router 2/WDS also on channel 1, this rate improved to

36Mbps.

Before I set the two channels back to being the same (dumb question coming), do I ABSOLUTELY have to the same channels for WDS? It all seems to work fine on different channels. Netstumbler on the desktop shows router 2 to be by far a stronger signal, and I can access the router config pages of both routers from both PCs on the WLAN.

WDS with the two routers on different channels seems to work great...

[snip]

"__spc__" hath wroth:

Yes, you absolutely must have all the participating wireless devices on the same channel to use WDS. More than you ever wanted to know about WDS:

that in the examples on page 11, the wireless bridges with a single radio show all the clients and WDS bridges on the same channel. The dual radio bridges can use different channels. Your setup is example #3.

You can access the config pages of both routers without WDS. WDS allows you to connect to Router #2 and surf the web via Router #1.

That doesn't sound like WDS to me. I'll assume Router #1 is connected to the internet.

- Is there any wired connection between the two routers? If so, pull the connection.

- What are the LAN side IP addresses of Router #1 and #2? They had better NOT be the same.

- Can you plug a computah into Router #2 and surf the web (via Router #1)? This tests the bridge part of WDS.

- Can you get to the config page of Router #1 while connected to Router #2?

- If WDS is operating, can you connect via wirelss to Router #2 and surf the internet (via Router #1)? No fair connecting to Router #1.

If you pass all the above tests, you have WDS working.

Yes, 1Mbps broadband cable...

No.

N/A

192.168.1.1 & 192.168.1.2 for router 1 (DHCP) and router 2 (DHCP disabled) respectively.

Nope.

Nope!!!! - I tried posting this by this method; cabled to Router 2, WiFi disabled, so this has to go Router 2 through Router 1. Failed!! I then enabled WiFi, but it picked up Router 2 WLAN. When I moved near Router 1, WiFi allowed internet access.

No!

Now I change the channel on Router 1 to match Router 2.

Now I can hit Router 2

YOU ARE SPOT ON!. Channels must be the same - I was suckered by assuming connected to WLAN meant connected to internet. Doh!

I do now. Many thanks to you for your patience. I have learnt through slightly damaging..!

On my WDS set-up:

- router1 (DHCP enabled) is 192.168.1.1

- router2 (DHCP disabled) is 192.168.1.2