Connect two wireless routers together without losing bandwidth

[jneth1]

Step 1: Make sure your old router is working.

Step 1a: Connect the Broadband modem to your OLD_ROUTER’s Internet (WAN) port. Then connect the computer to one of the four available ports on your router through an Ethernet cable.

Step 1b: Make sure that the Internet connection is working on your computer and on your wireless devices.

Step 2: Configure your new router

Most routers have an IP address of 192.168.1.1 so before you connect them, you need to ensure that they have been assigned two different IP addresses.

Step 2a: Shut down your OLD_ROUTER and the modem. Also unplug the Ethernet cable from the computer.

Step 2b. Plug the Ethernet cable into any of the numbered ports of NEW_ROUTER and connect the other end to your computer. Switch on the NEW_ROUTER.

Step 2c. Access the web dashboard of NEW_ROUTER (192.168.1.1) and change the local IP address to something like 192.168.2.1 so that there’s no conflict with the old router. Save the changes.

Step 2d. Test the SSID name of the new router and make sure it’s different from the old router. Also make sure that SSID broadcast is turned on. Save the changes.

Step 3: Connect the two routers

Step 3a. Connect the modem to the Internet Port of the OLD_ROUTER.

Step 3b. Connect one of the number ports of OLD_ROUTER to your computer.

Step 3c. Connect another free port on the OLD_ROUTER to the Internet Port of your NEW_ROUTER using an Ethernet or LAN cable.

Important Points to remember

1. It is suggested that the length of the LAN cable connecting the two routers should not exceed 100m and that you should avoid having any joints in the cable. LAN cables are pretty cheap – I got a Cat5e cable for 25¢/m.

2. If you have a compatible router, I suggest upgrading the firmware to DD-WRT as that will slightly boost the wireless signal plus you’ll get access to tons of other settings in your router.

3. If you have enabled Wi-Fi security in your previous router, use the same settings in your new router as well.

4. It is important that you assign different SSIDs to the two routers else the same network name will appear twice in your wireless network connections window.

The key to this is in the IP address configuration of your machines. I have a desktop and a laptop connected separately to each router. The normal settings are to be used on the main router( connected to modem). By this I mean in the network adapter properties, ip4 configuration, it should be set to obtain an IP address automatically.
On the other router which is piggybacked off of the first router. It should have the different IP address 192.168.2.1 as opposed to the 192.168.1.1 and the dhcp should be disabled. On the laptop and desktop connected to this router, The IP address configuration should remain the same, it is the alternate configuration that should be set up on both machines (Laptop and desktop).
The alternate IP address on the desktop should be set up as 192.168.2.100, 255.255.255.0, 192.168.2.1 with the DNS set up as 192.168.1.1 and the secondary as the dns of the modem address.
The alternate IP address on the lap[top should be set up as 192.168.2.101, 255.255.255.0, 192.168.2.1 with the DNS set up as 192.168.1.1 and the secondary as the dns of the modem address.

With this configuration, the laptops and desktops can function as if they were on there own router the whole time and not lose bandwidth

 

[Leeky]

I think its worth noting the following:

1. If you can repeat the wireless its preferable to do this than have two different WAPs.
2. DHCP can be running on either of the two routers, it doesn't neccessarily need to be the first. Just one must be disabled.
3. Your setup assumes a seperate modem, in the case of modem/routers (adsl), you need to connect port 1 of the old router, to port 1 of the new router by ethernet cable.
4. Its perfectly acceptable to just set a static IP to the non-DHCP enabled router. It'll work absolutely fine that way.
5. Most modern routers usually have an option to work in network switch capacity. In this case, all you need is this enabled.

Again, this is my opinion, which is by no means professional, just some things noted from my previous experience doing the same thing.

 

[DelJo63]

this layout

ISP#1==>router#1----router#2==>ISP#2
             |           |
             +           +
     R1-systems     R2-systems

does not perform as expected, as systems attached
to each router will only use the ISP to which the router is connected and not multplex
between the two assumed choices.

That implementation needs the ATM software which is commercial grade stuff.