Can I link a Netgear and a Linksys router together?

[jknolmayer]

Hi,

The place that me and my wife rent comes with a free wifi connection from my landlord.
They own a Netgear wndr3300 router that is connected to the internet. The router is next door and does not reach to the other side of the house where my office is. I have a Linksys Router wrt54g. What I would like to do is be able to link the two routers together wireless, as they will be in different buildings, so that the computers in my office will connect to the internet.

Im not sure if that means that I will need to get a bridge to link the two together or not, But I will also need to use port forwarding to open up ports that I will need for my small server. Ive been searching the internet forums and just cant seem to find anyone in the same boat as me and would love to find out a way to make this all work out.

Thanks

 

[tipstir]

What does your landlord said about doing that? You should have him cough-up the the extra Repeater (100% wireless device) no need to use a router in this situation) This way you and the wife and anyone else in that second of the building can access the internet if you're getting a weak spot in your apartment?

 

[DelJo63]

But I will also need to use port forwarding to open up ports that I will need for my small server. Ive been searching the internet forums and just cant seem to find anyone in the same boat as me and would love to find out a way to make this all work out.

bummer -- this is the biggest issue, as port forwarding for you will kill those ports for the other user.

THE solution (messy too) is to confg the first router(GW) connected to the ISP into DMZ mode
which avoids the port forwarding -- all traffic will go to all connected systems.

The each user connects their own router to the GW router and thence to each system
which runs it's own Firewall, A/V and server systems.

If the GW router takes an IP address of 10.0.0.1, then (on the WAN side of each user's router)

• userA can take 10.0.1.1
• userB can take 10.0.2.1

UserA and B set their router gateway and DNS addresses to the GW (10.0.0.1)
and then neither A nor B can get to the other's systems (absolute security if you can't make the connection )

Each users personal router sets its own private IP address for the LAN side

192.168.1.1 or
192.168.2.1
​

and a DHCP range (arbitrarily) 2-20

All systems should be able to ping 10.0.0.1 (the GW)
as well as ping www.google.com
and if so, they are ALL good to go

 

[DelJo63]

see description of port forwarding vs DMZ

 

[tipstir]

Just need Repeater why are you telling to use DMZ?

 

[DelJo63]

yes a repeater will work, but consider

• the need to port forward can create a conflict of resources
• all systems would be on the same subnet and thus Print/File sharing is more difficult to manage

it all depends upon the unstated assumptions and objectives of all systems

 

[tipstir]

yes a repeater will work, but consider

• the need to port forward can create a conflict of resources
• all systems would be on the same subnet and thus Print/File sharing is more difficult to manage

it all depends upon the unstated assumptions and objectives of all systems

Repeater without hardwire running to it from the router / AP, still we really don't know how many apartments why only one router or AP is use or not use to cover the dwelling the DMZ output could be done as you say which is unsecured access thus sending that port to the other router would then be secured with that router NAT/SPI/DoS/PoD/ICMP.

 

[DelJo63]

can't tell if you agree or not, but the DMZ by design is insecure,
but each apartment (or home) would be secured by the secondary router and the fw+av behind it. The all (DMZ+individuals) could be wireless with separate SSID+WPA protection.

Yes the bridge/repeater is the simpler solution but the port-forwarding (and privacy of each household) is the complication.

 

[tipstir]

can't tell if you agree or not, but the DMZ by design is insecure,
but each apartment (or home) would be secured by the secondary router and the fw+av behind it. The all (DMZ+individuals) could be wireless with separate SSID+WPA protection.

Yes the bridge/repeater is the simpler solution but the port-forwarding (and privacy of each household) is the complication.

You can't? Really? I know I am bad when I talk technical. Well in a way yes to your question. But that might not be the easy way for most users though.